Good things come to those who wait. I’ve always considered that to be an unnecessarily timid state of mind, but in the case of the Yorkshire Motorsport Festival I didn’t have much option. Public road hillclimbing was the very genesis of UK motorsport, but it has been long since prohibited and the sport moved to establish permanent venues. However, the same legislation that recently opened up closed road stage rallying once again made public road hillclimbing possible, although this time the roads have to be officially closed for the duration. Health and safety gone mad.
The idea of the Yorkshire Motorsport Festival developed around the centrepiece Wolfstones Hillclimb, and event for historic cars pre-dating 1986. My local motor club got involved to deliver the competitive element and it sounded like a great lark, until Covid intervened and the whole thing had to be put on ice for a year. Fast forward to 2021 and although the country was still subject to ongoing restrictions, the YMSF was finally given the go-ahead. Without getting into the politics, the organising team didn’t benefit from an easy ride and the whole thing remained touch and go right up to the 11th hour. However, against all odds, on the weekend of 25th – 27th June, the hills around Holmfirth finally echoed to the sound of racing engines, a testament to the efforts of the festival organisers and Mid-Derbyshire Motor Club. Virus restrictions meant visitor numbers had to be restricted, and the festival element had to be scaled back. Plans for live music had to be canned and attractions on the showground were not as extensive as hoped, but it’s hard to knock any event that actually goes ahead these days. At least the curb on temptations made it easier for me to stay sober and bring you this semi-coherent report.
My focus for the weekend was the Wolfstones Hillclimb, a 0.8 mile closed road dash through the Yorkshire countryside. By hillclimbing standards it was unknown territory, but I’m a rally man so tarmac of any condition is a bonus. Most hillclimb venues are notable for the quality and consistency of their road surface, and people can spend a lifetime shaving hundreds of a second off their personal best times. However, nobody had a knowledge advantage at Wolfstones and walking the course put the wind up a few. Not only did the course go quite steeply down as well as up, but there were junctions to negotiate, fearsome looking bales and aggregate bags, drystone walls, highly variable tarmac and the likelihood of things going quite light indeed over the top-most crest. A lot can happen in 0.8 miles, and it certainly did here.
There was a general murmur that it was laid out more like a Special Stage than a hillclimb, which was perhaps not a coincidence given the background of the organising club. I felt at home but that’s not to say I had any misplaced optimism of achieving a startling result. Dedicated hillclimb cars are lightweight and specialized machines. My BMW 2002 is built to be strong enough to stand up to the rough and tumble of rallying, and although I’d removed the sumpguard to save a bit of weight, I still started with a third of a tank of fuel on Yoko A539 road tyres. Perhaps most importantly, hillclimb drivers are analytical creatures who start quickly and get faster as they calculate how to chase those missing tenths. By contrast, my background means I tend to drive on sight as fast as I can, then get slower on subsequent runs when I figure out where the dangerous bits are.
But more of that later; let’s start with the festival. The infield attractions may have been scaled back but I still found enough to point the ViaRETRO camera at. Ignoring the competition cars for the moment my attention was mainly caught by the display of lorries and tractors, which if you’re really honest with yourself you surely want one of each. The man who doesn’t secretly yearn for a classic Fergie or David Brown is dead inside. Look at their eager faces. Livedrive, Selectamatic, Implematic; they all sound like something from Wallace & Gromit. A classic tractor is a wonderous thing, fully capable of earning its keep and therefore a justifiable purchase should you encounter any opposition when you return home with your new acquisition. If you lack a big enough garden to justify any sub-agricultural use, just hook the PTO up to the dishwasher or something and domestic harmony will be restored.
I can’t really make the same practical case for classic lorries as they undeniably take up a lot of space, but what appealing painted space they are. Proper lorry livery is a lost art, and the sad decline into printed decals runs in parallel with the general decline of society. It doesn’t seem all that long ago when I used to share the road with lovely old British trucks such as the Leyland Terrier and ERF B Series, but it was a long time ago and I’m now getting old. Scammel and Foden are also marques of the past, but I expect the intimidating visage of a Scammell Crusader would be simply too much for the snowflakes of today to bear. Just imagine those narrow-eyed headlamps bearing down on you out of the fog, the huge RR Diesel Powered riveted nameplate filling your rear-view mirror. There’s a low-budget B-movie horror flick right there.
Car wise, it was largely moderns that I encountered, entry level supercars suitable for people who can qualify for easy credit or payday loans. I can’t pass without showing you this uniquely liveried Ferrari 355 though, I’m sure you won’t see another one quite like it… it’s for sale if you want it… I didn’t ask the price.
