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, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thomas Raymond Mays was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from Bourne, Lincolnshire, England.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in late June or early July; the event is scheduled to avoid clashing with the Formula One season, enabling fans to see F1 machines as well as cars and motorbikes from motor racing history climb the hill.
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.
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.
Patricia Mary "Patsy" Burt was a British motor racing driver.
Michael C. Chorlton was an English film editor and occasional director. He was born in Disley, Cheshire. He particularly worked with Powell and Pressburger, including editing The Silver Fleet and the motorcycle sequences for A Matter of Life and Death
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 Kop Hill Climb is a hillclimb in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire. The climb was originally established in 1910 but due to a minor accident involving a spectator on the public road that formed the hillclimb, the last competitive event was held on 28 March 1925. The RAC then banned all motorsport on public roads, making the Kop Hill Climb the last of its kind to be run on the public highways in the UK. Since 2009 Kop Hill has been the focus of an annual revival run as a non-competitive, charity event.
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.
