On the weekend of 8th & 9th September the Midland Automobile Club successfully staged their first weekend of exciting hillclimb action following the July 20th rains and consequent landslip at the world famous Shelsley Walsh. In beautiful weather and with numerous class records, competitors, spectators and officials pronounced the venue better than ever.
It took enormous effort from Club Secretary Roger Thomas and his team including their enthusiastic and resourceful local civil engineering contractor to get the hill in perfect condition for the event and those who had seen the original flood damage were astonished to see the perfect state of the repaired area as the venue staged a round of the UK Changes Midland Hillclimb championship.
Best Time of the Day (BTD) went to Deryk Young (Yarkhill) in his Gould GR51-Judd racing car and Deryk won the first Avon/BMTR Top Twelve Run-Off and shared first place in the second Run-Off in an identical time to Simon Durling in his similar but smaller capacity Gould who can count the hill as his driveway, living in the farmhouse at the very top.
Competitors were encouraged by their pre practice session walk of the hill and responded during the event with some terrific performances. Notable amongst these was 25 year old Robert Kenrick of Llangollen in his Force-Suzuki who snatched away the 1.6 litre racing car record from the even younger 19 year old Chris Pickering from Warwickshire who only minutes previously had lowered his own record taken at the June Shelsley event. Brodie Branch from Polegate, Sussex, in another Force took the 1100cc racing car record away from the absent George Brown and David Oldridge of Droitwich took the 600cc racing car record in his diminutive OMS.
Robert Kenrick got his needle-nosed Force into both Avon/BMTR Top Twelve Run-Offs and scored points ahead of much larger capacity cars. His mother Liz pronounced his performances as “simply frightening”.
In all, the timekeepers result sheets show a total of 7 class records being taken on the day. Peter Cox from nearby Abberley took the unlimited classic racing car record and Nick Glazzard took the Classic Lotus record then later walked away from a shocking looking crash that was testament to the car, the condition of the hill and the efforts of the dedicated marshaling team.
Action returns to Shelsley for the last time in 2007 on October 6th & 7th with a meeting rescheduled from August. This will incorporate the final rounds of the 2007 Nicholson McLaren Aviation MSA British Hillclimb Championship, the Power-Mec Hillclimb Leaders Championship and the UK Changes Midland Hillclimb Championship. There will also be a special celebration of the 60th anniversary of the RAC/MSA British Hillclimb Championship with past winners and their cars on the hill. The event may be late in the year but is unmissable.
Shelsley Walsh is AA signposted approximately 10 miles North West of Worcester. Practice is on Saturday and the event starts at 10:00 on Sunday. Admission is £8 on Saturday and £12 on Sunday while accompanied children under 16 get in free. This includes parking, transfer to the paddock, and seated trackside enclosures. Excellent catering and light refreshment facilites are available as are a range of souvenirs and regalia.
