Graeme Wight Jr.

Last updated

Graeme Wight Jr. (born c. 1971) is a Scottish racing driver, best known for his success in hillclimbing, where he has won two British championships.

Wight began competing in hillclimbs at an early age, but in September 1992, still only 21, he was badly injured in a road accident when the brakes failed on his Hillman Imp. It was feared that he might be paralysed, and he remained in hospital for more than two months, but by 1993 he was not only out of hospital, but competing in – and winning his class in – hillclimbs once again.

After a time in a Vision sports car in 1997 Wight won the Scottish Hillclimb Championship outright driving a Pilbeam. 1998 saw his first year of competition in the British Championship, at first in the two-litre class but then in the unlimited-capacity division. In 2000, now driving a Gould, he broke the hill record at Doune by 1.49 seconds, an astonishing margin in hillclimbing and indeed the biggest improvement in an outright record in BHCC history. After finishing fourth in the Championship that year, he finally reached the top in 2001 and 2002, winning the title in both years. Graeme became the first driver to complete the course at Shelsley Walsh in under 25 seconds when he recorded a time of 24.85 seconds on Sunday 2 June 2002, in the presence of Sir Stirling Moss. In that same year, he became the first reigning British Hill Climb Champion to be invited to drive at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

He was runner-up to Adam Fleetwood in 2003, but after that things started to go wrong for Graeme. He was Fleetwood's main rival in the first part of the 2004 season, but delays in the appearance of his new car meant that he barely competed after mid-June and could manage only eighth place in the championship. Continued development problems in 2005 meant that he was never in the running in that season's championship and only rarely qualified for the run-offs. He was also absent from the 2006 championship, but still hopes to return to competition.

This new car, christened the "GWR Predator" and of an entirely new bespoke design, is the product of a huge amount of effort. The concept of the car was to employ an ex-Arrows F1 Cosworth V10 as the powerplant, using the engine's inherent light-weight and power to allow even further increases of power-to-weight ratio. In October 2006, however, Wight announced that the V10 engine was to be sold as he had grown frustrated of being unable to compete due to continual engine problems. He decided instead to power the car with the ex-DTM 2.5 V6 Opel Cosworth, previously used in his Gould GR51, though in the event the V10 was used in 2007 after all.

The Predator represents a huge leap the level of technology employed at what is ostensibly an amateur sport, with its combination of its ultra light weight, innovation and all-round complexity. Wight had a frustrating 2007, but late in 2008 the Predator finally came on song, and at the final round of the season, at Doune, he won the first run-off and came second in the other. Wight was thrilled with his victory, saying that "the car has never been that good before" and that it had been "amazing" through the Esses. [1]

His father, also named Graeme Wight and sometimes known as Graeme Wight Sr. to distinguish him from his son, also competed in hillclimbs, often sharing a car with his son.

For 2009, Wight stated his intention to compete with an electrically powered machine, designed in partnership with ex-Lotus F1 designer Martin Ogilvie and Cambridge University. The car is part of the Bee 4 Motorsport project.

This project did not last long enough for the car to be built. Wight's main business now is building the GWR Raptor single-seaters [2] (also designed by Ogilvie) which have won many individual events though not yet the British Championship. All Raptors so far have been powered by supercharged or naturally-aspirated Suzuki Hayabusa engines with the exception of Midland Champion Robert Kenrick's BMW S1000RR-engined car, which has broken many records in the 601-1100cc class. [3]

Wight competes only occasionally nowadays, but in June 2018 he set the fastest ever time for a 1600cc car (36.01 seconds) at Doune in Les Mutch's Raptor. [4] This did not count as a class record because it was set during one of the Championship Run-Offs.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Predator closes in for the kill", Autosport 2 October 2008, p97.
  2. ↑ "This is the maddest hillclimb you will see today | Top Gear". 31 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Sun Shines for first Competitive Weekend of the Year". 8 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Hill Climb Championship</span> British motorsports event

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.

Anthony ErnestMarsh was a British racing driver from England. His Formula One career was short and unsuccessful, but he enjoyed great success in hillclimbing, winning the British Hill Climb Championship on a record six occasions.

Adam Fleetwood is a British racing driver. He won the British Hillclimb Championship in both 2003 and 2004 driving a Gould GR55, and in the latter year won an unprecedented 28 of the 34 rounds of the series. In the process he broke all but one outright hill records, and became the first driver to complete the Shelsley Walsh course in under 24 seconds. However, his main rival, Graeme Wight Jr, did not compete at all in the second half of the 2004 season. As he was awaiting completion of a new car, which did not become available by the end of the season.

