Your favourite hill climb?

[JasagRacer]

Originally Posted by bwatt

Are we allowed to nominate venues which no longer exist ?.

If so, great though Shelsley, Prescott & Loton are, I'd like to nominate Great Auclum.

Challenging course, totally informal, excellent beer, delightfully idiosyncratic - but sadly hasn't been held for some thirty years now, and the site is surrounded by houses.

Now I've made myself feel old....

Although I loved Gurston, Longleat, Harewood etc, I love Valence School and the one run by Hasting MC years ago, Bodium, in Sussex. There also used to be one at Folkestone years ago,

It was the people who competed in hillclimbing as well as the marshals and spectators. They all had the right attitude and it was a laid back fun day.

[Fenton]

The best hill I ever drove was Cairncastle in Co Antrim. Twice as long as Craigantlet (the old one), technical for the lower half and flat out over the top of the mountain in the low cloud.....awesome! It should have been a British Championship Round. Croft ("The Hooks or "Corkscrew") in Co.Down, as the name suggests corner after corner with only a 200mtr straight nearly 2/3rds of the way up. A great test of set up and throttle control. Eagles Rock in Co Londonderry was also great fun. Craigantlet was probably the most boring Hill in the Irish calendar bar the last corner and the cross roads (in the old days before the bores put a chocolate chicane in)

[Tourer]

My fave? On the other side of the world to most of you guys. You have some REALLY good hills in the UK and those Euro climbs are awesome but my fave is Mt Buller in Victoria, Australia.

It is a public tourist road closed once a year for the hillclimb. 16 kilometres, 132 corners. Mt Buller is in an alpine area so tarmac is snow spec so can get a bit slippery in the summer ( when the event is run).

It's pretty cool and I love it.

[paulwarrior]

Favourite Hillclimb... split between 2 hills run in the burren in Clare in Ireland.

Ballyalabin, 2.2 miles of fast bumpy irish tarmac, through a landscape as barren as the moon! Hill of 2 halves, up as far as the picnic area is a little technical, after that its just balls out and pray you get to the finish before the car gives up! Its like a rally stage but you can race single seaters on it! Fantastic! Record currently set at 96 seconds by sylvie mullins in a 4litre gould. My incar is on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9rhWzg5ijc

The Scalp in Clare. About 1 mile of really fast stuff. One part is a natural chicane in between a wall of rock either side.... with bumps on entry, in middle and on exit. Taken by a good single seater at the wrong side of 100mph. Went there first about 6 years ago, and since then won it 3 times, always on the last run on sunday, always managed to pull out a time that i or no-one else thought was possible in a 30 year old delta up against the v8's! Still gives me goosebumps!
You cannot define commitment till you watch a quick car go through the rocks in the scalp. I watched one run once as a spectator and i'm still not right after it! (then again i'm hardly the definition of collected thought...)

Anyway, i've seen shelsey and a few more on video but believe me guys if you get the opportunity to try it, jump at it!

[bentimingstrut]

O.M.G. I,m supprised you guys have any teeth left after runnung this hill.Its very bumpy indeed.

[paulwarrior]

Yeah its bumpy all right, but thats part of the magic! Needs a curious balance of pure balls and aggression and a little bit of delicacy, dont really know how to describe it but it is some buzz when you get a good run up one of those hills! You've got to have a predicable car, nice and soft or else when you hit those bumps it can be a 30 foot drop onto the rocks or into a mountain thats been there for a couple of million years!

[twisted]

Collingrove Hillclimb Try a google search!
Surround by great Aussie wine!
But don't drink and drive!

[911thillclimber]

Every now and then you see a You Tube clip of a European hillclimb, long and fast and alway being run at alarming speeds.

They must be a favorite too?

So different to our UK 'shorties'!

Has anyone ever known a car not have enough steering lock to get round Pardon @ Prescott??

[twisted]

Bathurst esses on mistake and you lose a corner

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Has anyone ever known a car not have enough steering lock to get round Pardon @ Prescott??

I've known one or two not use enough steering lock to get round Pardon, but I don't think that was a mechanical problem.

[b1ackcr0w]

Originally Posted by Woolley

I've known one or two not use enough steering lock to get round Pardon, but I don't think that was a mechanical problem.

And quite a few more who didn't use enough Brake Pedal

[Sitting Bull]

As i'm an oldie my favourite hillclimb has to be Pontypool Park in South Wales, actually had a first in class there in my early years. Scary place, trees lining the course with straw bales propped against them. Saw John Northcroft breaking his Marcos Volvo in half against one. Also Penrice on the Gower peninsula, beautiful setting but lost because of apathy. Valence School was great fun, when you got to the top the kids were waiting to have a run back down the hill. Still got the car (modsports midget), may resurrect it one day.

[RacingNeedsRealTVcoverage]

My favorite is the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb as it [was] the only one shown on TV in any form in North America over the past several years. ESPN, VERSUS, and SPEED had zero live tv coverage of the 88th event this year, though.

[St Eval]

My favourite Hill Climb is Castle near Lostwithiel, closely followed by Mamhead near Starcross Devon. Castle wins for me because it suits the car and me, Mamhead has fantastic setting and atmosphere.
But sprints are my favourite motorsport as a competitor, so where do we start.........

[The Fat Clerk]

Gurston for the views and the friendliness + of course a downhill start.

[darcia2]

I would call them happy hunting grounds..... Im talking about Victorian events Rob Roy great atmosphere very fast especially cross the causeway ... Mt leura Camperdown just fast elevation though has become very bumpy on the shelf.... the old Gippsland park real bullring fast into the loop blind corner through to the esses sadly gone made way for open cut .. coal mine others though been only once ... Arthurs Seat Historic hillclimb, One tree hill Ararat .... Though next year im at it full time in my Dallara Beams

[G.Walker]

Loton park . Always provides good entertainment. But never managed to get there this year.

[Suze]

Originally Posted by MGDavid

Porlock, nothing comes near it for the length and the succession of blind bends that really test your commitment.

I know this original post is nearly 5 years old [just found it on a search], but are sprints still run on Porlock, and if so when, how much of the road, who runs it etc? Did it on a rally a couple of weekends ago and loved it in the fog / mist / rain!

[Wet marshal]

Mine is Gurston,(As a BARC Marshal),closely followed by Prescott.

Good People

Good Banter

[Flat Out Farr]

I loved Valence, followed by Gurston and the Harewood.
Rothersfield was also excellent!

Miss the camaradarie of it compared to circuit racing.

[GT-Driver]

As to drive (race), I prefer the Rumman Hill Climb at jordan. because it is close in the same region I live in. Just do some quick search on YouTube and you should find plenty of videos.

I also like any hill climb course with nice manitained surface lots of curves and perhaps nice scenery to drive through. There are so many.