GOING UPHILL, AND GOING QUICKLY
The British Hillclimb Championship is set for another sensational year of competition. Paul Lawrence previews the coming season
The British Hillclimb Championship is the longeststanding motorsport competition to carry the British title, having run since 1947 with only the 2020 season lost to the Covid pandemic. It predates British Formula 3, British touring cars and the British Rally Championship.
Top-level hillclimbing is incredibly competitive, and yet retains an unrivalled sporting atmosphere that has typified the sport for decades. Once strapped in with the visor down, the competition is savage but out of the car it’s another weekend spent with friends, taking part in a branch of the sport they all love.
Rules are remarkably few. The overall dimension of the car has some limits but, beyond that, it is down to engineering ingenuity and driver ability. Unlike so many branches of the sport, there is no success ballast, no driver grading, no DRS and no pitstop penalties. It’s simply the fastest car up the hill that takes the big prize.
Heading into the new season, it is Scotsman Wallace Menzies who is undoubtedly the man to beat in his Gould GR59. The purpose-built carbonfibre tub is propelled by a 3.3-litre Cosworth XD IndyCar engine using a sixspeed sequential gearbox with paddleshift. Add in launch control and traction control and it is a state-of-the-art device, fully rebuilt over the winter after a high-speed off at Shelsley Walsh last August.
Menzies has now won four titles on the bounce starting in 2019, despite sitting out 2020 like everyone, and it’s easy to see him being the standard setter for the coming year. If Wallace can win the 2024 crown he will set a new record for consecutive titles, beating Ken Wharton’s four on the trot from the early 1950s.
However, Menzies is quick to point out that this is not just about winning. This is about the shared experience of competing against the clock in 700bhp cars on roads that are only a little wider than the car in places and enjoying the whole hillclimbing adventure with friends and rivals.
“I’ve hillclimbed since 1998, because I really, really enjoy it and I love the sport,” says Menzies. “And that’s why I’m doing it. If you did it just to win a championship, good luck to you. But I couldn’t do that. I’m not doing it for that. I’m doing it because I really, really enjoy the sport and the people.”
If Menzies does score his fifth title, he will move closer to the record six British titles bagged by Scott Moran and Tony Marsh. Ironically, Moran will be the notable absentee from the 2024 season, having decided to step back from chasing the BHC to give more time to his young family. He’ll still be around and will tend the Gould GR59 of Graham Wynn across the Midland championship.
Moran’s incredible pace and consistency will be one fewer problem for Menzies to face this year and many pundits tip young Matthew Ryder to be the biggest rival to the flying Scotsman.
Ryder has stepped up to the top level in impressive style with the Gould GR59 that he shares with owner and creator Sean Gould and Ryder’s pace allied to growing consistency could form the biggest threat to Menzies.
When the stars align, Gould is as quick as anyone and remains the holder of one of hillclimbing’s ultimate accolades, the hill record at Shelsley Walsh. As well as being a gifted engineer, Sean is a fierce competitor.
Another GR59 sure to be well in contention this year is that of Will Hall who gave the debut to his new car early last season. On his day Hall was very quick and now that he has a year’s experience of the GR59 under his belt he will seek to add consistency to his undoubted pace. Like the Ryder and Gould car, Hall’s GR59 runs a four-litre former Le Mans engine from Judd.
Alex Summers already has a BHC crown under his belt and should bounce back well after a
mixed season in 2023. He opened last year showing off his stunning self-designed and family built AFS P4t and the sensational V6-powered single-seater turned heads and won admirers every time it appeared. It will run regularly in the hands of his father Richard this year, while Summers focuses once more on his Ford Cosworth V8powered DJ Firestorm.
Revving as high as 14,000rpm, the Firestorm is stunning to see and hear and Summers Jr is as quick as anyone. If a series of niggling problems from ’23 are settled, he will be a massive contender and a big problem for his friend and rival Menzies.
Champion Trevor Willis is back for more in his 3.2-litre OMS 28 and lacks nothing in commitment and car control. Though the RTE unit gives away power to the very quickest cars, if conditions are changeable or slippery, Willis will come into his own.
Dave Uren is capable of a big result on his day in his older Gould GR55 with a 3.5-litre Nicholson McLaren V8 unit. As usual Uren
will share the car with Nichola Menzies at selected events.
The days when the quickest of the smaller-engined cars could fight for overall glory are generally gone unless weather plays a hand. But that doesn’t stop drivers such as Paul Haimes and David Warburton in Gould GR59s being regular top-10 contenders and displaying incredible commitment to get the smaller cars up among the big bangers. Richard Spedding, too, lacks nothing in attack with his 1600cc Hayabusa-powered
GWR Raptor 2.
Knocking on the door of the top 10 are several newer faces, including young Jack Cottrill in his IndyCar-powered Dallara and Harry Pick in his similarly motivated OMS. Both will be chasing that all important top 10 number at the end of the season.
For the fans, there are some fabulous venues on the schedule and the spectacle of the top cars being driven on the limit is truly memorable. At 77 years of age, the British Hillclimb Championship is as good as it has ever been. ■