Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb
Encyclopedia
The Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb is a hillclimb
in Worcestershire
, England
, organised by the Midland Automobile Club (MAC). It is one of the oldest motorsport
events in the world, and is in fact the oldest to have been staged continuously (wartime excepted) on its original course, first having been run in 1905. On that first occasion, the course was 992 yards (907 m) in length, but in 1907 it was standardised at 1000 yards (914 m), the length it remains today.
Shelsley Walsh is a notably steep course by the standards of today's hillclimbs. It rises 328 feet (100 m) during its length, for an average gradient of 1 in 9.14 (10.9%), with the steepest section being as much as 1 in 6.24 (16%). This makes Shelsley a hill on which power is important, and on which the gap in times between the most powerful cars and the rest is greater than at many other venues. It is also narrow, being no more than 12 feet (3.66 m) wide at some points.
), who established the hill record by recording a time of 77.6 seconds for an average speed of 26.15 mph (42.08 km/h). However, at that time hillclimbs were not strictly speed events at all, performances being rated in terms of a formula based on power and cars of 20 hp or more being required to be four-seaters and to carry passengers. There was also the question of whether a particular car would make it up the hill at all. In fact, in these early years, drivers' actual times were not even announced to spectators!
Restrictions on competing cars were dropped from 1913, meaning that specialised racing cars were now eligible to enter Shelsley. Unsurprisingly, climbs immediately became much faster, and on June 7, 1913, Joseph Higginson's Vauxhall 30/98 recorded the best time of the day: 55.2 seconds, more than eight seconds faster than H. C. Holder's mark of 63.4 seconds which had been set just two years before. The First World War intervened and hillclimbing did not resume until July 1920.
Key: R = Course Record.
Times continued to come down, and during the 1920s the emphasis moved firmly away from reliability and onto speed. Basil Davenport was perhaps Shelsley's first "superstar", breaking the hill record four times between 1926 and 1928 in his GN
"Spider", but even more significant was the appearance on the hill of Raymond Mays
.
The 1930s were a golden era for Shelsley. The track was now asphalt rather than gravel, and the likes of Mays, Hans Stuck
and Whitney Straight
battled for supremacy in International events. At the last meeting before World War II
, in June 1939, Mays set a new record of 37.37 seconds in his ERA
R4D - the machine which still holds the hill record for a pre-WW2 car, having recorded 33.71 seconds in the hands of Mac Hulbert in 2004.
Hillclimbing resumed at the track in 1947, and the 1950s saw a move from Saturday to Sunday meetings, despite protests from, among others, the Lord's Day Observance Society
. Several Formula One
drivers competed regularly at Shelsley in this era, among them four-time British Hill Climb Championship
winner Ken Wharton
who broke the hill record on four occasions, and Tony Marsh
. The young Stirling Moss
would have made his competition debut at Shelsley in 1947, but the entry list was full; he had to be content with a win in 1948.
The first sub-30 second climb at Shelsley was made by David Hepworth
in 1971 in his own four-wheel-drive Hepworth FF, and little by little the outright record was chipped away - particularly by Alister Douglas-Osborn, who broke it no fewer than eight times between 1976 and 1983 - until Richard Brown brought it down to 25.34 seconds in 1992. However, an increasingly uneven surface made smooth runs more difficult, and at the turn of the century the 25 second barrier had still not been broken. Meanwhile, the MAC had a much more pressing problem to confront.
The land on which the Shelsley course is run is not owned by the MAC, but is rather leased from a local landowner. The original lease, taken out in 1905, ran for the common length of 99 years - which meant that a solution was urgently needed if 2004 was not to mark the end of hillclimbing at the venue. The owners of the land would not consider selling it outright, but were prepared to extend the lease (by a further 99 years). This, however, would cost a very substantial sum of money, and so the MAC launched the Shelsley Trust, with the aim of raising over a million pounds in order to secure the future of hillclimbing at Shelsley. This target was achieved, and the new lease signed in 2005.
For nine years the track record stood at 25.34 seconds and many wondered when it would fall again and who could beat the record. The Scottish driver Graeme Wight Jr
was the first to achieve the feat, in 2002, and he collected the £1,000 prize which had been put up for the first driver to dip under 25 seconds with a run of 24.85 seconds. The record was lowered several more times in the next few years, including two records in 2008
by three-time reigning champion Martin Groves
. In the June meeting, he took the record down to 22.71 seconds and then shaved 0.13 seconds off that record in the August meeting to set the record at 22.58 seconds.
1 Day At Shelsley Walsh: http://www.zipp.co.uk/1-day-at-shelsley-walsh
Hillclimbing
Hillclimbing is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course....
in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, organised by the Midland Automobile Club (MAC). It is one of the oldest motorsport
Motorsport
Motorsport or motorsports is the group of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles, whether for racing or non-racing competition...
events in the world, and is in fact the oldest to have been staged continuously (wartime excepted) on its original course, first having been run in 1905. On that first occasion, the course was 992 yards (907 m) in length, but in 1907 it was standardised at 1000 yards (914 m), the length it remains today.
