{"id":48640,"date":"2017-08-29T10:27:28","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T09:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=48640"},"modified":"2019-12-23T12:25:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T12:25:47","slug":"classic-speed-hillclimb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/cars\/classic-speed-hillclimb\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic Speed Championship – Hillclimb Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damp air on wet gravel. Molasses-gloopy tar hangs in the air, acid grass cutting through the base notes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Up on the hillside, hooded jackets and umbrellas sprout from under the canopy. Orange-suited marshals fuss around their posts: taking half a shelter under jutting coats or wooden roofs, flags twitching with lighthouse-keeper anticipation. A voice crackles through a radio system, \u2018Section Clear!\u2019<\/p>\n

Action bursts through the raindrops, tyres squawking at the foot of the hill, far out of sight, as a couple of hundred necks crane closer to anticipation. Not yet. But soon. Down in Vox Villa, the antique commentary box clustered high above the thin-laned pits, a pair of Queen\u2019s English annunciators wax poetic on the approaching racer\u2019s backstory. \u2018Wobbly web\u2019 and \u2018period racing history\u2019 crackle through the megaphones, doing what they can to fight through the rising murmur of a hard-working engine.<\/p>\n

\"Hillclimb<\/a><\/figure>\n

We\u2019re at Classic Nostalgia<\/em>, an annual celebration of the high-speed and the historic based at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, buried deep in a Worcestershire valley. The hillclimb has been hosting events continuously, world wars excepted, since 1905 and it\u2019s a location that retains strong links to its past. Over the last hour, we\u2019ve been treated to everything from home-tuned Austin 7s to a stately Maserati 8CM but now it\u2019s time for my favourite classes of all: the Classic Speed Championship.<\/p>\n

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The Bugatti Owners\u2019 Club Aldon Automotive Classic Speed Championship, to give it its full name, offers a home for purpose-built racing cars built before 1972 and sports and saloon cars constructed prior to 1977. In those later two categories, cars can be as standard or as modified as the competitor chooses but must remain road-legal. The car\u2019s silhouette must remain near standard, while engine, transmission and suspension alterations must have been possible in period, but, overall, the reigns are loose and creativity guides the builds. Where else will you see a Beetle fitted with a 2.7-litre Porsche flat six and whale tail spoiler face off against a visually standard MG, or a bright orange Broadspeed Jaguar XJC replica trade blows with a turbocharged and V8-swapped TR7?<\/p>\n

\"Hillclimb\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a really good weekend for all involved,\u201d Simon Braithwaite, who runs the classichillclimb.com website and competes in the championship behind the wheel of a seriously quick Mark 1 Escort. \u201cIt\u2019s well organised, there\u2019s a great atmosphere in the paddock and the track conditions are pretty good.\u201d One element that\u2019s shaken up the championship this season is handicap scoring, where each competitor has to match a predetermined target time unique to their car as closely as possible. It\u2019s a simple but effective way to make every car and driver competitive: now a family car has the same shot at victory as a fire-breathing thoroughbred.<\/p>\n

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Huddled on the bank above Top S, it\u2019s the variety of shapes and sounds the series provide that keeps the sodden fans in their seats. The engine note has risen to a crisp blare now, punctuated by a crisp gutter and flare as the driver shifts down a gear and turns in. The car pitches into view, the slippery smooth body of a Lotus Elite, leaning hard onto its outer wheels as it skates across the track and snaps into a drift. It slithers up the hill, rasping back to the redline: the front tucked into the next right, the rear yawing on behind as it shoots beneath us and onto the finish.<\/p>\n

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Over the next 15 minutes, car after car tries to top it. A Mini shoulders by, one rear wheel hoisted in the air; a broad-hipped Jag fights for a losing battle for traction, snapping sideways; an AC Cobra burbles through, smooth and collected. They shoot up the hillclimb, each a cacophony of distinctive noises, looks and lines.<\/p>\n

Old cars, big speeds and an even bigger dose of individuality: it\u2019s a compelling recipe, even on a showery Sunday afternoon.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t