Ok, back to the action. The Wolfstones hillclimb, named after the road on which we all laid our starting rubber, was a two-day affair. Hillclimbs are strictly class-based so there are no overall results as such, but the driver posting Fastest Time of the Day (FTD) is generally considered to be the overall victor and King of the hill.
My BMW qualified for Class 2C; Production Saloon & Sports Cars up to 2000cc manufactured from 1966 to 1975 inclusive. Whilst not the largest class, it did boast some potent cars, notably including the Cosworth powered Mk1 Escort of Steve Bailey. This is one snorty Ford, built from the ground up as a hillclimb weapon and producing something in the region of 250bhp. With a clicky sequential box and an all-up weight of around 870kgs, it’s extremely rapid. It helps that Steve is also a very experienced and capable driver. You can see where this is going.
Elsewhere, the competition starting with Pre-War 2-seaters and taking in later period racers in various states of tune. The Gerry Marshall Tribute Modified Sports & Special Saloon Cars over 2101cc included some lovely stuff such as a Blydenstein Viva HB, Vauxhall Firenza and an ex-works TR7 V8. Minis had a class to themselves, as did a good selection of various Renault Alpines.
Class 7 Sports Racing GT Cars was a catch-all for the oddballs, including Ian Medcalf’s Fiat 500 Special Saloon, a genuine Ford GT40, a D-Type and a mad Aston Martin engined Vauxhall Magnum. Interestingly, the latter three didn’t manage to keep up with the pack at all, although the little Fiat got into the 68s. The spectators also had the benefit of demonstration runs from the likes of Group B rally cars and historic Stock Cars whilst us competitors kept busy obsessively checking tyre pressures and measuring out precise quantities of fuel, or in my case eating sandwiches. Actually, I shouldn’t do myself down because I did take the spare wheel out of the boot.
Practice on Saturday was a little fraught due to some glitches with the timing but that was resolved for the all-important timed runs in the afternoon. The route consisted of a steep uphill start into a long double apex 45 degree right over tricky crest, downhill through a chicane then down again into an artificially tightened slot junction right. The road then climbed to a 45 right followed by a crest 30 left downhill into a long fast right to a 90 degree crossroad left. The final stretch took in a gentle climb past the main showground to a chicane into finish. Although dry, braking was marginal into the tightened slot junction right and much bravery was required for the fast blind approach to the crossroads left, the latter being unsighted and having potential for quite a large accident should it all go wrong. Substantial bales protected drivers from the worst effects of the drystone walls but they also narrowed the available tarmac quite considerably in places.
True to form I set my personal fastest time of 76.68 seconds on my first run and spent the rest of the weekend getting slower. It transpired that any time below 80s was not too shabby but my early claim to second in class went out of the window when class rival John Davey woke up during Saturday afternoon. In my defence, his 1380cc MG Midget produces similar power to my BMW and it’s a lot lighter. The best time from the Midget was 75.63 versus my best of 76.68, but good hillclimbers are consistent. Whereas John’s variance over the six runs was around the 3 second mark, mine was closer to 4.5 seconds of inconsistency. Either way (flicks through The Racing Driver’s Book Of Excuses), my efforts weren’t helped by the gear selector and synchro on second gear both getting gradually worse throughout Sunday, prompting a number of mis-shifts into fourth rather than second when bearing down on the chicanes. Never mind the momentary lack of revs, it was the resulting lack of engine braking that really caused me to blink on a couple of occasions. What do they say about a bad workman blaming his tools…? At least I held onto 3rd in class ahead of the Lancia Fulvia and was still able to drive home.
An FTD of 63.74 seconds was claimed by the aforementioned Steve Bailey in the Mk1 Escort, an immaculately prepared car that was very well driven. It says something about the particular challenges of the route that even the winning driver saw his times vary by over 4 seconds from his slowest to fastest runs, but I understand some mechanical gremlins were at play for at least one ascent. Surprisingly considering the nature of the road, the Wolfstones was largely incident free, although a Mini spun spectacularly into the bales at the crossroads and a Jaguar ended up in a ditch at the same location.
There were a number of mechanical retirements but this enabled the event to stay on time and make up for the various stoppages. We all had a good time regardless. From a visitor perspective, the restrictions and cap on spectator numbers had been non-negotiable and the organisers could either accept the situation or postpone again. The YMSF team made the right decision to press ahead and have laid the foundations for an attraction that can come back bigger and better in 2022 when it should really fulfil its potential. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait so long for the next instalment.
All action photos by kind permission of Howard Fielding (photowoduk).
