2019 British HillClimb Championship
2019 British HillClimb Championship – catching up
Prescott
The long dark nights have afforded the opportunity of catching up on one or two events from earlier in the year. September is a busy month for HillClimb with three events in four weekends. PistonClick were able to get to Prescott and Loton Park, but this year drew the line at the long trip to picturesque Doune in Scotland – maybe next year.
Sunday morning at Prescott dawned bright and sunny and I set myself up just below Pardon - Location D on our Prescott Photographic guide
to get a different sort of shot of the action.
It particularly interesting when cars have bare carbon fibre to catch the light.
There’s the rear shot as the cars take the hairpin, which if it is early enough in the day, still catches them in the sunshine. There was, of course, much more foliage on the trees than when we were there in April.
Of course, there are trees to avoid in the shot as the cars accelerate hard out of Pardon towards the Esses – although sometimes they can make the shot (that’s my story, anyway !).
Sometimes though, it is the competitors that have to avoid the trees ! Here Peter Thurston in his Mallock Mk4 takes the scenic route – fortunately without injury !
A wander down to the start and paddock is always worthwhile for that informal shot, Will Hall takes some refreshment before his next run. Robert Kenrick – in his giant killing 1000cc bike engine GWR Raptor takes a moment to prepare for the start, while Steven Day in his Swift shows off a distinctive helmet design (and passenger !)
There’s also more bare carbon fibre … Sean Gould and Eynon Price here.
For the morning run off I headed up to Ettore’s (Location C). Sean Gould set fastest time and a new hill record with Wallace Menzies in second.
Will Hall, Richard Spedding and Trevor Willis were not far behind.
For the afternoon qualifying run, I headed up the hill and initially positioned myself above the start of the Esses (Location F) where you are looking down on the cars. The sun had come round by then and was shining through the trees with occasional clouds. This gave a very dappled look to photos. Here’s a quartet of Porsches.
We were pretty much in the shade by the time the quicker cars had their runs.
For the run offs, Robert Kenrick was his usual spectacular self, while I only managed a couple of sparks as Zach Zammitt headed up to Semi Circle. The extended diffuser on the Empire Wraith is usually good for some sparks !
Fastest time of the afternoon run off fell to Dave Uren with Sean Gould making third.
Loton Park
I started out looking for some neat panning shots in the run from Triangle to Keepers (Location D to E). A full background of green foliage is such a contrast to most race circuits.
The Porsches were out again along with the Aston Martin Vantage shared between Tim Painter and Andy Fraser.
There’s also a shot of cars heading through Keepers (Location F) – taking more or less kerb and sometimes taking liberties with the track markers !
Matt Ryder – who we have featured in previous reports – was out in the family’s new Empire Wraith for the first time. It was really a chance for Matt and mother, Caroline with whom he shares the drive, to get behind the wheel of the new car before next season.
By the magic of the internet, I had happened to see Matt at the start of one of his practice runs on Saturday afternoon and screen grabbed the moment !
Late in the morning as I was getting to the top of the run, near Museum (Location H), it briefly showered adding a degree of jeopardy ! Grip was reduced as amply evidenced in the first photo here of Neal Coles in his OMS.
Matt Ryder set 10th equal fastest time – impressive in the new car seen here in moody black and white – while Wallace Menzies charged to fastest time of the morning Run Off.
Matt Ryder was busy; he was also sharing Sue Young’s Gould GR51. This was only his second taste of a much more powerful engine – the 4.0 Judd running on methanol has 600 bhp (against his usual 250 bhp).
He enjoyed the extra power on the run up to Fallow and ended up just outside the Top 12 Run Off.
Times were coming down during afternoon qualifying, despite the slightly damp tarmac. There is a good shot looking down on the cars are they exit Keepers (Location E). Here’s Sean Gould, Scott Moran (6 times champion), Alex Summers (2015 champion), Wallace Menzies (2019 champion) and Will Hall.
For the rest of the afternoon, I headed back to Triangle (Location D), near the ice cream van (mine’s a 99 !). To illustrate the wide variety of single seaters taking part in hillclimbing today, here’s Nigel White in his Brabham BT21, Stuart Ridge in his Pilbeam MP53 and Eynon Price in his Force.
And so to the 34th and final Run Off of the 2019 British HillClimb Championship – Dave Uren and Zach Zammitt acquitted themselves reasonably well, but Sean Gould really did confirm his quality with fastest time of the day and a new hill record into the bargain !
2020 plans are still being considered, but I am certainly aiming to get to some rounds of the British Hillclimb Championship. It runs in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey so hopefully one round or other will be within reach.
2020 dates - here
We can expect another season of dramatic hillclimb action, with wins and records broken by tenths or hundredths of seconds. No doubt cars will be developed over the winter ready for the first event at Prescott on April 25/26.
2019 Championship result – here
Detailed event results - look for MMTS events - here
Equipment used –
• Nikon D850
• Nikkor 70-200mm zoom
• Nikkor 24-120mm zoom
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