I first discovered the joys of the historic Shelsley Walsh hill climb a couple of years ago, and although events there tend to be smaller than those at Prescott, there is a very appealing atmosphere which means that attendees can be guaranteed a good day out. The VSCC meeting there is an absolute “must” for those who want to see a wide variety of historic machinery both competing for honours on the hill, and on display in the carpark. Having missed the 2011 event as I was out of the country, I made sure not to lose out in 2012, and am very glad that I went along. Here are some of the highlights as captured by camera.

IN THE PADDOCK

With something like 120 cars in action, there was ample time for all competitors to get 2 practice runs in the morning and 2 timed runs in the afternoon. The Paddock area is relatively small, and gets a bit congested as cars emerge from their parking area in readiness for an assault on the hill, but that’s all part of the fun. The cars were split into something like 12 different classes, based largely on engine size, with some classes having a sole entrant (the 1905 Peugeot was sure to win his class as long as he completed the climb!). Times varied from just over 35 seconds for the very fastest car to over 2 minutes for the couple that really struggled with the gradients.

Although there were plenty of cars that I recall seeing at other events, there were also plenty in action here that I had not seen before, confirming that there are lots of vehicles out there which either emerge only rarely or that are still being repaired, restored or even discovered, which is all part of the interest of this activity.

ACALFA-ROMEOIn many ways, the star car of the day was this, a fabulous 1938 8C2900. With looks to die for, and an engine note that was at least as beguiling, it attracted constant attention.

Not that one should lose sight of the other Alfa, a 6C1750 which was also very lovely.ALVISA popular car at this event, with lots of different models from the 12/50 and 12/70 based cars through to several Specials.

AUSTINThis was a popular car when new for motorsport and meant that lots of  Seven based Specials were built. Competing today were several of these and a number,of cars that more closely resembled the road cars. .

BENTLEYThere were several 3 litre Bentleys, with a variety of different body styles

Chris Williams brought along his 24 litre aero-engined Napier-Bentley and engulfed everyone in clouds of smoke whenever he set off up the hill.BUGATTIThere were a couple of Type 35Bs and an earlier Type 13 Brescia Bugatti in action.

CHEVROLETDELAGEDELAHAYEERAThere were two of these fabulous British machines in action. Purpose designed for racing, they have no starter motor, so have to be pushed to get them going, and with their pre-selector gearboxes, do not take well to idling for long periods of time. The green car, ERA 14B,  has been owned by a gentleman called Donald Day who has had it for over 40 years. Sadly, some years ago he was involved in an accident which meant he lost his left arm, but he still managed to get the car up the hill in a respectable time. When Terry Crabb took his car, the blue one, ERA 12C, up the hill, he posted a fastest time of the day of 37.6 seconds, though he was later beaten by a couple of other cars.

FORDA Model T based Special.

FRAZER NASHGNMost of the GNs looked among the scariest cars of all to drive, with little protection and thanks to their light weight plenty of speed and potential to get it wrong!

HISPANO-SUIZANot really looking like a sports car, even though it was seen as such in its day, was this 1913 Alfonso model.

HWM CHEVROLETThe famous Stovebolt Special, which belongs to Simon Taylor of Haymarket Publishing fame. Although he was not quite the fastest up the hill, Simon set the fastest time over the line at an impressive 94 mph.

LAGONDA

This M45 is a physically large car, but the driver did a splendid job at getting it up the hill in a respectable time

Far smaller was this Rapier based racerMGThere were a few MGs, ranging from the TA, the pre-war version of the better known TC model, to little M Type Midgets, a replica of the Q Type and a few J2s.

MORGANThere were several three wheel Morgans, which looked quite a handful unless in experienced hands on the bends.

The four wheeled special proved to be the fastest car of the day with a time of just over 35 seconds.OLDSMOBILE

One of the oldest cars at the event was this, the 1903 Curved Dash Oldsmobile which Joy Rainey brought along. This is the car that she is going to take coast to coast across America next year. She said that the journey up from her home near Evesham is the longest trip that she has made in the car so far!

PEUGEOTRILEYThere were a lot of Rileys, as you would expect

SKINNERThis is one of those “one off” specials.

SPECIALS SUNBEAMTALBOTTRIUMPHTwo Triumphs in action, a Gloria Special and a Dolomite

VAUXHALLAn early Velox 30/98 competing for honours on the hill was joined by another one parked up at the side of the Paddock

WOLSELEYON THE HILLIt’s quite a steep climb up the hill for the spectator but well worth, with viewing positions and plenty of seats almost all the way up. As there is no return road, periodically all the cars then come back down the hill the way they went up, but at a more leisurely pace, affording another look at them.

