Hillclimbs at Devon’s premier motorsport venue

Torbay Motor Club held their annual speed hillclimb at Wiscombe Park near Honiton recently. The Club was founded in 1950, and from 1961 until 2003 held two hillclimbs each year in March and October utilising the very tortuous Oddicombe Hill.

The event ceased after the access road to Oddicombe Beach became subject to the Road Traffic Act and therefore a 30mph speed limit. Alternative venues were used at Finlake and Mamhead for a few years, and when these venues were also lost, Wiscombe Park became the home of the Club’s only hillclimb event.

This year’s event comprised a wide variety of cars from standard road going through to single-seater racing cars. There was also an entry of motor bikes and sidecars.

The meeting attracted entries from across the South West – Wiscombe was hosting Round 5 of the regional ASWMC Fusion Fostering Hillclimb Championship.

It was a memorable day for Torbay MC member James Hudson. Going into the event, he was leading both the Wiscombe Tillicoultry Quarries Championship and the ASWMC Championship in his VW Golf GTi.

He maintained his position in those Championships by winning his Class with a time of 44.85s for the 1,000 yard course – nearly 3 seconds quicker than his nearest rival.

Other Torbay MC members achieving Class Wins were Gerald Tout – 43.69s - sharing a highly modified Ford Fiesta with his son Russ – 44.86s – they finished first and second. There were also wins for Jan Yeo – 42.55s (Sports Libre Ford 34 Coupe) and Mike Lee – 40.27s (Force LM).

The honour of Fastest Time of the Day went to Ottery St Mary driver Ed Hollier with a time of 35.79s in his Force HC.

On two wheels, FTD honours went to Paul Jeffery (KTM) - 44.27s. In the sidecars, Simon and Jayne Foster (Honda F2) were the fastest pairing – 47.10s.