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| Location | Barbon Cumbria England |
|---|---|
| Time zone | GMT |
| Coordinates | 54°14′13″N2°33′51″W / 54.23694°N 2.56417°W postcode LA6 2LJ |
| Major Events | British Hill Climb Championship |
| Hill Length | 890 yards (810 m) |
| Turns | 3 |
| Hill Record | 20.08 (Jos Goodyear, 2015, British Hillclimb Championship) |
Barbon Hillclimb is a hillclimb held near Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, north-west England. The event is held on the Barbon Manor estate with the course ordinarily being used as a driveway to Barbon Manor, a Victorian shooting lodge. (The Manor house is not open to the public). The course is 738 yards (675 metres) in length, making it the shortest of the British Hill Climb Championship tracks outside the Channel Islands. Since 2013, the car events have been promoted by Liverpool Motor Club in addition to their popular Sprints at Aintree.
Motorcycle events were run at Barbon by the Westmorland Motor Club until 2011, but resumed in 2019.
From 1950 to 2012, Westmorland Motor Club ran three events per year at the venue: two for cars and one for motorcycles, though the motorcycle events took a break in 2011 but ran again in 2019. [1] Since 2013 the car events have been run by Barbon Hillclimb Ltd, a joint venture between Kirkby Londsdale Motor Club and Liverpool Motor Club, the latter being the official promoter of the events.
The target for 1963 competitors was the existing record by Jack Cordingley's JBW-Maserati in a time of 30.46 secs. [2] A new hill record was set by Jos Goodyear on 4 July 2015 of 20.08 secs, beating the previous record held by Scott Moran in 2008. Goodyear's record still stands despite several competitors getting very close to breaking it.
Substantial re-surfacing took place in 2015 and the British Hillclimb Championship event moved from May to July to further improve the events for competitors and spectators alike. The British Championship rounds last visited Barbon in 2019.
The spectacular and challenging venue hosts highly competitive Regional and National Championship car events in June and July each year, attracting a loyal following of competitors and spectators.
| Year | Driver | Vehicle | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Peter Holyoak | Closed to club test event | 87.20 secs | (150yds longer) |
| 1951 | B Crabtree | MG | 37.20 secs R | |
| 1952 | Gillie Tyrer | Fraser Nash BMW | 35.40 secs R | |
| 1953 | B Crabtree | MG | 36.20 secs | |
| 1954 | I E Davison | Cooper MG | 34.07 secs R | |
| 1955 | P.S. Hughes | Tojeiro-J.A.P. | 34.68 secs | [3] 21 May. |
| 1956 | C.A.N. May | Cooper-J.A.P. Mark 8 | 32.18 secs R | [4] 26 May. |
| 1957 | Peter Proctor | Cooper-Norton | 33.37 secs | [5] 26 May. |
| 1963 | Tony Marsh | Marsh Climax | 28.779 secs R | [6] 25 May. |
| 1964 | Peter Westbury | Ferguson P99 Climax | 27.17 secs R | [7] 23 May. |
| 1965 | Peter Boshier-Jones | Lotus | [8] | |
| 1966 | Tony Marsh | Marsh Special GM | 31.37 secs | |
| 1967 | David Good | B.R.M. 4-w-d | [9] 20 May. | |
| 1968 | Peter Lawson | BRM P67 | 27.38 sec | |
| 1969 | Round 4 D. Hepworth | Hepworth FF Traco-Oldsmobile | 26.78 sec R | [10] |
| 1998 | British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace | Gould Ralt GR37 | 21.04 sec | |
| 1999 | British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace | Gould Ralt GR37 | 21.11 sec | |
| 2000 | British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace | Gould Ralt GR37 | 20.86 sec R | |
| 2001 | Meeting Cancelled (Foot & Mouth Disease) | |||
| 2002 | British Hill Climb Championship : Graeme Wright Jnr | Gould GR51 V6 | 21.02 sec | |
| 2003 | British Hill Climb Championship : Graeme Wright Jnr | Gould GR51 V6 | 21.05 sec | |
| 2004 | British Hill Climb Championship : Adam Fleetwood | Gould GR.. | 20.51 sec R | |
| 2005 | British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves | Gould GR55 | 20.91 sec | |
| 2006 | British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves | Gould GR55 | 21.17 sec | |
| 2007 | British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves | Gould GR55 | 20.71 sec | |
| 2008 | British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran | Gould GR61X | 20.50 sec R | |
| 2009 | British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves | Gould GR55 | 21.58 sec | |
| 2010 | British Hill Climb Championship : Wallace Menzies | DJ Firestorm | 21.61 sec | |
| 2011 | British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran | Gould GR61X | 21.29 sec | |
| 2012 | British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran | Gould GR61X | 20.51 sec | |
| 2013 | British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis | OMS 28 | 21.69 sec | |
| 2014 | British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis | OMS 28 | 21.81 sec | |
| 2015 | British Hill Climb Championship : Jos Goodyear | GWR Raptor | 20.08 sec R | |
| 2016 | British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis | OMS 28 | 22.34 sec | |
| 2017 | British Hill Climb Championship : Meeting Cancelled due to weather |
Key: R = New Course Record. All details extracted from Barbon Hillclimb Programmes unless indicated otherwise
| | This motorsport-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the first known hillclimb at La Turbie near Nice, France, took place as long ago as 31 January 1897. The hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England, is the world's oldest continuously staged motorsport event still staged on its original course, having been first run in 1905.
