UK's first 'closed road' hillclimb event

[chunder27]

I don't live in bloody Birmingham so what good is it having loads of hills near me!

I couldn't give a st what any of you think, never have never will.

The point remains.

First rally on closed roads in England, about as far East as you can be.

First hill on closed roads in England, about as far South as you can be.

Notice the trend? This is hopefully the start. But I can't ever really see events happening on closed roads near populated places, for obvious reasons.

Sadly that means they will always be in faraway places.

Which means they happen really because of the location, not because there is any interest from fans, which is how you are going to grow interest.

My interest has waned massively in recent years, because of massively increased costs ot petrol, driving among cretins on roads to get anywhere and generally piss poor racing series.

We cant all be endlessly positive about stuff, and I am struggling to maintain any interest in 4 wheeled racing of any kind right now, form the top down.

Thank God for bikes, if it wasn't for them racing would be pretty much over for me.

I applaud the people for getting this event off the ground, but I will submit, if that was going on in Bedfordshire, or Notts or Surrey it would never happen, it's only happening because of where it is.

That is the point

[egor110]

Maybe there holding it just because they can , not because they want to attract more fans.

There's a thriving hill climb scene in the south west - midlands , this hill climb at watergate they've filled the 300 spaces so they don't need to attract any more .

I'd be amazed after this if Minehead motor club aren't looking at running a hill climb up porlock hill , that would be good .

[df76]

Porlock is a private road I think, I’m sure it’s been thought about. Already done in another sport..

http://www.porlockhillclimb.co.uk/index.htm

[Pericoloso]

Does Porlock also feature in the Exeter trial ?

Obviously not on the road .

[e30m3Mark]

chunder27 said:

I couldn't give a st what any of you think, never have never will.

Lighten up fella. Honestly, life's too short.

[Kewy]

chunder27 said:

I don't live in bloody Birmingham so what good is it having loads of hills near me!

I couldn't give a st what any of you think, never have never will.

The point remains.

First rally on closed roads in England, about as far East as you can be.

First hill on closed roads in England, about as far South as you can be.

Notice the trend? This is hopefully the start. But I can't ever really see events happening on closed roads near populated places, for obvious reasons.

Sadly that means they will always be in faraway places.

Which means they happen really because of the location, not because there is any interest from fans, which is how you are going to grow interest.

My interest has waned massively in recent years, because of massively increased costs ot petrol, driving among cretins on roads to get anywhere and generally piss poor racing series.

We cant all be endlessly positive about stuff, and I am struggling to maintain any interest in 4 wheeled racing of any kind right now, form the top down.

Thank God for bikes, if it wasn't for them racing would be pretty much over for me.

I applaud the people for getting this event off the ground, but I will submit, if that was going on in Bedfordshire, or Notts or Surrey it would never happen, it's only happening because of where it is.

That is the point

u ok hun?

[Dave Brand]

chunder27 said:

Sadly that means they will always be in faraway places.

Depends on your defintion of "faraway". For many of the inhabitants of the UK the so-called "home counties" are far away.

[snowen250]

Is Coventry not close to you? There was a competitive element to that this year I thought, with a sprint being ran as part of the motorfestival? Round the town centre too, so a pretty crowded place

[e30m3Mark]

I like travelling to events. I get to see places and meet people that I wouldn't otherwise. There's something about driving the car you compete in to an event and home again too.

Back to Watergate Bay, if this weather holds it'll make for a fantastic weekend and well worth making the effort to attend. It's a beautiful part of the North Cornwall coast and there are plenty of local campsite, BnB's etc. I imagine there will be pretty large numbers of spectators which has to be a good thing when it comes to raising the profile of club level events like this.

[coppice]

Ignore our friend Chunder. He makes a point of heroic whingeing and whining on every motor sport website I frequent. A recent post of his stated he was glad someone had not enjoyed the Silverstone Classic- thankfully I did - hugely .

But whoever thinks this is the first closed road hillclimb is massively wrong - there have been scores, if not hundreds, but nearly all of them pre WW2 .So 'recent' would be a helpful adjective to use except for those who think history is bunk .Such as those who labour under the misapprehension (like the BBC ) that Grand Prix racing started in the late 40s ...

[C4ME]

said:

But whoever thinks this is the first closed road hillclimb is massively wrong - there have been scores, if not hundreds, but nearly all of them pre WW2 .So 'recent' would be a helpful adjective to use except for those who think history is bunk .Such as those who labour under the misapprehension (like the BBC ) that Grand Prix racing started in the late 40s ...

Quoted from MotorSport magazine April 1955 issue

The Sprint Events of the 1920s

Both before and after the 1914-18 war speed trials and speed hill-climbs were a popular form of competition motoring in England. Racing over public roads has never been permitted in this country, and up to 1925 was thus confined to Brooklands Motor Course at Weybridge and the T.T. course over the sinuous roads of the Isle of Man. But, although illegal, sprint contests were held nearly every summer week-end in England, the majority of them over unclosed public roads.

