Last weekend the hill record at Shelsley Walsh was broken at the British Hillclimb Championship round held at the UK’s oldest motorsport venue. Will Hall shaved four one-hundredths of a second from the all-time best run to complete the ascent in just 22.33 seconds, crossing the line at 145mph – on a narrow hill path!
For over 120 years drivers have taken on the challenge at Shelsley Walsh, not just in purpose-built single seaters like Hall’s Gould GR59, but everything from road cars to modified and race-bred machinery.
Hill climb, along with sprint – which takes place on race and sprint circuits – is one of the most accessible and rewarding motorsport disciplines, proving that there’s more to driving fast on a track than just circuit racing. Much of the skill of competition is the challenge of matching the car to the track, whether perfecting a launch off the line, making the perfect apex or finding the most efficient acceleration and braking techniques.
Speed disciplines are easy to get into but fiendishly addictive. Competing against the clock brings out a competitive urge that appeals to both motorsport novices and experienced racers looking for a new challenge.
Both hill climb and sprint are very cost-effective, too. Some event organisers may run an intro class for holders of RS Clubman licences; these licences are free of charge to obtain and allow holders to compete in many disciplines including autotests, trials and navigational rallies.
Upgrade to an RS Interclub licence – which costs £85 and doesn’t require the holder to pass a driving examination – and there are three classes that apply to both hill climb and sprint disciples. Standard Car – for modern-day mass production road cars; Road Car – for older (pre-2000) and low-volume production cars; and modified for non-race cars.
Mandatory safety equipment for each of these primarily involves driver protection. Taking your own road car to a hill climb or sprint event will in almost all cases just require wearing a crash helmet and covering arms and legs – the same as a trackday. This increases to overalls for Road Car and a balaclava and frontal head restraint for Modified. The latter also demands rollover protection for the car and a 4-point harness, while some low-volume specialist cars in Road car also require rollover protection.
Then – following upgrades to licence and safety equipment – there are the faster Sports Libre and Racing Cars classes to progress into; after all course records are there to be broken.
For more information on the speed disciplines, including hill climb and sprint, read our demystifying article in this month’s Revolution magazine here. And for useful information on how to take part, click here for hill climb and here for sprint.