STRATSONEAs Stratsone own the old house at the bottom of the hill climb, they always have a display of cars in the grounds. This time it was confined to Land Rover, with one example of each of the current models in the range. There were no Jaguars in sight, though I did note that the course cars, which were emblazened with the Stratsone logo were a pair of Cadillac CTSs.

IN THE CAR PARKA stroll around the car park around lunchtime elicited at least  as much interest as I had found in the Paddock with all sorts of interesting and unusual cars parked up. The car park attendants had made an effort at segregating the VSCC cars so these were parked in three rows at one end of the grass, but during the day as more people arrived and departed and moved their cars around, there was less order to what was parked where.ABARTH

I was not surprised to find this in the car park, as I had already bumped into its owner, Alec MacFie, earlier in the day.

ACThere was a very nice example of the Aceca, as well as the more commonly seen open topped Ace, and a very rare Ace Brooklands.

 

ALFA ROMEOOnly a couple of Alfas: Mike Hurst had brought along his particularly lovely 6C 1750, up from Bristol, and there was a late model 2000 GTV.

 

ALVISA good mix of pre- and post war cars.

ASTON-MARTINQuite a contrast between this DB7 and the 1930s 1.5 litre car.

AUDIAs well as the Quattro, there was something which is quite a rare sight now, a B2 model Audi 80 Sport.

AUSTIN

Various Sevens and the larger TwelveAUSTIN-HEALEYSeveral of the Big Healey in 100 and later 3000 guises were joined by a Sprite with a fixed hardtop.

BENTLEYQuite a mix of cars from pre-war models to 1950s S Type modelsBMWAn E28 model 5 series is quite a rare car now. This one was immaculate.

BRISTOL406

CITROENQuite a contrast between this late 1920s C4 model and the 2CV

CROSSLEYThis is a little known British marque which clearly produced a wide variety of cars over a 30 year period, and a significant number of them were assembled here to make a quite unique display.

DAIMLERTwo very different cars: a fabulous 1930s model and not quite as elegant, though it has its charms was this SP250 “Dart” sports car.DELAHAYEFORDAnglia 105E, Capri Mark 1 and a Mustang

FRAZER NASHHILLMANThere were a couple of Super Minxes on show.

JAGUARJust before leaving, I came across this. which had definitely not been parked up earlier on. There was much discussion among those who crowded around it as to whether it was an original D Type or a recreation, and we all inclined to the view that it probably was. A little bit of research revealed that it was first registered in January 1962, confirming that this is indeed the “real deal”. This means it was probably the most valuable car at the event, and it was just parked up in he field along with everything else!

There were E Types out in force, too, along with both the precursor and successor models.LAGONDAA very stately M45 Limousine.wwas joined by a lesser M45 and a few of the smaller Rapier models, which for a year did not even bear Lagonda badges.

LANCIAA Shelsley regular is this fabulous Series 2 Fulvia Coupe.

LEA FRANCISLOTUSElan +2

MASERATIMERCEDES-BENZA very nice “Pagoda” 230SL.

 

MGAs befits a car celebrating its 50th anniversary, there were plenty of MGB models.

Among other MGs were also a couple of the later MGR V8 models, a couple of MGAs and a Midget. 

There were plenty of  earlier models, too, including the TC and TF 

MORGANAs befits a location only a few miles away from the Malvern Link factory, there were a lot of Morgans at the event.

MORRISAn early “Bullnose” Oxford and., predictably quite a few Minors

PEUGEOT205 GTi

PORSCHEAs well as a rather nice 928 there were a few 911s and a 924.

RAILTONAnother little known British marque, there are always a couple of examples of Railton at this venue and today was no exception.

RELIANTScimitar SS1

RILEYNot all the Rileys were competing up the hill, several were in the car park, too.

ROLLS-ROYCEROVERThe 200 BRM appears to have become a minor classic pretty quickly.

 

SUNBEAMWe tend to think of Sunbeam as the slightly sporting brand in the Rootes Group empire, but in fact the marque has a proud history of exactly 100 years, and the pre-war cars were expensive sports cars. There were several examples of the genre at this event.

TALBOTTRIUMPHLots of TR models, from the early TR2 through to the final TR7/8 cars, along with a couple of GT6 models and a few Stags.

TVRVAUXHALLThe 30/98

WOLSELEYThis was an really excellent day. The rain held off, bar a few spots, which was very welcome given the lack of summer weather we have been experiencing, and with an interesting Paddock and such variety in the car park, there was much to enjoy. This is a venue that is well worth a visit. 

2012-07-19 18:46:49