British Hillclimb Championship - Shelsley Walsh - August 2024

 

Winner of both Top 12 Run Offs at Shelsley Walsh was Matthew Ryder in this Gould GR59J 4,000cc. Here he is at Bottom S.  He won Class L in a time of 22.61 for the 1,000 yards climb.

The August 2024 British Hillclimb Championship meeting at Shelsley Walsh was my first visit to this championship and this venue and I was very impressed with both of them.   I have followed the series since the sixties but never actually attended an event and am glad that I have finally made amends.

Unlike the European and French hillclimb series where sports cars tend to be dominant, in the BHC the single seater is the king.  Obviously, the narrow tight venues are one of the main reasons for this with the other being the powerful engines (eg Cosworth and Judd) allowed in these lightweight singles eaters.   Thus, all the cars in this post single seaters.   The single seater classes are as follows and all are very well supported:

Class I - Racing cars up to 1,100cc.

Class J2 - Racing cars over 1,100cc up to 1,600cc.

Class K1 - Racing cars over 1,600cc up to 2,000cc.

Class K2 - Racing cars with forced induction engines up to 2 litre equivalent.

Class L - Racing cars over 2,000cc.

Shelsley Walsh is a fast venue where the top cars cross the line at over 140mph.  It is 1,000 yards in length and has an average gradient of nearly 1 in 9 and a steepest gradient of nearly 1 in 6. The minimum width is 12 feet.   The course was first used in 1905 making it the oldest continuously used motorsport venue in the World.

All pictures were taken on Saturday during the practice runs.

Championship leader Alex Summers in his DJ Firestorm 2,650cc just after the start of one of his climbs. At Shelsley Walsh he finish second in both run offs, despite a moment when he lost his rear wing in practice.

Will Hall in his Gould GR59 about to enter Kennel Bend.  He finished third in both run offs.

Winner of the last four British Hillclimb Championships, Wallace Menzies in a Gould GR59M 3,300cc negotiating Kennel Bend.   

Trevor Willis in his OMS 28 3,200cc at Bottom S.  He is the only driver in the last 20 years to win a BHC title in anything other than a Gould, doing so in 2012, 2017 and 2018 in his OMS.

Sean Gould in the Gould GR59J 4,000cc finished seventh in both run offs at Shelsley Walsh. He is the course record holder.

Paul Haimes in this Gould GR59 1,300cc Turbo finished eighth and ninth in the two run offs. He finished second in class K2.

Zachary Zammit in his Empire Racing Cars Wraith 1,300cc Turbo finished ninth in the second run off .  He won class K2.  He he enters Bottom S.

Alex Coles in his Force Ta 1,340cc Turbo finished ninth in the first run off. He finished third in class K2.

David Warburton in his Gould GR59 1,600cc.  He won class J2 and finished tenth and eleventh in the two run offs.

Jonathan Varley in his GWR Predator 2,000cc won class K1 and finished eleventh and tenth in the two run offs.  Here he exits Bottom S.

Andy Greenem on his way up to Bottom S in his Empire Evo3 1,598cc.  He finished second in class J2 and finished 12th in the second run off.

Jack Cottrill in his Dallara XD 2,650cc heading towards Kennel Bend.   He finished twelfth in one of the run offs.

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The winner of Class I was Tom Weaver in this Empire Evo 2 998cc.

Fastest of the female drivers was Lindsay Summers in the DJ Firestorm 2,650cc.

Sliding in one of Shelsley's fast curves is Andrew Colbourne in a Van Diemen RF02FX 1,998cc. He finished second in class K1.

The Ralt F302-001 1,420cc Turbo of John Chalmers kicking up sparks.

Gary Hill in his OMS 2000M 1,595cc.

John Cottrill in his Pilbeam MP82 1,998cc exiting Bottom S.

Andy Bougourd in his Force PT 1,630cc exiting Bottom S.

Andrew Henson in his Gould Dallara F394 1,998cc entering Top S.

Steve Owen in his OMS 28 RPE 2,700cc.

.This is the Gould 84G designed and built by David Gould and used by Chris Cramer to win the 1985 British Hillclimb Championship.  Here it is giving a demo run in the hands of Sean Gould.  Gould have been the dominant marque since 1998 and are contenders again this year.