CRAIGANTLET
Round 3
2nd May 2020
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2024 SEASON PREVIEW
The British Hillclimb Championship (BHC) is one of the purest forms of competition left in top flight motor sport. Autosport’s Paul Lawrence and BHC Commercial Lead Stuart Webster take a look at the 2024 championship season.
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The BHC can proudly boast to pre-date every other British motor sport title. It first ran back in 1947 and this year will be its 77th season, with only the 2020 Covid pandemic stopping an unbroken run. It started before British Formula 3, British Touring Cars and the British Rally Championship and remains as fiercely competitive as ever.
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The 2024 BHC presented by Nova Motorsport, the first year of a new five year deal to support the Championship and sport of Hillclimbing, is an exciting venture for Nova, who have purchased the assets of Avon Tyres. This deal gives the sport the security of a major specialist tyre supplier for the years ahead.
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Remarkably, there are very few rules for top flight Hillclimbing where 420kg, 700bhp projectiles teeming with electronics create an incredible spectacle on the 10 hills visited during the Championship.
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Aside from some basic rules about the overall dimensions of the cars, there is little to hinder engineering ingenuity and driver talent. This is driver and machine against the clock in its purest form and the spectacle is amazing.
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Standing firmly at the top of the Hillclimbing tree are the over two-litre single seaters that usually set the pace in the BHC. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg for this branch of the sport and Hillclimbing is truly a broad church with competition to suit all tastes and pockets. Beneath the over two-litre cars are single seater classes split at 1100cc, 1600cc and two litres. The fastest of them will be in the hunt for championship points in the top 12 run-offs that are the pinnacle of any BHC round.
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On their day, the best of the smaller engined cars can get up amongst those with more power, but that task gets harder and harder as the years go by. Changeable weather will give the smaller engine runners their best chance of overall glory but it still takes massive commitment to get an under 2-litre car into a run-off. In 2023, only Paul Haimes and David Warburton forced their Hayabusa-engined Goulds into the final championship top 10 standings.
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Typically, the smaller engined cars rely on motorbike engines and the 1600cc Suzuki Hayabusa is a popular choice. When packaged into one of the purpose-built Hillclimb cars from specialist constructors like GWR, OMS, Empire, Force and DJ, the result can be as much as 400bhp propelling as little as 330kg.
Paul Haimes exits Kennel Bend at Shelsley Walsh
Photo by: Captureyourcar Photography
At the head of the action are the over 2-litre single-seaters. Long, long ago these tended to be former circuit racing cars but the era when March, McLaren, Brabham and McRae provided the weapons of choice ended in the late 1970s. For more than four decades, Pilbeam and Gould have dominated the top of the sport and Roger Moran was the last champion in a Pilbeam back in 1997. Since then, 22 of the 25 titles have been won by Gould, a run only broken by three excellent titles for Trevor Willis in an OMS.
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With the last four titles under his belt, Wallace Menzies is the man to beat and his Gould GR59 is the state of the art Hillclimb car of the moment. The purpose built carbon fibre tub is mated to a 3.3-litre Cosworth XD IndyCar engine using an Xtrac six-speed sequential gearbox with paddle shift. A complex launch and traction control system stops the wheels spinning most of the time by monitoring the relevant speeds of the front and rear wheels.
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An extensive aero set-up completes the package, with complex multi-plane front wings. Even though the car is frequently operating at speeds between 25mph and 100mph, downforce remains an important element of performance.
This coming season, most of Menzies’ chief rivals will also be Gould mounted as Matt Ryder and Sean Gould share a GR59 and Will Hall fields his own GR59. Missing from the mix will be six-time champion Scott Moran, runner up last year in Graham Wynn’s GR59, as Moran takes what will hopefully be a temporary step back from competing at this level.
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While Menzies relies on the 3.3-litre Cosworth XD, the late 1990s IndyCar power unit, Ryder, Gould and Hall have all opted for the slightly newer 4-litre Le Mans engine developed by Judd at the turn of the millennium. Meanwhile, Alex Summers goes his own way with a DJ Firestorm chassis fitted with one of the incredibly successful Ford Cosworth V8 IndyCar engines, originally developed in the late 1970s. At 2650cc it gives away some power to its rivals but offers tremendous driveability as it revs as high as 14,000rpm. After what at times was a difficult 2023 season, Alex is due a little good luck in the season ahead. Surely he will regularly return to the sharp end and maybe even challenge for the Championship.
