Tracks in Time Hawkesbury Hill Climb
In the immediate post WW2 years, hill climbing was big. All you needed was a hill, after all. In western Europe, there were plenty of these, the larger ones more accurately being mountains, and the runs could be up to 30 kilometres. In the Antipodes, the courses tended to be much shorter, demanding explosive acceleration and as little weight as possible. Adhering to the status quo, it was primarily a car sport, but motorcycles nevertheless played a part, although the danger element increased substantially given the usually rugged and unforgiving nature of the surroundings.
The Australian Hill Climb
Championships (for cars), was instigated in 1938 and run at the still-extant Rob Roy climb at Smiths Gully, Victoria. The track was built from scratch on a property originally known as Clinton’s Pleasure Grounds. Only one AHCC was held prior to the war, on a gravel surface, and when the title was reinstated in 1947, Rob Roy was again the venue, now with the surface fully bitumen, as it was for the next two years. The 1948 event however drew severe criticism from competitors over the crumbling condition of the short 695-metre climb, which really had only three corners.
This unrest led to a movement to relocate the championship for 1949, and the venue selected was not on private property, but part of a public road. The location was a section of the minor Springwood Road on the western side of the Nepean River at what is now known as Hawkesbury Heights; a sinuous climb with several hairpin bends between Yarramundi and Winmalee. Naturally this required permission to close the road for competition, but this was apparently accomplished with little of the opposition that could be expected from such a suggestion today. Both Yarramundi and Winmalee could be accessed via the main Castlereagh Road and Great Western Highway on the opposite side of the river, and there was little apart from scrub on the hill climb itself, which culminated in the Hawkesbury Panorama Lookout ‚
with its expansive views of the river far below. Most of this road was gravel, with the notable exception of the ascent itself, which was bitumen.
Surprisingly, both the NSW Police and the local Colo Shire Council were most willing to meet the request of the promoting clubs to close the road to normal traffic for the event, which began at 10.30am for a two-hour practice period. The section used for the actual Hill Climb course measured 7/8 miles (1.4km) and officially included nine corners or bends. Initially it was a cars-only venue, and in fact motorcycles ran there only once, on November 25th, 1951. In Sydney, the bikes enjoyed the use of several other tar hill climbs, including nearby Silverdale and Foley’s Hill at Mona Vale.
Hawkesbury Hill’s first meeting took place on what was then termed Anniversary Day, January 26th, 1948, a combined promotion between the Vintage Sports Car Club and the Australian Sporting Car Club. At this meeting the start was a short distance back towards Sydney, making the total length of the actual course close to one mile, however this was subsequently shortened. Ray Mitchell, driving a Ford V8-engined Jeep, set up the initial course record at 1 minute 3.4 seconds. At the second meeting on May 16, 1948, Frank Kleinig carved this down to 58.84 seconds and in the September 1948 event the same driver took the mark down to 58.0 seconds.
Being carved into a steep hillside, minor landslides were not uncommon, and loose gravel would present an additional challenge on occasions. Gradually retaining walls were erected in strategic places to halt the rocks.
Other improvements were gradually made by Colo Council and the venue quickly established itself as a popular outing in the scenic Hawkesbury district. With the complaints over the track surface that followed the running of the 1948 AHCC at Rob Roy, the combined clubs succeeded in snaring the 1949 Australian title for Hawkesbury, to be held in April. Curiously, the track length was officially given at 7/10 mile (1.13 km) for this meeting, but it seems this was more a book-keeping error than a change to the course. Again it was Kleinig in his red Hudson Special who prevailed, retaining his title but just missing out on a new record climb.
Two further meetings were staged that year – the October event notable for a spectacular roll over by Ron Tauranac (later Jack Brabham’s partner and constructor of the World Championship winning Repco Brabhams) in his 500cc JAP-engined RALT, which he built with his brother Austin. The year’s activity concluded on November 27, when just 16 competitors faced the starter. Severe petrol rationing was given as the main reason for the poor turnout.
There was somewhat of a sensation at the May, 1950 meeting when 19year-old Jack Brabham, driving a midget speedcar powered by an air-cooled v-twin engine, smashed the outright record to 54.55 seconds, but the time was disallowed as the car did not conform to F.I.A. specifications. ‚
Australian Motor Sports magazine reported, “The approach roads to Hawkesbury (Hill Climb), both upper and lower, are now so wretchedly bad that spectators are starting to make a point of staying away.” The New South Wales Championships, set down for June but washed out, was rescheduled for July and again run in front of a paltry crowd. The May, 1951 NSW Championship meeting, where John Crouch in his Cooper Vincent set what would be the all-time record of 55.95 seconds, would prove to be the final fling for cars on Hawkesbury Hill, but not for the climb itself.
At the time, motorcycle road racing was at a low ebb in New South Wales. Only the annual Bathurst event at Easter, plus an occasional squirt up and down
Castlereagh Airstrip, gave the ‘tar boys’ a chance to race. Plans were under way to include motorcycles at the Parramatta Park circuit, but this did not happen until late 1952. So hill climbing was an option, albeit against the clock rather than actual racing, but at least it was a ride.
Several motorcycle clubs had long been keen to conduct their own events at Hawkesbury, but had failed to convince the police to issue a permit. However with the departure of the cars, pressure was applied to the Colo Council and the result was an agreement to conduct a motorcycle-only meeting on November 25th, 1951, promoted by the Waverley District MCC. Bikes were still running at Foley’s Hill, and the meeting in late 1950 had attracted many of the sport’s big names, including Jack Ahearn, Tommy Hanson, Dave Jenkins, Keith Bryen, Allen Burt and Doug Williams.
There was great interest therefore at the chance to tackle the Hawkesbury climb, and entries poured in from far and wide. As well as Burt and Bryen, the top names included Bill Morris on Ron Kessing’s special JAP-engined Velocette which was known as ‘The Thing’, Monty South on Eric McPherson’s 7R AJS, Keith Stewart on speedway star Arthur Trudget’s 500cc Matchless, Keith Conley on a 7R AJS fitted with a Shelsley Matchless engine, Tony McAlpine on Harold Braun’s Vincent Black Lightning, Jack Forrest’s Manx Norton, and even tiddlers like John Seary’s amazing Lambretta on which he won the Clubman’s class at the recent Bathurst meeting. There was also a sidecar class. The official starter and judge was Harry Hinton, who had only recently returned from Europe.
Sadly, and despite extensive research, there appears to be no record of the meeting available, other than a Central MCC newsletter that states that “Keith Stewart had an outstanding day”. It is therefore unknown who actually set the fastest time of the day, or whether the motorcycles succeeded in breaking Crouch’s outright record. The only known report of the meetings was in the fortnightly paper The NSW Motorcyclist, dated 30th November, 1951, so if any reader has a copy that would provide the vital missing information. Fortunately, a few photographs have come to light from the collection of the late Keith Stewart
who famously won the 1954 Redex Motorcycle Trial on a Matchless G9.
These days, what was the Hawkesbury Panoramic Hill Climb is a well-used road providing a scenic route between Agnes Banks near Richmond, where the Hawkesbury River is crossed, and Springwood on the Great Western Highway. It is not surprisingly a popular weekend run for motorcyclists, but it’s a fair bet that few, if any, would be aware that this twisty stretch of road once hosted the cream of New South Wales’ road racers, who scorched up the hill on pukka racing machinery with open exhausts. Now that would be music to the ears.