RAC British Hill Climb Championship Round

Prescott, 2 May 1971

Notes on the cars:

1. McLaren M10B [400-03] (Roy Lane): Alan McKenchnie for Mike Walker UK 1970. The monocoque was replaced (by 400-18S) so that Walker could get the lower engine mount specification used by Gethin and Ganley. The 400-03 chassis to Roy Lane (Warwick, Warwickshire) and built up with 5.5-litre Chev for the British Hill Climb Championship 1971. To Richard Shardlow (Baslow, Derbyshire) for hillclimbs in 1972 but rolled at Harewood. To John Bailey and rebuilt for Sprints during 1974 and 1975. To Harry Phillips (Coventry) 1976 for libre. Bought from Phillips by Andrew Baber (Lydney, Gloucestershire), who only used the car in demos, and then sold it in early 1984 to Ian Webb (Dorking). Webb sold it almost immediately to Roger Ealand, who raced it in 1985 and 1986. To Paul Palmer and restored by Michael Cane Ltd, then to Ed Hubbard, and then to Ean Pugh (Wales & Monaco) in 1988. However, Ean believed the car he bought was the "ex-Prophet" 400-04, not 400-03. Sold to Keith Norris in June 2020.
2. Palliser WDH1 [AM70/61] (Mike MacDowel): Built for Mike MacDowel (Godalming, Surrey) and fitted with a Repco 740 V8 Formula 1 engine. Raced by MacDowel in British hillclimbs in 1971, winning both the Doune rounds of the RAC championship, in June and in September. For a part of the season the engine capacity was enlarged to 4.2 litres by fitting the crank and rods from the 5-litre version of the engine. MacDowel acquired a new Brabham BT36X for 1972 and the Palliser was sold to Peter Voigt (Haywards Heath, Sussex), who continued to use it in hillclimbs with the 4.2-litre Repco. Voigt advertised the car at the end of 1972, but it was not seen again until the start of the 1974 season, when it had moved to Scotland and was being shared by David Fyfe and Alex Brown, both from Edinburgh. Raced by them in 1974 and 1975. For 1976, the car was acquired by veteran Bryan Eccles (Solihull, Warwickshire), who was returning to the sport ofter quite a few years. He raced it at Wiscombe Park in April 1976, the opening round of the RAC championship, but crashed heavily, severely injuring his legs. The wrecked Palliser chassis was acquired by Tim Cameron and repaired by cutting off the damaged front section and welding on a Formula Ford Palliser. He then ran the car in hillclimbs, still with the Repco engine, until an accident at Shelsley Walsh. He then sold the Repco engine to Dave Bishop, but could not recall who bought the chassis from his advert in Exchange & Mart. In November 1980, an "ex-Formula 5000" Palliser was advertised from phone numbers in Worthing and Littlehampton with 1600cc crossflow engine. A later German HVIF stated that this car was owned by Roger Hurst ("Hourst") and later by "K,Heinz Wagner, Eppelborn-Dirmingen". The car was registered as a "WDA/1" by Helmut Reuscher in December 1999.
3. Hepworth FF 4WD ['1'] (David Hepworth): New for David Hepworth to drive in British hillclimbs in late 1968. In 1969, Hepworth appeared in 12 of the 14 rounds of the championship, winning five, finishing second in another four and third in two more. He easily won the championship. His only failure to finish was when he crashed at Creggan on the Tholt-y-Will hill climb in June. The car was also raced in F5000 in early 1969 by Bev Bond and Tony Lanfranchi, and in Formule Libre by Hepworth. It was used again in hillclimbs by Hepworth in 1970 with a 5-litre Chevrolet engine, when he again won five rounds but only finished second in the championship. He retained the FF for 1971, when he again won five of the 13 rounds, and took second in two, with four more third places. He clinched the title with two rounds to spare. In 1972, he took three wins and a second in the first six races, but then missed several rounds due to his BRM Interserie project and mechanical problems and ended the season tied for second place. Roy Lane also gave the Hepworth a try in a sprint at Curborough that season. Hepworth brought the 4WD car back for a fifth season in 1973, now sharing it with Richard Shardlow, but withdrew after a dreadful weekend at Wiscombe Park when the suspension collapsed in practice, and then the same thing happened to Shardlow during his championship climb. Hepworth then changed his focus to Interserie, and the Hepworth FF was dismantled. The car remained with the Hepworth family after David's death in 1992, and was rebuilt to appear at the Shelsley Walsh Centenary in 2005.
