Harewood Hillclimb History and Season Preview – Part One
Report by Chris Bannister
23 March 2022
In 2022 the Yorkshire Centre of the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary and also, it’s 60th Anniversary of Hillclimbing up the famous Harewood Hill. The first event of the new season started with a Practice Day, which took place on Sunday 20th March.
This is part one of a two-part report, the second article will be in April when the Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship kicks off, when the competitors return for the Spring National event, which takes place on Sunday 10thApril.
We will start the season off with a little history about the BARC Yorkshire Centre Club and the history of the Hillclimb itself at Harewood Hill, before we report on the Harewood Championship and two rounds of the British Hillclimb Championship, later in the season.
BARC Harewood Hillclimb is the longest speed hillclimb in mainland UK. The all tarmac track is 1440 metres long, set against the beautiful backdrop of the Wharfedale valley in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire.
BARC Yorkshire Centre History
The British Automobile Racing Club was originally formed in 1912 as The Cyclecar Club organising events at Brooklands along with rallies and touring trails. In 1919 following the end of the first world war and the decline of cyclers, which led to a change in name, of the club, to Junior Car Club.
After the second world war Brooklands as a venue was no more and the club joined forces with the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club before finally changing its name to the British Automobile Racing Club in 1949 with a new home at Goodwood Circuit before finally moving to its current home in Thruxton in 1974.
The BARC Yorkshire Centre was formed in 1922 at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds. The first speed hillclimb to be held by the centre was July 1922 but on open public roads. Between 1922 and 1962 the club organised all manner of events such as Off-Road Speed Events, Autocross, Tarmac Sprints, a number of Rally’s as well as the first Harewood Hillclimb in 1962.
The Yorkshire Centre now concentrates all its efforts into making Harewood Hillclimb the most friendly and finest hillclimb venues in the country.
Harewood Hillclimb History
The first hillclimb event took place on the hill on 16th September 1962. The original course was a lot shorter than today's, at 1006 metres, starting near the exit of what is today Chippy's bend. The short course record was set by Ray Rowan driving a Toleman TG2/80 on 20th July 1986 in a time of 35.44 seconds.
The track was extended for the 1992 season and created the longest Hillclimb in England at 1448 metres. The first long course track record was set by Paul Rendle driving a Chevron B49 in a time of 59.90 seconds on 16th May 1992. However, this record only lasted a day and was beaten by nearly 3 seconds, this time by Chris Seaman (Now Competitions Secretary of the BARC Yorkshire Centre Club) driving a Brabham BT30 in a time of 56.91 seconds on the 17th May 1992.
Today the record stands at 47.81 seconds, set on 7th July 2019 by Wallace Menzies driving a Gould GR59 (car #1 and 2021 British Hillclimb Champion).
The Ladies Hill record was set on the same day in 2019 by Nicola Menzies in a Gould GR55B in a time of 53.03 seconds (car #706) which she shares with David Uren (car #6).
What is Speed Hillclimbing?
Competitors race against the clock on a narrow uphill track in everything from road cars (which must have a current MOT, insurance etc.) to single seater racing cars. I will go into greater detail of the different classes in part two of this report when I will be photographing the Spring National event.
All competing cars have a small vertical blade called a timing strut which is fitted to the front of the car. The start marshals will line the car up just before the timing beam.
The timing strut is used to break the timing beam at the start and also at the finish to stop the digital timing equipment and register the time taken by the competitor. This is the drivers time for that timed run (subject to any track limits). The timing is to the nearest one-hundredth of a second.
Cars are called down to the start line in batches, usually in class order, using the competitor access track. When a car is shared by another driver these cars will have a start number beginning with 7, 8 or 9. The class entries are divided so that similar cars are competing against each other and you can have up to four cars on the hill at any one time.
When a car is called to the start by the start line marshals and positioned behind the timing beam another marshal will place a chock behind the rear wheel to prevent the car from moving backwards.
The driver must wait for the red light to go out and once the driver is given the green light he can move off in his own time, as it is the breaking of the beam that starts the timing for the drivers run.
Situated along the course is a number of other timing beams, that allow the driver to see the sector split times at various locations along the track. These times will be available after their run via the Live Timing website: www.hwtiming.co.uk and in the Paddock Office. This feed is also passed to the live commentator on the hillside.
The Competitors challenge is to drive the 1448 metre course in the shortest possible time. Using the quickest and smoothest lines through each of the corners. Each driver is not only competing against the clock but also against other drivers in his or her class, each of these cars with have similar performance.
The BARC Yorkshire Centre organised a Practice Day event before the Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship for 2022 starts on 10th April with the Spring National event. Spectators will be very welcome to the Hill BUT Entry will be by pre-booked TICKET ONLY.
You can purchase your tickets for the Spring National Hillclimb meeting here.
With some nice early Yorkshire Spring sunshine welcoming competitors for the start of the 2022 season at Harewood Hillclimb, though when the clouds covered the sun the temperature would drop and you knew about it. The day would thankfully stay dry so at least the competitors didn’t have to worry about a damp or wet track.
A small number of competitors managed up to ten runs during the day of action, making it very good value for drivers and those on the hillside watching the action.
Practice Day Run Times Results are here.
Many thanks to BARC Yorkshire centre at Harewood Hill and not forgetting all the Marshals, Medical and Rescue teams without which the event could not have taken place.
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