R.A.C. Hill-Climb Championship

The 1964 R.A.C. Hill-Climb Championship series got under way on April 26 with the Severn Valley M.C.’s Loton Park Hill-Climb. Current Champion Peter Westbury appeared with the four-wheel-drive Ferguson-Climax P99, the car he will use for all the British Championship events, and set up a new record at 35.56 sec. (old record—Peter Boshier-Jones’ 1.3 supercharged Lotus-Climax-36.16 sec.), as well as winning the Championship class at 35.68 sec. from former Champion Tony Marsh in his 2-litre Marsh-Climax. Third place went to Tony Griffiths’ 2.5 B.R.M., with John Macklin’s 3.5 Cooper-Buick V8 fourth. Boshier-Jones in his high-revving supercharged Lotus-Climax took fifth place at 37.76 sec., and Wally Cuff in the ex-David Good 2.6 Cooper-Daimler V8 was sixth. The first three drivers all scored a bonus point for getting below the old course record.

The second round of the Championship was the Bugatti O.C. Prescott Hill-Climb on May 3rd, when Westbury again won the Championship class but was some 2 sec. slower than Tony Marsh’s outright course record with his earlier B.R.M.-powered Marsh Special. Marsh chased Westbury throughout the meeting and finished only 0.12 sec. slower at 50.43 sec., whilst the stylish Boshier-Jones was the only other driver to break the 51-sec. barrier at 50.63 sec. Fourth was Macklin’s Cooper-Buick, fifth Ray Fielding’s Lotus 21, now fitted with a 2.5 Coventry-Climax engine, and sixth Tony Griffiths’ B.R.M. With two rounds completed, Westbury leads in the Championship with 21 points to Marsh’s 19, whilst Tony Griffiths, John Macklin and Peter Boshier-Jones all have 14 points. The third round is the W. Hants & Dorset C.C.’s Wiscombe Park event, results of which will be found under Fixtures for June.—E. L. W.