About Shelsley Walsh
Shelsley
Walsh is at the heart of the Midland Automobile Club's activities where we
are to have nine meetings in 2007.
Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb is the oldest Motorsport venue in
the World that is still held on it's original course. It is the basis for
the Midland Automobile club's activities, but that is not all we do.
The
classic section is for people interested in more sedate motoring, the
Curborough
Driving school provides a learning platform for sprinting and Hill Climbing,
whilst the MIRA Sprint events give an opportunity for competitors to really
get into the stride. The trials and social activities bring people together
during the winter.
T he cars that compete at the hill are tremendously spectacular. Single seater racing cars with ex-F1 engines producing 680+ horsepower accelerate from 0-60 mph in under 2 seconds off the startline. The cars approach the Bottom S left hand corner at over 130mph, and then cross the finish line at over 140 mph. The current record is held by Martin Groves in a Gould single seater racing car with a 3.5 litre V8 Cosworth engine when he scaled the course in 23.86 seconds in June 2005. The very first hill record was set some 99 years earlier in 77.6 seconds.
Regarding
drivers at Shelsley Walsh, everybody has been there. Prince Bira, Sir Malcolm
Campbell, Luigi Villoresi, Raymond Mays in the ERA, Stirling Moss, Peter Collins,
Hans Stuck in the Auto Union before WWII. In recent times John Surtees, the
only man to win the 500cc Motorcycle Championship and the F1 Championship,
1991 BTCC Champion Will Hoy, 'Jenks' who partnered Moss to victory in '655'
on the 1955 Mille Miglia and of course World Rally Champion Hannu Mikkola
in the works 450bhp Sport Quattro. Over the stunningly successful MAC 100
weekend in August 2001, Martin Stretton drove the 6-wheeled F1 Tyrrell, and
in recent years David Franklin drove the unsilenced Ferrari 212 Hill Climb
Car. However, the MAC made yet more history by introducing the enormous Big
Screen TV in the paddock so competitors could watch the action once cars speed
off the line.
2004 at Shelsley Walsh saw once more many more records being broken through a variety of classes, with a very special invitational Ferrari racing car class providing £millions worth of viewing, the very best of the 'top 12 run off' showdowns for British Championship points, and again Big Screen TV action showing all of the runs to those assembled in the paddock.
2005 will have 5 weekends full of action, the focus of which will be the June and August meetings with the latter weekend being a 3 day affair where we expect record crowds.
Shelsley Walsh is the Monaco of the hill climbs. It is the only one they all really want to win. For drivers to win a class or win outright, it is a real jewel in the crown.
In the heart of rural Worcestershire, just 15 minutes from the M5 motorway access is easy too. History is on your doorstep in Worcestershire!
Browse through the choices on the left hand side that take you to different areas of the Midland Automobile Club and Shelsley Walsh, but please take a moment to read some important news concerning the future of Shelsley Walsh.
We look forward to welcoming you at Shelsley Walsh during our historic centenary year, where you will discover the magic of Shelsley...
(Photos by kind permission of John Charters. Not for reproduction unless contact made.)