British hillclimb champions celebrate Golden Jubilee

The Majority of the 19 surviving champions and their cars will be present when the Midland Automobile Club hosts the 50th anniversary celebrations for the RAC British Hillclimb Championship at Shelsley Walsh, near Worcester, on June 7/8. Shelsley, which remains virtually unchanged since its first event in 1905, was the backdrop for the second round of the inaugural series on June 21, 1947. The long-defunct Bo’ness venue, near Linlithgow in Scotland, staged the first.

The first two championships were won by the late Raymond Mays in ERA R4D, which also featured in the late Ken Wharton’s fourth successive overall victory in 1954. Strenuous efforts are being made to get this most famous car to the event.

Sometime Grand Prix driver Tony Marsh, who claimed title hat-tricks in 1955-’57 (in a Cooper-JAP) and 1965-’67 with his own Marsh-Buicks, is running the second of these in its four-wheel-drive ’67 trim, as well as his contemporary Roman-DFL.

David Boshier-Jones will, it is hoped, be reunited with his 1958-’60 – winning Cooper-JAP (in restoration with Spencer Elton), while 1961 winner David Good and double champions Sir Nicholas Williamson and Michael MacDowel aim to attend.

Martin Bolsover, Chris Cramer, Alister Douglas-Osborn, David Franklin, David Grace, four-time and current champion Roy Lane, Ray Rowan and Charles Wardle have accepted invitations, and many of the winning cars are making rare appearances. Be there for a little piece of history.