British Hillclimb Championship weekend at Wiscombe Park

Arriving at the testing East Devon track on the back of four qualifying rounds in the Channel Islands, the top spot was shared by Gould GR59 pilots Will Hall and reigning champion Matt Ryder, with Scotsman Wallace Menzies just six points in arrears, having secured four consecutive victories, two of which yielded an additional point for new outright hill records at Val des Terres in Guernsey.

The momentum was still with the four-time champion Menzies, at the Porsche Centre Exter supported event, when the fastest twelve competitors qualified for the first championship run-off of the weekend in which the fastest ten would claim points.

A driveshaft failure, as he spun the rear wheels of his mount to gain heat, therefore grip, in the soft compound slick tyres, sidelined Ryder and his 4.0 litre Judd V8 powered GR59, leaving the door of opportunity ajar for his adversaries.

Menzies, having qualified with a slower time than Hall, was the penultimate runner in the shoot-out and hustled his mount to the top of the twisting 915 metre track in 32.10 seconds, throwing down the gauntlet to Hall in the process.

The challenge was accepted by the Stourbridge driver who utilised all the power of his Judd-powered machine to clock 32.34 seconds, which was almost four-tenths quicker than his qualifying time but fourteen hundredths shy of his challenger.

Twenty-four hours later and battle was rejoined with Hall again the fastest in the qualification runs ahead of Ryder who was determined to gain recompense for his mechanical failure of the previous day.

Menzies could not quite extend his run to six wins on the bounce with a climb of 32.26 seconds which must have given his adversaries some heart.

Ryder, whilst seven hundredths of a second slower than Menzies off the start line, had turned the tables at The Esses timing split to be ahead by seventeen hundredths of a second and continued to complete a well-executed climb in 31.73 seconds to shave four hundredths from his own record established in 2024.

Hall finished third with a time of 32.73 seconds, which leaves him in the lead of the championship with 175 points, just four ahead of Menzies, who in turn has a two-point margin on Ryder with six rounds remaining.

If a new outright all-time best is not enough, twelve new class records were set, which in itself is a milestone achievement in the fifty years Woolbridge Motor Club have been running events in the scenic park.

Two further run-offs showcased the spectacle and power of saloon and sports cars in the Tin Top Top Ten Challenge.

Damien Bradley dominated proceedings in his 800 bhp Subaru Legacy in which, last year, he competed at Pike Peak in the USA.

Fastest in qualifying, he continued to set the pace in the run-off, taking a comfortable win with a margin of 1.7 seconds over the ‘Red Baron’ Subaru Impreza of Steven Darley.

The following day Bradley appeared to be heading towards a repeat performance when he pulled up on the fastest part of the course with a malady, leaving friend and fellow Subaru enthusiast Steven Darley to take the honours.

Woolbridge members collected a number of class awards with Dominic Bishop, from Bere Regis, taking first and second place finishes in the Downton Motor Club class with his Radical SR4, whilst second place finishes were secured by Jonathan Williamson with his Porsche 911 Carrera in the Modified Series Production class; Peter Ede in the Modified Specialist Production Car division in his two-litre Westfield SEi and Empire Evo 3 single-seater exponent Jason Tunnicliffe in the 1100 cc to 1600 cc racing car category.

Further success was earned by Ed Hollier who claimed victory in the 600 cc to 1100 cc racing car split and Rod Thorne who defeated the 4.2 litre twin-turbo Audi-powered 4.2 SBR Chrono of Simon Bainbridge with his equally mighty 5.0 litre Rover V8 Pilbeam MP43 sports libre machine.