Sunday 18 June 2017 – Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb

We visited Shelsley Walsh back in 2013, and returned this year on a more than perfect day, albeit a little on the warm side. (Here’s the 2013 report, not much has changed.)

Sadly Robin is no longer with us, so it was Diana who accompanied Richard, Sue and me this time. Richard and Diana have a season’s pass and come quite regularly. Simon and Jacob would enjoy this day out.

Walking up the hill, I seemed to be constantly surrounded by bugs that weren’t bothering anyone else.

“It’s the hat!” Sue eventually diagnosed the problem.

There’s a paddock at the top of the hill where the cars congregate before returning in convoy to the bottom of the hill after each ‘batch’ of racers. The morning comprises practice runs, with the competition in the afternoon.

Everyone gets four or five runs at the hill, which is steep. Speeds in excess of 100mph are reached. Most racers finish in between 30 and 45 seconds, but the fastest few go under 30 seconds.

The spectators’ path comes to an end before you can see into the paddock, so at the top of the hill all you get to see is the helmets of the participants as they freewheel back down to the start, where onlookers can admire the machinery to their hearts’ content without the need to flounce up the hill.

We moved about quite a bit. Snaps were taken. A full slide show is here – 36 images. Refreshments are readily available.

This serious piece of machinery was possibly the quickest of the day.

The car below is not so fast, but obviously great fun, and with Stirling Moss’s signature on the steering wheel, what more could you want?

Near the end of an incident free (apart from a breakdown) day, one of the Lotus drivers failed to negotiate the first corner and took a trip into the meadow, leaving various parts of his car, and bits of barrier, strewn all over the road. He was perfectly ok, if a little red-faced, but the mess took a little while to clear up…

This was a lovely day out in perfect weather. Commended.

PS I wondered how much interest this posting would be to some of my usual readers. Motor sport attracts a wide audience, so someone may be interested, I thought. Correct. Conrad even came up with a picture of his antics in a Ford Anglia at Harewood Hill Climb in 1965!