Martin Groves is a British hillclimb driver, who won the British Hill Climb Championship in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010. With older cars he had won five rounds of the BHCC between 2001 and 2004, but in 2005 he was exceptionally quick in his new Gould GR55B, clinching the championship at Craigantlet in early August having finished first or second in every one of the 28 BHCC rounds up to that point. He retained the title in 2006, after fending off a strong challenge from Scott Moran.
Also in 2006, Groves drove a Gould (though a 2.65-litre car rather than his usual larger-capacity machine) at Bathurst in the Australian Hillclimb Championship, dipping well inside the hill record.[1]
In 2007 Groves became the first man to dip under 23 seconds at Shelsley Walsh, when he recorded 22.86 seconds on 3 June.[2] However, he lost the record to Scott Moran later that same day.[3] At the final meeting of the 2007 Championship, at Shelsley Walsh on 7 October, Groves secured a hat-trick of titles when he won the first run-off, regaining the outright record in the process with a time of 22.81 seconds.[4] On 17 August 2008, Groves lowered the record further to 22.58 seconds.[5] This record stood for two days short of 13 years before being broken by Sean Gould, Wallace Menzies and Alex Summers on 15 August 2021.[6]
At Val des Terres in July 2009, Groves equalled Roy Lane's long-standing record of 90 wins in BHCC rounds.[7] He became the first driver to record 100 wins in August 2010, reaching the mark at Craigantlet.[8]
Toby Moody is a British sports commentator focused on motor racing. He was for many years the worldwide voice of the MotoGP series on Eurosport TV, and in 2012, lead commentator on the British Touring Car Championship for ITV4. In 2014 he will commentate for ITV4 on the British Superbike Championship.
Hillclimbing is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course.
The British Hill Climb Championship (BHCC) is the most prestigious Hillclimbing championship in Great Britain. Hillclimbing in the British Isles has a rich history, for example, 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 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 Ernest "Tony" Marsh 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 (650BHP), 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.
Roy Lane was a British racing driver. He is best known for his great success in hillclimbing, having won the British Hillclimb Championship on four occasions in a career spanning more than three decades. Lane won 90 individual rounds of the championship, a record equaled by Martin Groves in July 2009.
Graeme Wight Jr. is a Scottish racing driver, best known for his success in hillclimbing, where he has won two British championships.
Michael George Hartwell MacDowel was an English racing driver who participated in one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, the 1957 French Grand Prix on 7 July 1957, sharing his car with Jack Brabham. MacDowel did not score any championship points as he finished seventh, and points were only awarded to the first five finishers.
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 5th 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.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. The track measures 12.42 miles (19.99 km) and has over 156 turns, climbing 4,720 ft (1,440 m) from the start at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway, to the finish at 14,115 ft (4,302 m), on grades averaging 7.2%. It used to consist of both gravel and paved sections, but as of August 2011, the highway is fully paved; as a result, all subsequent events will be run on asphalt from start to finish.
Scott Moran is a British hillclimb driver, based in Ludlow, Shropshire. Scott Moran has won the British Hill Climb Championship six times driving the Gould GR61X he shares with his father, 1997 British Champion Roger Moran. For some years Scott was the junior partner, but in 2006 he finished ahead in the British Championship standings for the first time, coming second with Roger third. In 2007 he finished second to Martin Groves and in 2008 sealed the championship at Gurston Down.
Wiscombe Park Hillclimb is a British hillclimb, situated in Colyton, Devon. The course, which is 1000 yards in length — the same as Shelsley Walsh — was opened in 1958. The course was extended in 1961 when the record was held by Addicott in a Lotus at 49.3 secs. Wiscombe has been hosting rounds of the British Hill Climb Championship since the May meeting in 1962.
Craigantlet Hillclimb, a speed event organised by the Ulster Automobile Club, was first held in 1913. It is the only such venue in Northern Ireland to host a round of the British Hill Climb Championship, which started in 1947.
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.
The 2008 Nicholson McLaren Engines British Hill Climb Championship season was the 62nd British Hill Climb Championship (BHCC) season. It was the last year in which Nicholson McLaren sponsored the championship, as MCL Motorhomes took over the championship sponsorship for 2009. The series was contested over 34 rounds, with the drivers' 28 best results counting for the championship. Scott Moran ended Martin Groves' dominance of the championship, by claiming the championship during round 27 at Gurston Down.
The 2010 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship was the 22nd British Formula Renault Championship. The season began at Thruxton on 3 April and ended on 10 October at Brands Hatch, after twenty rounds held in England, and for the first time since 2006, Scotland. Making its debut in the series in 2010 was the new-specification car, designed by Barazi-Epsilon, replacing the Tatuus chassis that had been in the series since 2000.
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 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.
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