4. Brabham BT35X [2] (Tony Griffiths): Built for Tony Griffiths (Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands) for 1971, and fitted with a 5-litre Repco 740 V8 engine for the British Hill Climb Championship and occasional rounds of the British Sprint Championship. It won one round of each series. Griffiths retained it for 1972 when he again won one round in each series. To Malcolm Dungworth (Sheffield, South Yorkshire) for 1973 when he shared it with John Cussins (Leeds, West Yorkshire). They shared the car again in 1974 and in 1975, when Cussins won a championship round at Barbon Manor. Dungworth then ran it alone in 1976 and 1977. It was sold to Terry Smith in October 1977, and raced by him in the Sprint series in 1978. After racing it again in early 1979, he transferred the Repco engine into a March 75A/761 in June, and the BT35X was sold to Mike Remnant in south-west England. Remnant did not race it, sticking to his BT30, and sold it on to Roger Jordan who fitted a Ford twin cam engine and ran it in SW events from about 1981. He later replaced the engine with a Rover V8. It was raced by Mark Haynes, still with the Rover V8, at Werrington Park in 1985. In 1986, Jordan sold it to Ted Walker (Dursley, Gloucestershire) who sold it on to Shaun Mooney. Mooney had it restored by Simon Hadfield, fitted a Cosworth BDA, and raced it in historic racing from 1991 to 1996. In 2002, the car was sold to Japan and ran in Japanese historic events where it was noted as having the name "E. Sekiya" on the side. It changed hands in 2004 and was rebuilt by the Mecca racing garage at Tsukuba circuit in 2008. It was offered for sale by its Japanese owner in August 2015, and was acquired by Ross Drybrough (Worthing, West Sussex). At this point it was in "F2" specification with a BDA engine. Restored and raced by Drybrough in HSCC F2 in 2022.
5. McLaren M10B [400-12] (Bob Rose): See full history: McLaren M10B 400-12.
6. Brabham BT21C [17] (Malcolm Eaves): New to Malcolm Eaves (Solihull, Warwickshire) and fitted with a 3.5-litre Buick V8 engine for hillclimbing. It made its competition debut at Curborough on 4 October 1970, its only previous outing having been a shakedown at Silverstone. Eaves qualified the car regularly for the Top Ten in British championship hill climbs in 1971. To Peter Boshier-Jones (Cardiff) for 1972 and again often made the Top Ten in 1972 and 1973. To Nigel Pow (Bristol) and kept the Buick engine for 1974, qualifying for the Top Ten on several occasions. Pow reappeared with the car in 1976, when it had been fitted with a 4.2-litre four-cam Indianapolis Repco V8 running on neat methanol. The bodywork had also been updated and it was described as a BT21/23C. The car was not a great success in this configuration. Sold by Pow to John Harper in 1979 and sold by him to Australian Clive Osborne in 1981 and then sold to Les Wright in 1987. Wright located Malcolm Eaves who still had the detailed photographs from when the car was first built, allowing Wright to return it to original specification by 2003. The quad-cam Repco V8 was sold to be fitted to a Matich sports car. Les Wright raced the BT21C-Buick regularly in Australian historic racing from 2003 onwards.
7. McLaren M10B [400-07] (Richard Thwaites): New to David Good (Maidenhead, Berkshire) for the 1970 British Hill Climb Championship, fitted with a 5.5-litre Alan Smith Chevrolet. To Richard Thwaites (Dewsbury, West Yorkshire) for 1971, now using a 5-litre Chevy, and retained for 1972 when Thwaites was very successful in smaller hillclimbs. Retained again for 1973 when Thwaites used a 5.7-litre or 5.8-litre engine. Sold to Martyn Griffiths (Arley, Worcestershire) July 1974 and used in the British Hill Climb Championship in 1974 and 1975. Griffiths had a second M10B during 1975 having damaged the monocoque of one car at Pontypool at the end of April. Sold to Godfrey Crompton (Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire) 1976 for hillclimbs but crashed at Loton Park August 1976. Sold still in crashed condition to Keith Cox (Halesowen, West Midlands), rebuilt and again hillclimbed. To John Peskett (Leicester) 1977 and remained unused in his collection, with 400-06(A), M10A 300-16 and other F5000s. Later to restorer Rick Hall (Bourne, Lincolnshire), then to Jeffrey Pyett (Oundle, Peterborough) 1989, then Richard Eyre (Rayleigh, Essex) 1991. Sold by Eyre to David Mitchell (NZ) mid-2012 but the car remained with preparer Simon Hadfield (Shepshed, Leicestershire) through 2013. Shipped to New Zealand in May 2014.