Shelsley Walsh is a notably steep course by the standards of today's hillclimbs. It rises 328 feet (100 m) during its length, for an average gradient of 1 in 9.14 (10.9%), with the steepest section being as much as 1 in 6.24 (16%). This makes Shelsley a hill on which power is important, and on which the gap in times between the most powerful cars and the rest is greater than at many other venues. It is also narrow, being no more than 12 feet (3.66 m) wide at some points.
History
The winner of the first event, held on Saturday 12 August 1905, was Ernest Instone (35 hp DaimlerDaimler Motor Company
The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...
), who established the hill record by recording a time of 77.6 seconds for an average speed of 26.15 mph (42.08 km/h). However, at that time hillclimbs were not strictly speed events at all, performances being rated in terms of a formula based on power and cars of 20 hp or more being required to be four-seaters and to carry passengers. There was also the question of whether a particular car would make it up the hill at all. In fact, in these early years, drivers' actual times were not even announced to spectators!
Shelsley Walsh winners from 1906 to 1913
| Year | Handicap | Fastest Time | Time sec | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 | T.W. Husband (Alldays) | F.A. Coleman (White Steam) | 80.6 | June 16. |
| 1907 | T.W.Bowen (Talbot) | J.E. Hutton (Berliet) | 67.2 | |
| 1908 | P.C. Kidner (Vauxhall) | S.F. Edge Selwyn Edge Selwyn Francis Edge was an Australian businessman, racing driver, and record-breaker. He is principally associated with selling and racing De Dion-Bouton, Gladiator; Clemént-Panhard, Napier and AC cars.-Personal life:... (Napier) |
65.4 | |
| 1909 | P.C. Kidner (Vauxhall) | H.C. Holder (Daimler) | 68.4 | |
| 1910 | R. Lisle (Star) | O.S. Thompson (Austin) | 70.2 | |
| 1911 | P.C. Kidner (Vauxhall) | H.C. Holder (Daimler) | 63.4 | June 10. |
| 1912 | C. Bianchi (Crossley) | J. Higginson (La Buire) | 68.8 | June 22. |
| 1913 | H.G. Day (Talbot) | L. Hands (Talbot) | 57.2 | June 7. |
| Cycle Cars | ||||
| G.W. Hands (Calthorpe) | W.D. South (Morgan) | 91.4 | ||
Restrictions on competing cars were dropped from 1913, meaning that specialised racing cars were now eligible to enter Shelsley. Unsurprisingly, climbs immediately became much faster, and on June 7, 1913, Joseph Higginson's Vauxhall 30/98 recorded the best time of the day: 55.2 seconds, more than eight seconds faster than H. C. Holder's mark of 63.4 seconds which had been set just two years before. The First World War intervened and hillclimbing did not resume until July 1920.
Shelsley Walsh winners from 1920 to 1924
| Year | Driver | FTD | Driver | FTD (1,500 c.c.) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | C.A. Bird (Sunbeam) | 58.4 sec | A Frazer-Nash Archibald Frazer-Nash Archibald Goodman Frazer Nash , was an early English motor car designer and engineer, who specialised in manufacturer of light and sports cars in England.... (G.N.) |
60.2 sec | July 3. |
| 1921 | C.A. Bird (Sunbeam) | 52.2 sec | A Frazer-Nash (G.N.) | 54.8 sec | Sep 10. |
| 1922 | M.C. Park (Vauxhall) | 53.8 sec | H.K. Moir (Aston Martin Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire... ) |
57.2 sec | Aug 29. |
| 1923 | R. Mays Raymond Mays Thomas Raymond Mays CBE was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from Bourne, Lincolnshire, England.He attended Oundle School, where he met Amherst Villiers, leaving at the end of 1917. After army service in the Grenadier Guards in France, he attended Christ's College, Cambridge... (Bugatti) |
51.9 sec R | R. Mays (Bugatti) | 51.9 sec | Sep 8. |
| 1924 | C. Paul (Beardmore) | 50.2 sec R | R. Mays (Bugatti) | 50.8 sec | July 19. |
Key: R = Course Record.
Times continued to come down, and during the 1920s the emphasis moved firmly away from reliability and onto speed. Basil Davenport was perhaps Shelsley's first "superstar", breaking the hill record four times between 1926 and 1928 in his GN
GN (car)
thumb|right|200px|Richard Scaldwell's JAP-engined GN Grand Prix special at the VSCC SeeRed race meeting, Donington Park, September 2007. The GN has a 5.1 litre V8 aero-engine shoehorned into its lightweight cyclecar frame....
"Spider", but even more significant was the appearance on the hill of Raymond Mays
Raymond Mays
Thomas Raymond Mays CBE was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from Bourne, Lincolnshire, England.He attended Oundle School, where he met Amherst Villiers, leaving at the end of 1917. After army service in the Grenadier Guards in France, he attended Christ's College, Cambridge...
.
