Barbon Hillclimb

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.

Barbon Manor
LocationBarbon
Cumbria
England
Time zoneGMT
Coordinates54°14′13″N 2°33′51″W postcode LA6 2LJ
Major EventsBritish Hill Climb Championship
Hill Length890 yards (810 m)
Turns3
Hill Record20.08 (Jos Goodyear, 2015, British Hillclimb Championship)

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
Year Driver Vehicle Time Notes
1950 Peter Holyoak Closed to club test event 87.20 secs (150yds longer)
1951 B Crabtree MG 37.20 secs R
1952 Gillie Tyrer Fraser Nash BMW 35.40 secs R
1953 B Crabtree MG 36.20 secs
1954 I E Davison Cooper MG 34.07 secs R
1955 P.S. Hughes Tojeiro-J.A.P. 34.68 secs [3] 21 May.
1956 C.A.N. May Cooper-J.A.P. Mark 8 32.18 secs R [4] 26 May.
1957 Peter Proctor Cooper-Norton 33.37 secs [5] 26 May.
1963 Tony Marsh Marsh Climax 28.779 secs R [6] 25 May.
1964 Peter Westbury Ferguson P99 Climax 27.17 secs R [7] 23 May.
1965 Peter Boshier-Jones Lotus [8]
1966 Tony Marsh Marsh Special GM 31.37 secs
1967 David Good B.R.M. 4-w-d [9] 20 May.
1968 Peter Lawson BRM P67 27.38 sec
1969 Round 4 D. Hepworth Hepworth FF Traco-Oldsmobile 26.78 sec R [10]
1998 British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace Gould Ralt GR37 21.04 sec
1999 British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace Gould Ralt GR37 21.11 sec
2000 British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace Gould Ralt GR37 20.86 sec R
2001 Meeting Cancelled (Foot & Mouth Disease)
2002 British Hill Climb Championship : Graeme Wright Jnr Gould GR51 V6 21.02 sec
2003 British Hill Climb Championship : Graeme Wright Jnr Gould GR51 V6 21.05 sec
2004 British Hill Climb Championship : Adam Fleetwood Gould GR.. 20.51 sec R
2005 British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves Gould GR55 20.91 sec
2006 British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves Gould GR55 21.17 sec
2007 British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves Gould GR55 20.71 sec
2008 British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran Gould GR61X 20.50 sec R
2009 British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves Gould GR55 21.58 sec
2010 British Hill Climb Championship : Wallace Menzies DJ Firestorm 21.61 sec
2011 British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran Gould GR61X 21.29 sec
2012 British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran Gould GR61X 20.51 sec
2013 British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis OMS 28 21.69 sec
2014 British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis OMS 28 21.81 sec
2015 British Hill Climb Championship : Jos Goodyear GWR Raptor 20.08 sec R
2016 British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis OMS 28 22.34 sec
2017 British 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. Barbon Speed Hillclimb for Motorcycles - Barbon Hillclimb for Motorbikes - 11 May 2019 www.kirkbylonsdale.co.uk, accessed 4 February 2021
  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.


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