Barbon Hillclimb Explained

Barbon Manor
Time:GMT
Location:Barbon
Cumbria
England
Coordinates:54.2369°N -2.5642°W postcode LA6 2LJ
Events:British Hill Climb Championship
Length Yds:890
Turns:3
Record Time:20.08
Record Driver:Jos Goodyear
Record Year:2015
Record Class:British Hillclimb Championship

Barbon Hillclimb is a hillclimb held near Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, north-west England. The event is held on the Barbon Manor estate with the course ordinarily being used as a driveway to Barbon Manor, a Victorian shooting lodge. (The Manor house is not open to the public). The course is 738 yards (675 metres) in length, making it the shortest of the British Hill Climb Championship tracks outside the Channel Islands. Since 2013, the car events have been promoted by Liverpool Motor Club in addition to their popular Sprints at Aintree.

Motorcycle events were run at Barbon by the Westmorland Motor Club until 2011, but resumed in 2019.

History

From 1950 to 2012, Westmorland Motor Club ran three events per year at the venue: two for cars and one for motorcycles, though the motorcycle events took a break in 2011 but ran again in 2019.[1] Since 2013 the car events have been run by Barbon Hillclimb Ltd, a joint venture between Kirkby Londsdale Motor Club and Liverpool Motor Club, the latter being the official promoter of the events.

The target for 1963 competitors was the existing record by Jack Cordingley's JBW-Maserati in a time of 30.46 secs.[2] A new hill record was set by Jos Goodyear on 4 July 2015 of 20.08 secs, beating the previous record held by Scott Moran in 2008. Goodyear's record still stands despite several competitors getting very close to breaking it.

Substantial re-surfacing took place in 2015 and the British Hillclimb Championship event moved from May to July to further improve the events for competitors and spectators alike. The British Championship rounds last visited Barbon in 2019.

The spectacular and challenging venue hosts highly competitive Regional and National Championship car events in June and July each year, attracting a loyal following of competitors and spectators.

Barbon Hillclimb car event past winners

YearDriverVehicleTimeNotes
1950Peter HolyoakClosed to club test event87.20 secs(150yds longer)
1951B CrabtreeMG37.20 secs R
1952Gillie TyrerFraser Nash BMW35.40 secs R
1953B CrabtreeMG36.20 secs
1954I E DavisonCooper MG34.07 secs R
1955P.S. HughesTojeiro-J.A.P.34.68 secs[3] 21 May.
1956C.A.N. MayCooper-J.A.P. Mark 832.18 secs R[4] 26 May.
1957Peter ProctorCooper-Norton33.37 secs[5] 26 May.
1963Tony MarshMarsh Climax28.779 secs R[6] 25 May.
1964Peter WestburyFerguson P99 Climax27.17 secs R[7] 23 May.
1965Peter Boshier-JonesLotus[8]
1966Tony MarshMarsh Special GM31.37 secs
1967David GoodB.R.M. 4-w-d[9] 20 May.
1968Peter LawsonBRM P6727.38 sec
1969Round 4 D. HepworthHepworth FF Traco-Oldsmobile26.78 sec R[10]
1998British Hill Climb Championship : David GraceGould Ralt GR3721.04 sec
1999British Hill Climb Championship : David GraceGould Ralt GR3721.11 sec
2000British Hill Climb Championship : David GraceGould Ralt GR3720.86 sec R
2001Meeting Cancelled (Foot & Mouth Disease)
2002British Hill Climb Championship : Graeme Wright JnrGould GR51 V621.02 sec
2003British Hill Climb Championship : Graeme Wright JnrGould GR51 V621.05 sec
2004British Hill Climb Championship : Adam FleetwoodGould GR..20.51 sec R
2005British Hill Climb Championship : Martin GrovesGould GR5520.91 sec
2006British Hill Climb Championship : Martin GrovesGould GR5521.17 sec
2007British Hill Climb Championship : Martin GrovesGould GR5520.71 sec
2008British Hill Climb Championship : Scott MoranGould GR61X20.50 sec R
2009British Hill Climb Championship : Martin GrovesGould GR5521.58 sec
2010British Hill Climb Championship : Wallace MenziesDJ Firestorm21.61 sec
2011British Hill Climb Championship : Scott MoranGould GR61X21.29 sec
2012British Hill Climb Championship : Scott MoranGould GR61X20.51 sec
2013British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor WillisOMS 2821.69 sec
2014British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor WillisOMS 2821.81 sec
2015British Hill Climb Championship : Jos GoodyearGWR Raptor20.08 sec R
2016British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor WillisOMS 2822.34 sec
2017British Hill Climb Championship : Meeting Cancelled due to weather
Key: R = New Course Record.All details extracted from Barbon Hillclimb Programmes unless indicated otherwise

Footnotes

  1. https://www.kirkbylonsdale.co.uk/whats-on/84700-barbon-speed-hillclimb-motorcycles Barbon Speed Hillclimb for Motorcycles - Barbon Hillclimb for Motorbikes - 11 May 2019
  2. Motor Sport, July 1963, Page 548.
  3. Motor Sport, July 1955, Page 384.
  4. C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 84.
  5. C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 98.
  6. Motor Sport, July 1963, Page 548.
  7. Motor Sport, July 1964, Page 420.
  8. Motor Sport, September 1965, Page 745.
  9. Motor Sport, August 1967, Page 702.
  10. Motor, 14 June 1969, Page 69.

External links