Alex Summers attacks the Esses at Doune Hillclimb
Photo by: David Baxter
Trevor Willis is another who tends to lose out when power is all with the 3200cc RTE in his OMS 28. The engine is effectively two 1600cc Suzuki Hayabusas mated together but ‘Scary Trev’s’ renowned commitment and car control can often go a long way to making up the power deficit. Dave Uren and Nicola Menzies share an older Gould GR55 with a 3.5-litre Nicholson McLaren V8 engine, another unit with its origins in IndyCar racing. For many years, the NME XB V8 was the engine to have on the hills but it takes all of Uren’s fierce determination to get it up into the top results these days. Nicola, wife of Wallace, is equally committed and is a regular run-off contender.
David Warburton shows his attacking style at Loton Park
Photo by: Ben Lawrence
Rounding out last year’s top 10 were the smaller engined Gould GR59s of Paul Haimes (1300cc turbo Hayabusa) and David Warburton (1600cc Hayabusa) while knocking on the door this year to try and get a top 10 number will be young Jack Cottrill in his 2650cc IndyCar powered Dallara and Richard Spedding in his 1600cc Hayabusa-powered GWR Raptor 2.
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Jack Cottrill exits Pardon Hairpin at Prescott
Photo by: Ben Lawrence
Menzies and Ryder will be two of the biggest contenders when the 2024 season kicks off at Craigantlet in Northern Ireland at the beginning of May, after the unfortunate weather induced postponement of Prescott.
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Menzies, aged 50, is a supplier to the construction industry from Alloa in Scotland. “We’ve got the same package as before with the 3.3-litre Cosworth engine. We're going to go from eight injectors up to 24 injectors which should give us a bit more on the straights.”
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“The dream and ambition is to do as well as we can and it's going to be as hard as ever this year. Ater 2019, winning the first Championship, you've almost got to then reassess what you're doing it for because that had always been the dream.”
“But I’ve competed in Hillclimbs since 1998, because I really, really enjoy it and I love the sport. 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.”
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Reigning British Champion Wallace Menzies at speed at Doune
Photo by: David Baxter
Ryder, aged 28, in an operations consultant from Oxfordshire. “To be honest, it is much the same from me for 2024: same car, same driver pairing with Sean Gould. I’ve been really happy with my improvement over the last couple of years.”
“I love the fact that you get one chance to make it happen. You have to judge the speed with no lap after lap practice to build up to it. I did a bit of circuit racing in my early life and loved it, but this is a challenge that you really have to do to properly understand.”
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“The adrenaline rush of getting it just right on the one run when it counts is something quite special. And then you mix that with the paddock environment which is lovely: the camaraderie with other drivers that you don't get in other forms of motor sport. I think Hillclimbing becomes something quite special.”
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Matt Ryder pushing on at Loton Park
Photo by: Ben Lawrence
The grandee hills of Shelsley Walsh, Prescott and Doune are at the heart of the calendar and are joined by trips to all corners of the UK making this the most British of British championships. From Wiscombe Park in Devon to Doune in Scotland, Craigantlet in Northern Ireland and Bouley Bay and Val des Terres in the Channel Islands this truly is a British Championship, and mounting a serious title assault requires significant commitment from participants.
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Local driver Nick Saunders at Val des Terres Guernsey
Photo by: Andrew le Poidevin
Hillclimbing is steeped in history and Shelsley Walsh is the daddy of them all having been in use since 1905. Only two World Wars have interrupted the Shelsley story. Prescott dates back to the late 1930s and other hills have a long history. Bouley Bay and Craigantlet joined Prescott and Shelsley Walsh in the inaugural five-round championship in 1947 alongside the Bo’Ness climb in Scotland.
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But Shelsley Walsh remains the place where everyone wants to win. The 1000-yard adrenaline rush up the side of the Teme Valley in rural Worcestershire is narrow, fast and challenging and the place just oozes history and atmosphere. In the summer of 2021, Sean Gould finally broke the hill record that had stood since 2008 when he catapulted his Gould GR59 to the top of the hill in 22.37s to claim one of the sport’s biggest accolades.
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Shelsley Walsh outright record holder Sean Gould pictured at Prescott
Photo by: Paul Lawrence
In August 1905, Ernest Instone and his three passengers urged their 35hp Daimler to the top of the gravel hill in 77.6s. In 1935, Raymond Mays took ERA R3A under 40s and in 1971 David Hepworth broke the 30s mark in his self-conceived four-wheel drive Hepworth Chevrolet. In August 2021, once he’d studied his data, Gould admitted that a run in close to 22s was feasible.
