Over the weekend of July 31 / August 1, the fastest hillclimb drivers in the UK will be competing for honours within the grounds of the beautiful Wiscombe Park estate at Honiton in an event run by the Woolbridge Motor Club.
This year’s Championship is finely balanced, currently led by the 2019, and current Champion, Wallace Menzies in his Gould GR59M with 142 points. He is, however, only five points ahead of 2015 Champion Alex Summers in his DJ Firestorm. These two rapid front runners are being closely shadowed by Sean Gould in his Gould GR59J with 100 points.
Sean’s father, David, is the constructor of the cars raced by Sean and Wallace. In fact, Gould cars have been the dominant force in British hillclimbing since 1998 notching up 19 titles with various drivers – only Trevor Willis in his OMS has disturbed this run with his three British titles.
For those not aware of this branch of motorsport, imagine Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes F1 car blasting up a narrow country lane with sharp hairpins against the clock – that is speed hillclimbing. The top single seater race cars will be as powerful as Hamilton’s race car - some cars using ex-F1 engines.
Motorsport fans can expect to be treated to a spectacular display of speed hillclimbing by the UK’s best and fastest drivers. The last time the British Championship was at Wiscombe in 2019, Wallace Menzies set a new hill record for the 1000 yard course at 33.13s.
There is a good chance that this will be beaten. Wallace, Alex and Sean have been setting new hill records at most of the venues they have visited this year. It is a positive omen.
There will be a very varied entry of around 150 cars that will be contesting rounds of the Wiscombe Park Tillicoultry Quarries Championship, Triple M / Pirelli HSA Speed Championship and Downton MC DEWS Championship.
There is a 50% reduction in the number of spectators allowed to this event, so demand for tickets is likely to be high. Please visit the Wiscombe Park website www.wiscombepark.co.uk to purchase tickets for the event and to keep up to date with all the latest news.
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