1993 Hillclimb Championship review

Duke Marketing. 120 mins, £16.99.

This actually marks something of a pleasant change. Commonly, video releases at the turn of the year concentrate upon Formula One, touring cars, the RAC Rally and all the other populist activities. To watch single seaters with power-to-weight ratios of almost F1 proportions ascending spindly lanes with a) no discernible run-off area and b) adjacent trees has a certain fascination.

This seasonal review contains selected championship rounds, and focuses on the leading lights in every class though priority is obviously given to those chasing points in the top 10 run-off.

Ironically, this amateur pursuit commands a lengthier review than the 1993 World Championship, and the price reflects this. Unlike the F1 tape, it probably won’t bear repeated viewing, and one doubts that it will sell in huge quantities (though it’s not the first time hillclimbing has been granted a video review, so one assumes that previous releases were commercially viable). All the same, it’s nice to know that there is substantial footage of a branch of the sport that commands roughly as much TV airtime as marbles, yet which has a strong, and devoted, following. S A