Harewood Speed Hillclimb
Report by Chris Bannister
11 Apr 2021
Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship is run by the Yorkshire Centre of the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC).
The all tarmac track is 1440 metres long, set against the beautiful backdrop of the Wharfedale valley in the Yorkshire Dales and is the longest speed hillclimb in the mainland UK.
The BARC Yorkshire centre organized its first event of the 2021 season on 11th April 2021. The Spring National event at Harewood Hill would be the first hillclimb event to take place in mainland Britain in 2021.
The venue will host twelve hillclimb motorsport events in 2021.
Ten of these events will form the Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship, plus a round for the Motorsport UK British Hillclimb Championship in July and a totally separate event for The Vintage Sports Car Club (VSCC) the Classic and Vintage Hillclimb in June.
The running of this event would still be run under restrictions imposed by the latest guidelines from both HM Government and Motorsport UK.
Including a limited number of official's and marshals with no spectators and just a couple of media photographers.
Each driver was only able to have one mechanic or helper.
Signing-on would once again be done in advance (as was the case in 2020) via electronically submitted forms that had been sent out ahead of the event, together with details of all the latest requirements/restrictions regarding Covid-19.
The number of competitors would be limited to 120 and the on-line entry was fully subscribed for the event in less than two hours of the on-line entry going live and a reserve list was complied.
Under current Motorsport UK guidelines marshals are only allowed to touch the tyres of any competitors car unless appropriate gloves are worn.
How happy is Michael Brown to be back on the hill in his TVR Vixen, very happy looking at that grin.
No awards would be presented after the meeting for either Fastest Time of the Day (FTD) or Class Awards, again due to Covid restrictions.
2019 FTD Champion Ben Tranter driving the OMS2000 that he shares with Rob Spedding was taking part but Harry Pick in the OMS 3000M came out on top with a best run of 54.27 to take Class 5A, cars up to and including 1100cc.
There were a few other bespoke OMS hillclimb races cars taking part. Class 5E winner Trevor Willis in the OMS 28 did a best time of 50.51 seconds up the hill.
Several of the drivers from the British Hillclimb Championship also appeared on the entry list.
Possibly using this meeting as either a test for the cars, or drivers as this was the first hillclimb event on the 2021 season or as practice for the Championship which will be here on the 4th July.
With temperatures hovering around freezing as the event got under way and only got up to the low teens all day.
During the mid afternoon we had a snow flurry but thankfully it did not last too long. For the most part of the day it was partly cloudy with a little bit of spring sun and a cold wind.
Competitors had the two practice runs before the lunch break and up to three timed runs in the afternoon.
The BARC Yorkshire centre next event is due to take place at Harewood Hill is a double header taking place over the weekend 8th and 9th May 2021 and again sorry NO spectators on the hill.
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 take part.
Timings for the meeting can be found here: Spring National Hillclimb Event Results
FTD and Top 4 in Classes: Sunday 11 April 2021 — Spring National Hillclimb
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