Westbrook Hay Hill Climb Explained

The Westbrook Hay Hill Climb was an annual motorsports event near Hemel Hempstead in England, where drivers competed on an uphill course. The Herts County Automobile & Aero Club held the first Westbrook Hay speed hillclimb in 1953, and organised all events there until the course closed in 1962. Between 1959 and 1962 the track hosted four rounds of the British Hill Climb Championship.

A 1953 edition of Motor Sport describes the course as "situated in the Westbrook Hay estate near Hemel Hempstead on the main Hemel to Berkhamsted road (A41). The timed length will be 500 yards and the road surface is tarmac. From the start on a gradient of 1 in 3 the road takes a fast left-hand sweep to come to a right-angled bend also to the left. From there the road sweeps to the right to the finishing line. The overall gradient is 1 in 11."[1]

The course started just to the south of the A41[2] (today near the junction with the A4251), between Hemel Hempstead and Bourne End and climbed 650 yards up the main drive to Westbrook Hay House, today occupied by Westbrook Hay School.

Events and past winners

YearDriverVehicleTimeNotes
1953M.A.H. ChristieCooper 1,100 c.c.20.76 sec [3] 3 October.
1954Tony MarshCooper S/C25.59 sec[4] 650 yard course.
1955A.E. MarshCooper26.01 sec[5] 21 May.
1956Tony MarshCooper25.05 sec R[6] 21 July.
1957David GoodCooper 1,000 c.c.[7] 13 July.
1958 D. Boshier-JonesCooper 1,100 c.c.25.09 sec[8] 12 July.
1959D. Boshier-JonesCooper-JAP25.46 sec[9] 11 July. R.A.C. Championship Round.
1960D. Boshier-JonesCooper-JAP 1,100 c.c.24.06 sec R[10] 9 July.
1961David GoodCooper-JAP24.18 sec[11] 8 July.
1962Arthur OwenCooper-Climax22.85 sec R7 July.
1963Event cancelled.[12]
Key: R = Course Record.

Footnotes

See also

51.743°N -0.5098°W

Notes and References

  1. Motor Sport, September 1953, Page 462.
  2. Web site: Great Britain & Ireland Hillclimb Venues . 2018-01-13.
  3. Motor Sport, November 1953, Page 591; C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 51.
  4. C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 54.
  5. Motor Sport, July 1955, Page 384.
  6. The Motor Year Book 1957, Temple Press, Page 205.
  7. C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 100.
  8. C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 114.
  9. Autocar, 14 August 1959, Page 30.
  10. Motor Sport, August 1960, Page 622.
  11. Motor Sport, August 1961, Page 646; C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Pages 173–174.
  12. Motor Sport, September 1963, Page 678.

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