Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb

[1] However, at that time hillclimbs were not strictly speed events at all, performances being rated in terms of a formula based on power and cars of 20 hp or more being required to be four-seaters and to carry passengers.

The formula competition continued into the 1920s but focus quickly shifted towards earning fastest time of the day (FTD).

Starting in 1923, numerous class awards were introduced, at first for different engine capacities but later also dividing cars into touring, sports and racing types as well.

The two most important international competitors at this meeting were Hans Stuck in an Austro Daimler and Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes SSK sports car of the type he raced to win the 1929 RAC Tourist Trophy.

Although they were unprepared, new to the track and had to make numerous changes to gear ratios, the Nacional Pescaras set times of 44.4 and 44.6 seconds respectively.

However although it was initially feared the 1932 season would need to be cancelled, a large team of volunteers were able to have the track ready in time.

At the next meeting however (June 1937), in good weather Mays was able to lower his record to 39.09 in the first event to take place over two days.

[2] At the last meeting before World War II, in June 1939, Mays set a new record of 37.37 seconds in his ERA R4D.

Hillclimbing resumed at the track in 1947, and the 1950s saw a move from Saturday to Sunday meetings, despite protests from, among others, the Lord's Day Observance Society.

The young Stirling Moss would have made his competition debut at Shelsley in 1947, but the entry list was full; he had to be content with a win in 1948.

However, an increasingly uneven surface made smooth runs more difficult, and around the start of the 21st century, the 25 second barrier had still not been broken.

The original lease, taken out in 1905, ran for the common length of 99 years - which meant that a solution was urgently needed if 2004 was not to mark the end of hillclimbing at the venue.

[8] At the meeting on 11 June 2021, a memorial plaque to Stirling Moss was unveiled, highlighting the fact that he first competed on the course as a teenager in 1948.

[9] In August 2021 the long standing outright hill record was beaten by Sean Gould with the new mark set at 22.37 seconds.