Martyn Griffiths

Last updated

Martyn Griffiths (born 18 April 1946) is a British racing driver, whose greatest success has been in hillclimbing. He has won the British Hill Climb Championship on five occasions (1979, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991). [1]

Related Research Articles

Hillclimbing Type of competitive motorsport

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.

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.

David Grace is a British racing driver and businessman. He was the CEO at Rockingham Motor Speedway between 2000 and 2002, and oversaw the opening of the track and the return, after many years, of CART racing to Britain.

John Buffum is the most successful U.S. rally driver ever, winning 11 national titles and 117 national championship events.

Roger Moran is a British hillclimb driver, who won the British Hillclimb Championship in 1997. In recent years he has shared a car with his son Scott.

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.

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.

Hillclimbing in the British Isles

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.

Harewood speed Hillclimb is a hillclimb near the village of Harewood, West Yorkshire, England. The track can be found on the A659 between Harewood village and Collingham, north of Leeds. In addition to national events, it hosts rounds of the British Hill Climb Championship, a Classic & Historic Hillclimb and an event that includes bikes. Around 11 meetings are organised between April and September each year by the British Automobile Racing Club Yorkshire Centre.

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. The course is 890 yards in length, making it the shortest of the British Hill Climb Championship tracks outside the Channel Islands. From 2013, the car events are being 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, and resumed in 2019.

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.

David Boshier-Jones is a British racing driver, whose career ran from 1952 until his retirement in 1961. He competed both in circuit racing and in hillclimbs, achieving success in both disciplines but particularly on the hills, where he claimed three successive British Hill Climb Championships, in 1958, 1959 and 1960.

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.

BRM P67

The BRM P67 was an experimental Formula One car, designed by Tony Rudd and built by the British Racing Motors team in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England, for the 1964 Formula One season.

Burt strut

A Burt strut, also known as a timing strut or beam splitter, is a black, rectangular plate attached to the front of a competition vehicle, usually a racing car, to provide a standardised, repeatable method by which to break a timing light beam at the start and finish of events timed to high-degrees of accuracy. These events are commonly those in which competitors race against the clock, rather than physically against another vehicle, such as sprint or hillclimb races. The strut was invented in 1967 by Ron Smith; manager, chief mechanic and future husband to 1970 British sprint champion Patsy Burt. As the strut made its first appearance on the front of Burt's McLaren-Oldsmobile her name was used as its official title. In recent years the generic term timing strut has also become common.

Mike 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.

References

  1. "Speed Hillclimbing". Motor Sport Circuit Guide. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
Sporting positions
Preceded by British Hill Climb Champion
1979
Succeeded by
Preceded by British Hill Climb Champion
1986-1987
Succeeded by
Preceded by British Hill Climb Champion
1990-1991
Succeeded by