Spring National Hillclimb - Harewood Hillclimb Championship
Report and Images by Chris Bannister of JCB Photography
9 April 2023
Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship got off to a flying start with the Spring National Hillclimb event which took place on Sunday 9th April 2023.
BARC Harewood Hillclimb is the longest speed hillclimb in mainland UK. The all tarmac track is set against the beautiful backdrop of the Wharfedale valley in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire.
The nine round Championship finishes with a double header, during the weekend of 17th and 18th September with the Greenwood Cup and Mike Wilson Hillclimb events.
The venue will host twelve Hillclimb Motorsport events in 2023. As well the Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship, the venue will also host two rounds for the Motorsport UK British Hillclimb Championship on 7th May and 2nd July, with a totally separate event for The Vintage Sports Car Club (VSCC) the Classic and Vintage Hillclimb on 3rd June
A number of other car clubs are also invited throughout the season to include Ferrari’s, Porsche’s and for this event competitors from the following Championships, the MG Car Club Luffield Speed, Nottingham Sports Car Club Speed and Midland Speed Championships.
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.
With competitors not only competing in the BARC Harewood Speed Championship, drivers are also competing for the Fastest time of the Day Championship and Fastest time in their class.
The cars that take part in a Speed Hillclimbing are broken down into different classes and engine size but also by the amount of modifications that the regulations allow. Some classes such as the Road going, must be submitted with a MOT, then through to the Modified Road going, Modified production cars, Formula Ford, Racing Cars and Sports Libre been the most highly modified.
The forecast was for some nice early Yorkshire Spring sunshine but unfortunately mist welcomed competitors for the start of the 2023 season at Harewood Hillclimb. The sun did come out during the lunch break but by the time competitors took to the track for the second of three timed runs it had gone back in again.
During the morning we got though two practice runs and a timed run before the lunch break. It is the timed runs which are used for the Championship scores.
Times and Results for all competitors Spring National Hillclimb.
Harewood Championship
Peter Siddle driving has Renault Clio 182 Cup, car# 54 takes a very early lead, with Chris Berrisford driving his Subaru Impreza, car #83 from Rob Spedding in his Formula Ford Vector TF93K.
Fast Time of the Day Championship (FTD)
Richard Spedding driving his GWR Raptor 2, car#7 leads the FTD Championship with Lee Griffiths in his OMS28, car # 152, with Mr OMS himself, Stephen Owen in third driving the OMS 28RPE, car#155.
FTD Points are awarded to the championship competitors who have recorded the ten fastest times of the day in the class runs. Points are awarded from 10 for the fastest competitor, down to 1 point for tenth place. These times will normally be posted by one of the cars from the single seater racing car classes. Although wet weather conditions can occasional throw up some surprises.
Next meeting is a double header over the weekend of 6th May for the Harewood Open Hillclimb Championship. Followed by competitors from the British Championship Hillclimb on the 7th May.
Many thanks to BARC Yorkshire centre for the opportunity to be track side and not forgetting all the Marshals, Medical, Rescue teams including Darlington Motor Club Rescue without which the event could not take part.
Harewood Speed Hillclimb course track details.
Harewood Speed Hillclimb is located between the villages of Harewood and Collingham just off the A659. SatNav postcode LS17 9LA. What Three Words. admit.uncle.piston
The track is 1448 metres long. The fastest cars can complete the course in under 50 seconds with top speeds in excess of 130 mph.
Event live timing can be found here.
Harewood Hillclimb record is 46.39 secs. set by Matthew Ryder driving a Gould GR59J on 03/07/2022.
Ladies Hill record is 50.74 secs. set by Nicola Menzies driving a Gould GR55B on 03/07/2022.
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