True, a "police permit" had to be obtained by the organising club, but this usually took the form of verbal intimation that the Chief Constable of the area did not propose to interfere with the event so long as no undue inconvenience was caused to the public. In most cases policemen attended to allow non-competing cars to ascend and descend the hill between timed runs and to keep the course clear; as a general speed limit of 20 m.p.h. was in force until 1926, these constables had to leave their stop-watches behind so that, not being officially able to check the speed of the cars, they could not be aware, officially, that this speed was being exceeded !

In those carefree times—the "gay 'twenties !"—the law had not made mudguards compulsory, so that the running of stripped racing cars went unnoticed, except for the noise of their exhausts, and that was overlooked in the remote country in which these hill-climbs and speed trials, mostly the former, were held.

As pukka racing cars were driven, sometimes long distances, to the venue, the excitement was considerable, and on some courses very appreciable speeds were attained, the roads often being wider and the timed distance longer than we are accustomed to on the private courses used since 1925. Besides the racing cars, touring cars and light cars were encouraged by the adoption of numerous capacity classes and sometimes the employment of a weight formula. Huge entries were obtained, 221 for the opening hill-climb at Kop in 1924. and in some instances 35,000 spectators were attracted, 4,000-5.000 being not unusual.

Not all these early sprint meetings took place over public roads, a few being held along private roads, while the famous Shelsley Walsh hill-climb of the Midland A.C., which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, has always been held on a private hill near Worcester. Some fixtures took place on the sands, as at Skegness. Porthcawl, Saltburn, Southport, etc., and others along seaside promenades. H.R.H. the Duke of York was Patron of the Southsea speed trials.

But the great majority of them were held on quiet country roads with the cognisance of the local police. In 1922 the Commissioner of Police raised a cautionary hand, The Autocar spoke warningly in April 1924, and early in 1925 the R.A.C. warned organisers about danger to spectators, but all was well until an unfortunate accident at the Essex M.C.'s Kop Hill-Climb happened on March 28th, 1925.

This meeting drew huge crowds, due to the proximity of Kop to London, and the spectators foolishly stood along the edge of the road. The police were powerless to remove them forcibly, because they were on public ground. A racing motor-cyclist crashed and bad to be removed to hospital and then Francis W. Giveen, driving the Brescia Bugatti "Cordon Bleu" which he had recently acquired from Raymond Mays, left the road and ran over a spectator, breaking his leg.

The meeting was abandoned. Soon afterwards the High Wycombe R.C.C. asked the police to ban speed events at Kop Hill and at a meeting on April 2nd, 1925, the R.A.C. and A.C.U. announced that they would issue no further permits for speed competitions on public roads "for the present." In fact, their ban was never lifted.

[chunder27]

Lol I make a point of whingeing about it because for some reason as I get older I find most of it used to be good but is now complete and utter garbage

Hard to know why, but sadly more and more forms of motorsport don't appeal as they used to.

There was a thread about this somewhere earlier in the year and it rings so true to me and a few others I know.

[coppice]

You should have a get together maybe ?

[blearyeyedboy]

Chunder, I live in East of England and appreciate your geographical problem. (It took quite some getting used to the flatness of it all round here, spending most of my life in Irish, Welsh or SW English hills...)

It's amazing how motorsport can evolve from the terrain. Clearly hillclimbs require hills; less obviously a relatively high proportion of old airstrips in the South East are a happy legacy from WW2- at least, those that haven't been sold off and built on.

I think you have to travel, adapt to what's local to you or start your own. Best of luck in any event.

[captainpugwash]

I've got an accepted entry for both days! Hopefully this event will be the first of many in the country. Competed at St Goueno in France for the past few years & that's great

[e30m3Mark]

captainpugwash said:

I've got an accepted entry for both days! Hopefully this event will be the first of many in the country. Competed at St Goueno in France for the past few years & that's great

Will you be in your Escort? What class are you in?

Pictures?

I've been thinking about doing some of the events in France and Sweden. They're another level compared to what we have had here. Hopefully though, UK events will improve now?

[captainpugwash]

e30m3Mark said:

Will you be in your Escort? What class are you in?

Pictures?

I've been thinking about doing some of the events in France and Sweden. They're another level compared to what we have had here. Hopefully though, UK events will improve now?

Hi, Yes, using the Escort in Rally Car class.

[dhutch]

So glad we are getting road closed events back.

[e30m3Mark]

captainpugwash said:

e30m3Mark said:

Will you be in your Escort? What class are you in?

Pictures?

I've been thinking about doing some of the events in France and Sweden. They're another level compared to what we have had here. Hopefully though, UK events will improve now?

Hi, Yes, using the Escort in Rally Car class.

Looks great.

Can I ask what sort of spring rates you run on tarmac? (ballpark)

[Pothole]

99dndd said:

And it's not the UK's 1st.

Craiganlet's been held since 1913.

Good luck to those organising, looks like their website's down.

Kop Hill started in 1910...