Shelsley Walsh Championship Challenge
Shelsley Walsh Championship Challenge – British Hillclimb Championship Rounds 25 and 26
PistonClick last visited this championship in June for rounds 11 and 12 at Shelsley Walsh. Since then, the competitors headed first north to Scotland, Lancashire and Yorkshire and then south to Jersey, Guernsey and Devon. Wallace Menzies has consolidated his strong position at the head of the table, but with dropped scores now coming into play, it’s not decided just yet.
So, it was back to Worcestershire and the deceptively simple 1000 yds of Shelsley Walsh. PistonClick’s spectator snapper’s guide can be found here. I wanted to spend a little time near the start for the practice runs in the morning before heading further up the hill later in the day.
A quick wander round the pits provided the chance to catch Christian Mineeff preparing for his run in his evocatively liveried Pilbeam.
I was using the 24-120mm zoom as I wanted to get some wider angle shots from the terrace above the start. I’d only briefly used this spot in June and for the morning the sun is really against you - when it wasn’t cloudy – we had that sort of morning !
For single seaters, or open topped cars, you can see the driver at work. If he, or she, has a clear visor it’s a bonus ! The extremely rapid Robert Kenrick in his 1024cc BMW bike engine powered Raptor 2 #8 is concentrating hard as he covers the first 64 yards in 2 seconds.
There’s great variety – from a Van Diemen Formula Ford #108 or a Chevron B19 #858 through to specialist hillclimb cars like the Pilbeam MP88 #828 or the Gould GR55 #4. The 700 and 800 numbers are used to denote that two drivers will use the same car at the event.
The terrace also affords a different view of Tim Painter’s shared drive GT4 Aston Martin Vantage as it heads up the hill. I like the terrace as it gives a different perspective on the event and will certainly return there – perhaps later in the day, though.
Once the practice runs were completed, it was time for qualifying. I moved up to Crossing which gives both a front and rear shot and switched to the 70-200mm lens.
The rear shot can include sparks if the car is set for a very low ride height – in this case Toby Moody at the wheel (yes, that Toby Moody, more of him later).
Ash Mason set a class record in his 1340cc supercharged Westfield. On the other hand, Keith Murray had already run wide at Kennel in his Audi 80 quattro taking a chuck out of the front spoiler.
There’s also the chance for some artistic interpretation – this is a cropped and edited shot of championship leader Wallace Menzies – it’s all in the eyes !
At the end of the morning was the first Run Off – six time champion Scott Moran #10 is only doing some of the events this year, but still manages to set very competitive times. Will Hall, however, took the top spot in his Force powered by a 2.0 turbocharged AER engine.
Here both Scott and Will are approaching 130 mph before the tight Bottom and Top Ess bends. With no return road at Shelsley, the competitors return down the hill – with Will taking the plaudits.
For the afternoon qualifying, I headed up to my favourite spot, the exit of Top Ess.
That Aston Martin, this time with Andy Fraser at the wheel, was still looking good (and perhaps a little big for the narrow road !) while the Nigel Elliott’s 4.6 TR7 V8 – which is also turbocharged - certainly sounds the part.
Toby Moody set his fastest time of the day in the Empire Wraith following advice from regular driver Zach Zammitt – “Third gear. Chuck it in !” – on his way to a 25.66 sec run.
Richard Spedding #5 was neat at Top Ess.
Robert Kenrick was still concentrating hard in his blue Raptor.
Will Hall #2 and Trevor Willis #1 both needed a “dap of oppo” on their way to Run Off qualifying times.
For the second Run Off, I headed to the banking above Bottom Ess to get a different angle on the corner as the cars head up to Top Ess. Zach Zammitt was as bright as ever in the orange Empire while Scott Moran was neat on his way to third best time.
Wallace Menzies was second by a mere 0.13 second under the watchful eye of the spectators while Will Hall took his second win of the day in 23.20 seconds hitting 148 mph across the finish line.
Regular readers will remember that we have been including updates from Matt and Caroline Ryder. Despite Matt setting good times on Saturday in practice, a technical issue prevented both of them running on Sunday.
Extensive galleries from Sunday can be found on Flickr.
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