Osella is an Italian racing car manufacturer and former Formula One team. They participated in 132 Grands Prix between 1980 and 1990. They achieved two points finishes and scored five world championship points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prescott Speed Hill Climb</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judd (engine)</span> British company

Judd is a brand of racing car engines built by Engine Developments Ltd., a company founded in 1971 by John Judd and Jack Brabham in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Engine Developments was intended to build engines for Brabham's racing efforts, and became one of the first firms authorised by Cosworth to maintain and rebuild its DFV engines, but has since expanded into various areas of motorsport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porsche 909 Bergspyder</span> Motor vehicle

The Porsche 909 "Bergspyder" was a spyder sports car designed and built by Porsche in 1968. Its purpose was to compete in hillclimbing competitions, specifically the EHCC Sports Car class of the European Hillclimb Championship. It was a short-lived model, but its basic structure, technical innovations, and overall design became the basis for the successful 908/3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillclimbing in the British Isles</span>

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.

Doune Hillclimb, Carse of Cambus, near Doune in the district of Stirling, Scotland, is the home of the only round of the British Hill Climb Championship currently to be held in Scotland. The course has been 1476 yards (1350m) in length since 1977. However, from the first meeting in 1968 until 1973 the start line was around 33 yards (30m) further back, and from 1974 until 1976 it was located beyond what is currently the first corner.

Gould Racing is a British motorsport company, specialising in racing car manufacture and engineering. The company is run by David Gould, and is based in Newbury, Berkshire, England.

Four-wheel drive (4WD) has only been tried a handful of times in Formula One. In the World Championship era since 1950, only eight such cars are known to have been built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaditcha</span> Former Australian automobile manufacturer

Kaditcha was an automobile manufacturer in Australia. The company, formed by Queensland engineer Barry Lock, made open wheel and sports car racing cars, including cars for Formula 5000, Formula Pacific and Australian Formula 2.

The 1985 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars. It was the 17th Australian Sports Car Championship and the first to be run concurrently with the Australian GT Championship.

The Romano WE84 is an Australian designed and built, mid-engined closed top racing car built to CAMS Group A Sports Car specifications. The car began its life as the Kaditcha K583 when it first appeared in the 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship and was built by the Queensland based Kaditcha owner and former McLaren engineer Barry Lock after he was approached by Brisbane accountant, property developer, timber mill owner and former speedway racer Bap Romano in 1981 with the idea of building a Le Mans type coupe. When the car first appeared in 1983, it was the first closed top Sports Car seen in Australia and looked like an FIA Group C Sports Car rather than the open cockpit Can-Am style cars of previous years. This led to the false belief that it was built to the Group C regulations

Paul O'Connell is an Irish racing driver and three-time winner of the Irish Hillclimb and Sprint Championship. He has also won the Irish Formulaboss Championship at his first attempt in 2018 and again in 2019. He hold 2 outright Lap records at Mondello Park and Bishopscourt Co Down.

Michael Roy Pilbeam is a British motorsport designer and engineer known for his work with BRM, Lotus, Surtees and his own company, Pilbeam Racing Designs. An early design was the experimental four wheel drive Formula One BRM P67 of 1964. As of 2014, Pilbeam's company continued to produce hillclimb cars and sports prototype chassis for endurance racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veskanda C1</span>

The Veskanda C1 is a one-off, Australian designed and built, mid-engined closed top racing car built in 1985 to CAMS Group A Sports Car specifications. Powered by a Chevrolet V8 engine, the car is generally regarded as the fastest sports car ever built in Australia and as of 2016 remains one of Australia's fastest race cars.

The 2021 British Hillclimb Championship presented by Avon Tyres is the 74th running of the series, which began in 1947. In normal circumstances it would have been the 75th, but the 2020 season was cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osella PA6/PA7</span> Sports Prototype race car designed and built by Osella

The Osella PA6 and Osella PA7 are Group 6 prototype racing car designed, developed, and built by Osella, to compete in the World Sportscar Championship sports car racing series between 1978 and 1982. It was powered by a number of different engines, including the 2.0 L (120 cu in) BMW M12/7 and the Cosworth BDG, and the 1.6 L (98 cu in) Cosworth FVA was also used. After retiring from sports car racing, these cars later competed in hillclimb racing.

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by British Hill Climb Champion
2001-2002		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.