The 1930s were a golden era for Shelsley. The track was now asphalt rather than gravel, and the likes of Mays, Hans Stuck
Hans Stuck
Hans Stuck was a German motor racing driver...
and Whitney Straight
Whitney Straight
Air Commodore Whitney Willard Straight CBE, MC, DFC was a Grand Prix motor racing driver, aviator, businessman, and a member of the prominent Whitney family of the United States....
battled for supremacy in International events. At the last meeting before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in June 1939, Mays set a new record of 37.37 seconds in his ERA
English Racing Automobiles
English Racing Automobiles was a British racing car manufacturer active from 1933 to 1954. Currently the ERA trademark is owned by a British kit-car manufacturer.-Prewar history:...
R4D - the machine which still holds the hill record for a pre-WW2 car, having recorded 33.71 seconds in the hands of Mac Hulbert in 2004.
Lord's Day Observance Society
Day One Christian Ministries is a Christian organisation based in the United Kingdom that lobbies for no work on Sunday, the day that many Christians celebrate as the Sabbath, a day of rest — a position based on the fourth of the Ten Commandments.Originally founded in 1831 as the Lord's Day...
. Several Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
drivers competed regularly at Shelsley in this era, among them four-time British Hill Climb Championship
British Hill Climb Championship
The British Hill Climb Championship is the most prestigious Hillclimbing championship in Great Britain. Hillclimbing in the British Isles has a rich history and this event has been held every year since 1947.All British Champions have been British...
winner Ken Wharton
Ken Wharton
Kenneth Wharton was a British racing driver from England. He began competing in the new National 500cc Formula in his own special, later acquiring a Cooper. Ken participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1952 and scored a total of 3 championship points...
who broke the hill record on four occasions, and Tony Marsh
Tony Marsh (racing driver)
Anthony Ernest "Tony" Marsh was a British racing driver from England. His Formula One career was short and unsuccessful, but he enjoyed great success in hillclimbing, winning the British Hill Climb Championship on a record six occasions.Having begun his hillclimbing career in 1953 with a...
. The young Stirling Moss
Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE FIE is a former racing driver from England...
would have made his competition debut at Shelsley in 1947, but the entry list was full; he had to be content with a win in 1948.
The first sub-30 second climb at Shelsley was made by David Hepworth
David Hepworth (racing driver)
David Hepworth was a British racing driver, who won the British Hill Climb Championship twice, in 1969 and 1971.In the early-mid 1960s Hepworth drove an Austin-Healey 3000 fitted with a Chevrolet engine in both rallies and circuit racing, but by 1968 he was driving a Hepworth-Oldsmobile; in this he...
in 1971 in his own four-wheel-drive Hepworth FF, and little by little the outright record was chipped away - particularly by Alister Douglas-Osborn, who broke it no fewer than eight times between 1976 and 1983 - until Richard Brown brought it down to 25.34 seconds in 1992. However, an increasingly uneven surface made smooth runs more difficult, and at the turn of the century the 25 second barrier had still not been broken. Meanwhile, the MAC had a much more pressing problem to confront.
The land on which the Shelsley course is run is not owned by the MAC, but is rather leased from a local landowner. The original lease, taken out in 1905, ran for the common length of 99 years - which meant that a solution was urgently needed if 2004 was not to mark the end of hillclimbing at the venue. The owners of the land would not consider selling it outright, but were prepared to extend the lease (by a further 99 years). This, however, would cost a very substantial sum of money, and so the MAC launched the Shelsley Trust, with the aim of raising over a million pounds in order to secure the future of hillclimbing at Shelsley. This target was achieved, and the new lease signed in 2005.
For nine years the track record stood at 25.34 seconds and many wondered when it would fall again and who could beat the record. The Scottish driver Graeme Wight Jr
Graeme Wight Jr
Graeme Wight, Jr. is a Scottish racing driver, best known for his success in hillclimbing, where he has won two British championships.Wight began competing in hillclimbs at an early age, but in September 1992, still only 21, he was badly injured in a road accident when the brakes failed on his...
was the first to achieve the feat, in 2002, and he collected the £1,000 prize which had been put up for the first driver to dip under 25 seconds with a run of 24.85 seconds. The record was lowered several more times in the next few years, including two records in 2008
2008 British Hill Climb Championship season
The 2008 Nicholson McLaren Engines British Hill Climb Championship season was the 62nd British Hill Climb Championship season. It was the last year in which Nicholson McLaren sponsored the championship, as MCL Motorhomes took over the championship sponsorship for 2009. The series was contested...
by three-time reigning champion Martin Groves
Martin Groves
Martin Groves is a British hillclimb driver, who won the British Hill Climb Championship in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010. With older cars he had won five rounds of the BHCC between 2001 and 2004 , but in 2005 he was exceptionally quick in his new Gould GR55, clinching the championship at Craigantlet...
. In the June meeting, he took the record down to 22.71 seconds and then shaved 0.13 seconds off that record in the August meeting to set the record at 22.58 seconds.
External links
Official Shelsley Walsh web site: http://www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk/1 Day At Shelsley Walsh: http://www.zipp.co.uk/1-day-at-shelsley-walsh