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Dave Uren blasts off the Shelsley Walsh start line
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While Shelsley is all about power and commitment, hills like the spectator friendly Prescott, Harewood, Wiscombe Park and Loton Park reward measured commitment as well as explosive bursts of power. Doune is all about accuracy and has been described as being like Shelsley Walsh but with even less run-off. Craigantlet, Bouley Bay and Val des Terres differ from the mainland hills in being temporary courses on closed roads.
Bouley Bay is noted for its lack of grip from wind-blown sand and dropped diesel and the traction control systems on the big cars are chattering away for much of the twisty 1011 yards. Val Des Terres, the shortest hill on the schedule at just 850 yards, demands precision as it dives across specially lowered pavements on the climb up from the sea front at St Peter Port.
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Beautiful Bouley Bay – Jersey
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With such a diverse range of venues, each of the leading contenders will have their favourites as well as hills where they just don’t click with the venue. Unusually, Gurston Down starts with a downhill run to a 120mph sweep along the valley before the very slow speed Karousel section and then another high-speed rush to the finish. Along with Bouley Bay, Prescott is one of the slowest hills but packs a lot of challenge into 1128 yards. At 1584 yards, Harewood is the longest and includes the famous charge between the buildings in the farmyard.
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Will Hall trying hard at Harewood
Photo by: Paul Lawrence
The class based BHC Cup has a new title sponsor for 2024. Now known as the BHC Cup presented by BMTR, the 2024 Championship features battles in the classes with competitors driving anything from a road going saloon or sports car right through to a 700 plus horsepower bespoke Hillclimb single seater race car.
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BMTR are a long-standing service provider of Avon Motorsport and now Nova Motorsport. After many years supporting the BHC and BHC Cup through their tyre sales and servicing facility, it is the next logical step for BMTR to support the Championship. The BMTR team will be present at many Hillclimb venues throughout the season offering advice and servicing to competitors in the BHC and BHC Cup.
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The 2023 BHC Cup was won by Johnathen Varley is his beautifully prepared GWR Raptor. With sixteen class wins during the season, including four new class records, Johnathen really did have a stellar season. He will be back to defend his title in 2024. He is unlikely to have it all his own way though, with many individuals looking to steal away his crown. No doubt it will be a hard fought campaign.
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2023 BHC Cup winner Johnathen Varley attacks Wiscombe’s Wis Corner in his GWR Raptor
Photo by: Nigel Cole
A new addition in 2023 the BHC Tin Top – Top Ten Challenge returns stronger in 2024. With two weekends added the Tin Top season consists of five events in 2024. 2023 winner Damien Bradley will be back for more in his monstrous 850+ horsepower Subaru Legacy. Damien secured the series win, at the final round at Loton Park at the end of September. He went toe to toe with his friend and driving partner Steven Darley throughout the season. The inaugural series showed its depth when Simon Bainbridge took victory, in the massive Audi engined SBR Chrono, in the final run-off at Loton Park.
With some new Tin Tops set to make an appearance the Tin Top – Top Ten Challenge is a fantastic addition to the BHC. Yorkshire based turbo specialist AET Turbos have stepped in as title sponsor for the season ahead. With Tin Top rounds taking place at Harewood, Wiscombe Park, Shelsley Walsh, Prescott and Doune it is sure to be a fascinating season.
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Hillclimbing has much to commend it to competitors, both current and future, and spectators. For the drivers, the intense concentration and adrenaline rush keep them coming back to a sport where camaraderie and friendship is central to the experience. Tools, equipment, spares and even whole cars are readily loaned to those with problems.
For the fans, there are some fabulous venues and access to cars and drivers is way better than in just about any branch of the sport. The spectacle of the top cars being driven on the limit is awesome and the competition is intense. At 77 years of age, the British Hillclimb Championship in all of its variants is as good as it has ever been.
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Written by Paul Lawrence & Stuart Webster
Top runners for 2024 (car numbers represent their 2023 overall championship position)
1. Wallace Menzies (3300cc Gould-Cosworth GR59M)
3. Matthew Ryder (4000cc Gould-Judd GR59JB)
4. Alex Summers (2650cc DJ Cosworth - Firestorm)
5. Will Hall (4000cc Gould-Judd GR59)
6. Trevor Willis (3200cc OMS 28-RTE)
7. Sean Gould (4000cc Gould-Judd GR59JB)
8. Dave Uren ((3500cc Gould-NME GR55B)
9. Paul Haimes (1300t Gould-Suzuki GR59)
10. David Warburton (1600cc Gould-Suzuki GR59)
Simon Bainbridge in the big Audi engined SBR Chrono at Harewood
Photo by: Ben Lawrence