The 2007 Season
SEPTEMBER SHELSLEY SEES SEVEN RECORDS
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 seven 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.
Eddie Walder