8. TechCraft (Agnes Mickel): Built by Roy Lane (Warwick, Warwickshire) and fitted with a 3.5-litre Buick V8 engine for the 1969 hillclimb season. Lane won first time out in the car at a Formula Libre race at Silverstone in March 1969. He also won British Hillclimb Chanpionship rounds at Doune in Juen and at Great Auclum in August. To John Cussins (Leeds, West Yorkshire) for the 1970 season, and used in sprints and hillclimbs. To Gray & Agnes Mickel (Glasgow, Scotland) for 1971, who used it in Scottish hillclimbs. To Ian Swift and Terry Smith for 1972 and 1973. For 1974, it was acquired by Roger "Doc" Willoughby (Sulhamstead, Berkshire), and used in southwestern hillclimb for the next three seasons. Unknown from 1977 to 1980, but at the start of 1981 it was bought by Tony Howard and Bob Kirk to defend Howard's Cinque Ports Flying Club Lydden libre championship. Howard referred to it as the "3.5-litre Buck-engined Tech-Craft Brabham BT21". In 1982, it was used by R.F. Gillingham (Mile Oak Garage) at the Brighton Speed Trials. In 1984, it was acquired by Peter Voigt (Haywards Heath, Sussex), and retained by him for many years.
9. TechCraft (Gray Mickel): Built by Roy Lane (Warwick, Warwickshire) and fitted with a 3.5-litre Buick V8 engine for the 1969 hillclimb season. Lane won first time out in the car at a Formula Libre race at Silverstone in March 1969. He also won British Hillclimb Chanpionship rounds at Doune in Juen and at Great Auclum in August. To John Cussins (Leeds, West Yorkshire) for the 1970 season, and used in sprints and hillclimbs. To Gray & Agnes Mickel (Glasgow, Scotland) for 1971, who used it in Scottish hillclimbs. To Ian Swift and Terry Smith for 1972 and 1973. For 1974, it was acquired by Roger "Doc" Willoughby (Sulhamstead, Berkshire), and used in southwestern hillclimb for the next three seasons. Unknown from 1977 to 1980, but at the start of 1981 it was bought by Tony Howard and Bob Kirk to defend Howard's Cinque Ports Flying Club Lydden libre championship. Howard referred to it as the "3.5-litre Buck-engined Tech-Craft Brabham BT21". In 1982, it was used by R.F. Gillingham (Mile Oak Garage) at the Brighton Speed Trials. In 1984, it was acquired by Peter Voigt (Haywards Heath, Sussex), and retained by him for many years.
10. Brabham BT35X [1] (Sir Nicholas Williamson): Built for Sir Nick Williamson (Mortimer, Berkshire) for 1971, and fitted with a 1.8-litre Cosworth FVC sports car engine for the British Hill Climb Championship. To Iain McLaren (Broxburn, Scotland) for 1972 and run in the Scottish Hill Climb Championship, and in libre racing. To George Dixon (Norton Disney, near Lincoln) for 1973 and fitted with a 'bitza' Ford twin cam engine for libre racing. Given the lack of any other plausible contenders, it may well be the 1800cc BT35 raced by Bob Leckie (Aberdeen, Scotland) at Ingliston in September 1974. Its history is then unknown until some time before 2001, when it was owned by Chris Roden (Hampshire). He had acquired it in a poor state from a house that was being cleared, and started a restoration. The car was still with Roden in February 2004, but what happened to it next remains a mystery. Roden died in 2014, and it is unclear whether he sold the BT35X before he died.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.