The British Hillclimb Championship (BHC) is the most prestigious hillclimbing championship in Great Britain. The British Hill Climb Championship was held every year from 1947 to 2019, and resumed in 2021. The 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frederick Charles Kenneth Wharton was a British racing driver from Smethwick, England. He competed in off-road trials, hillclimbs, and rallying, and also raced sports cars and single-seaters. He began racing in the new National 500cc Formula in his own special, and later acquired a Cooper. His World Championship Grand Prix debut was at the 1952 Swiss event, run to Formula 2 regulations, where he started from 13th position on the grid and finished 4th. He participated in a total of 15 World Championship Grands Prix, from which he scored three championship points.
Joseph Gibson Fry was a British racing driver and distant member of the Fry's Chocolate family. He became the primary driver for the highly successful Shelsley Special "Freikaiserwagen", created by his cousin David Fry and Hugh Dunsterville, with help from Dick Caesar. The original car was built in Bristol in 1936 and featured an Anzani engine which was replaced in 1937 by a Blackburne engine. Joe set a number of hill records during the late 1930s including an unofficial outright record at Prescott when he climbed in 47.62 seconds in the 1,100 c.c. Freikaiserwagen, on 27 August 1938. At the outbreak of World War Two he held both the blown and unblown 1,100 c.c. records at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in 41.52 and 42.58 seconds respectively.
The Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb is a hillclimb in Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire, England, organised by the Midland Automobile Club (MAC). It is one of the oldest motorsport events in the world, and is the oldest to have been staged continuously on its original course, first having been run in 1905. On that first occasion, the course was 992 yards in length, but in 1907 it was standardised at 1000 yards, the length it remains today.
Prescott Speed Hill Climb is a hillclimb in Gloucestershire, England. The course used for most events is 1,128 yards (1,031 m) in length, and the hill record is held by Wallace Menzies who took the outright hill record in a Gould GR59M single seater with a time of 34.65 seconds on Sunday 5 September 2021. The track was extended in 1960 to form the present Long Course. There is also a "Short Course" of 880 yards (804.7 m), now used only by meetings organised by the Vintage Sports-Car Club.
Loton Park Hill Climb is a hillclimb held in part of the Loton Park deer park just outside the village of Alberbury in Shropshire, England. The track was originally constructed by the members of The Severn Valley Motor Club based in Shrewsbury, in the mid-1950s. The first ever winner was Peter Foulkes in a Cooper Climax. The track was threatened with closure in 1969 and since then events have been organised by the Hagley & District Light Car Club, who obtained the lease on the land from owner Sir Michael Leighton in 1970, in which year the first National A hillclimb was staged.
The Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb is a hillclimb in Broad Chalke, Wiltshire, England, organised by the South Western Centre of the British Automobile Racing Club. The first practice meeting was held on 25 June 1967, when Patsy Burt, driving a McLaren-Oldsmobile set a time of 39.90 sec. The first competition event was held on 23 July 1967.
Sydney Herbert Allard was the founder of the Allard car company and a successful rally driver and hillclimb driver in cars of his own manufacture.
Hillclimbing in Great Britain differs from the style of hillclimb motorsport events staged in many other parts of the world, in that courses are generally short — mostly under one mile (1.6 km) in length — and this means that cars and drivers do not generally cross between British events and the longer hillclimbs found in many other parts of Europe.
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Bouley Bay Hill Climb is a hillclimbing event held in Trinity, Jersey, and organised by The Jersey Motor Cycle and Light Car Club. The course on Les Charrières du Boulay was "first used for competition in 1921" and since 1947 has hosted a round of the British Hill Climb Championship. Bouley Bay and Val des Terres hill climb in Guernsey are normally held in July and provide a two-stop tour for UK drivers contesting the series.
Bo'ness Hill Climb is a hillclimbing course on the Kinneil Estate (site of the historic Kinneil House near Bo'ness, Scotland. It is sometimes referred to as Kinneil Hill Climb. Opening in 1932, it was Scotland's first purpose-built motorsport venue. In 1932 and 1933 events were organised, for motorbikes only, by the West Lothian Motor Cycle Club. The first meeting open to both cars and bikes was organised jointly by WLMCC, Scottish Sporting Car Club and Bo'ness Town Council. There were plans to build a racing circuit on the same land, effectively turning Kinneil into a motorsport complex, but they never came to anything.
The Lewes Speed Trials were speed trials held on a defunct course in Lewes, Sussex, England, sometimes known as "The Motor Road."
Firle Hill Climb is a disused hillclimbing course near Lewes, East Sussex, England, sometimes referred to as Bo Peep Hill Climb. The event was celebrated on 20 September 2015 by the Bo Peep Drivers Club.
The event will consist of a timed climb of the metalled road known as Bo-Peep Hill, situated near the village of Selmeston, on a turning off the A27. Map reference No. 183/498053. Each competitor will be permitted two timed runs in addition to practice."
David Good is a former British Hill Climb Champion. In 1961 he won the qualifying rounds at Westbrook Hay and Wiscombe Park, driving a Cooper-JAP Mk 8, and clinched the title with a third place at Prescott in September. He finished third in the Championship in 1957 and 1958, being runner-up in 1959, winning the final round at Stapleford.
The Westbrook Hay Hill Climb was an annual motorsports event near Hemel Hempstead in England, where drivers competed on an uphill course. The Herts County Automobile & Aero Club held the first Westbrook Hay speed hillclimb in 1953, and organised all events there until the course closed in 1962. Between 1959 and 1962 the track hosted four rounds of the British Hill Climb Championship.
Percy Skipworth Duff was the treasurer of Kendal Borough Council from 1967, until April 1974 when he became deputy treasurer of the new South Lakeland District Council, holding the position until his retirement in 1982. He was the last surviving Honorary Citizen of Kendal, an accolade he was said to value more than his MBE.