IT'S a full throttle start to the season at Prescott Speed Hill Climb this weekend with the Tran-X MSA British Hill Climb Championship event.

2001 Champion Graeme Wight Jnr leads the top ten from last year's competition who will do battle for points in this prestigious series.

The Scotsman, who holds two of Prescott's racing car class records as well as the fastest ever time for the hill, must start favourite at this Bugatti Owners' Club meeting.

But he will have to work for every point, as former title holder Roger Moran (Ludlow) comes to the line in a brand new and technically advanced Pilbeam car with just one target - to get the Championship back.

The accepted formula for success on the hills is a racing car with a powerful 550bhp V8 engine, and one of these will be driven by Inkberow's Tim Mason.

The meeting hosts rounds of several other season-long series, including the Power-Mec MSA leaders title and the Michelin Porsche Club GB championship, featuring three generations of the Howells family from Coleford - Tony (66), his son Paul (41), and Paul's son Graham (17). The Ferrari Challenge brings to the line a dozen high-speed road cars.

Other local drivers in the line-up include saloon car specialists Rob Walpole (Bishop's Cleeve) and Simon Tarling (Gothering-ton) plus husband and wife team Richard and Gill Marshall (Bishop's Cleeve).

The competitive 600cc racing car class could also provide a local winner with Tony Shearman (Tewkesbury) and Tony Hunt (Tirley) taking part, as could the Bugatti Handicap where Mike Preston (Chel-tenham) and Mike Marshall (Gloucester) compete.

Prescott is five miles north-east of Cheltenham off the main A435 Evesham Road near the village of Gotherington, and will be fully RAC signed.

Practice starts at 9.30am on Saturday with the competitive runs at 10am on Sunday. Adult admission is £6 on Saturday and £10 on Sunday. Children under 14 are admitted free and car parking is free.

Other local drivers taking part include Tim Elmer (Stratford), Tewkesbury's Stef Jones, Roy James from Stow-on-the-Wold and Simon Bloomfield from Beckford.

The next Prescott Hill Climbs are the Members/Classic event on Saturday, June 8 and the Historic meeting - new for this season - the next day.