Classic & Vintage Hillclimb & Jim Thomson at Harewood

The BARC Yorkshire Centre had busy two event weekend last weekend, 1st & 2nd June at the famous Harewood Hill….

The Classic and Vintage Hillclimb meeting on Saturday was part of the Vintage Sports Car Club (VSCC) Speed Championship which included car and driver clubs from the following manufactures, Frazer Nash, Bentley, Jaguar, Morgan, pre-war Austin 7’s, both road and race cars featured along with a small number of Harewood regulars who had suitable cars for the meetings competing classes.

Saturdays weather looked very promising with a nice bit of Yorkshire sunshine, but it did not last for long with grey clouds rolling in during the second practice run, the drizzle starting soon after which turned to progressive heavy rain. During the break for lunch and for early part of the afternoon the drizzle was on and off. A twenty five minute delay due to an emergency and the main Paddock office loosing power during the first timed runs slowed the show but competitors still got 3 timed runs during an eventful afternoon.

Results for the Classic and Vintage Hillclimb can be found here.

Sunday was for the Jim Thomson Trophy which was round three of the 2019 Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship and the ‘Fast Time of the Day Championship’ (FTD). After a couple of spits and spots of rain before the event even got started (again the rain clouds never seemingly clearing throughout the day), practice got under way. A frustrating start with the first competitor having transmission issues and ultimately partway up the hill meaning tow then flatbed recovery truck, to get back to the pits.

After the two practice runs had been completed and with a weather warning in the area for a very heavy downpour at about 14:00 hours, the organisers took the decision to go with a timed run before a very late lunch break. This heavy rain never really appeared and after many red flags the first timed run was completed and the afternoon delivered two further timed runs for the drivers .

The 2018 Harewood Speed Hillclimb Champion Deryck Jones, Peugeot 205 Gti car number 96 still leads from Kieran O’Brien in his Nissan 350Z, car no. 116 with Jonathan Mounsey moving up to third, in his Mitsubishi Evo 6, car number 123.

The 2018 Harewood FTD Champion Dave Banner made his first appearance for the 2019 season in his OMS 28, car number 166, managing the second fastest time up the hill. Also entered was the 2017 Harewood FTD Champion John Chacksfield also in an OMS 28 car no.168. The FTD championship leader is still Ben Tranter having set his first ever FTD to claim 10 points in the OMS 2000M (car no. 164) he shares with Rob Spedding (car no. 864) who moves up to second, with Ed Carter in his Force PT, car no. 163 in third.

Results for the Jim Thomson Trophy Hillclimb can be found here.

Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship & FTD Championship here.

Many thanks to BARC Yorkshire Centre at Harewood Hill and not forgetting all the marshals and rescue teams without which the event could not take part.

Enjoy the gallery.