All revved up and raring to go

Round 1 at Gurston Down competitors raring to go at the start of the season

2015 Sprint & Hill Climb Competitors are raring to go

The competitors of the Healey Sport  Sprint and Hill Climb challenge were raring to go after a rest over the winter. The cars have been in hibernation for 6 months. The start of the 2015 season kicked off with a Practice Day at  Curborough Sprint Course on Monday 06th April 2015. It was a time to shake off the cobwebs, fire up the passion and set new expectations and dreams. It also provided an opportunity to test out the cars before the first round at Gurston Down on Sunday 19th April 2015. The test day was well attended. There were about 7 cars from the Big Healey Class and 5 from the Sprite class.

As sponsors of The Big Healey Class of the 2015 Sprint and Hill Climb Challenge we decided to take a drive out to Gurston Down, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, to watch and support the first round. The weather was dry and we were blessed with another sunny, blue sky day. We had a pleasant drive, taking in some great country roads. Having never been to Gurston Down we did not know what to expect. Big crowds had turned out to watch the season’s first weekend of championship speed hillclimbing at Gurston Down. As well as the Healey’s and Sprites there was a superb selection of two, three and four wheeled machinery. The programme included classes for T.R. Cars, The Classic Marques Speed Challenge, roadgoing series production cars up to 2000 c.c and over 2000 c.c, roadgoing specialist production cars, modified limited production marque sports cars, historically interesting cars, racing cars and Formula Ford racing cars of various c.c and motorbikes.

The course is idyllically set in the beautiful rolling Wiltshire countryside. The hillclimb track traverses farmland which is also used for pheasant shoots. It measures 967 metres and rises a total of 43 metres. The course is unique in British hillclimbing, as the first section is downhill. The start is crucial to a good time. The drivers need to get just the right amount of wheelspin to get a good launch off the line. Then it is a steep plunge downhill. At the bottom of the hill, the fastest cars can reach over 130 mph in around 5 seconds. Next is a deceptively difficult bend. Past Hollow Bend comes the critical approach to the Karousel, which requires late braking on the ideal line to be well placed for the second part of Gurston’s slowest section, a very steep, sharp right hander, taken at about 25 mph.This leads immediately to Deer’s Leap, followed by Ashes Bend and then a long drag up over Burke’s Rise to the Finish. Cars have been recorded crossing the finish line at over 150 mph.

It soon became apparent that the challenge of Speed Hill Climbing was to drive the course in the shortest possible time from a standing start to a flying finish. Timing is recorded to one hundreth of a second. The ultimate achievement is setting the best time of the day as well as awards in each of the classes.

It was brilliant to see over 20 Healeys participating in this round. It was a pleasant afternoon full of the thills and spills of motorsport. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip out, catching up with lots of people and enjoying an exciting afternoon of motorsport. Good luck to all the competitors. We are looking forward to supporting further rounds of the Championship and celebrating in style at the end of season awards dinner & presentation. We took a few pictures which can be found in our  2015 Sprint and Hill Climb Facebook Album. 

Gurston Down – Round 1 – Results Big Healey Class

1. Derek Job
2. Pete Walto
3. Trish Cecile Pritchard

Gurston Down – Round 1 – Results – Sprite Class

1. Simon Leeming
2. Kevin Rowe
3. Julian Wakeham

A full report for The Healey Sport Sprint and Hill Climb Challenge 2015 – Round 1 – Gurston Down – can be found on  The Healey Sport website. If you are interested in taking part yourself, the website has all the details on how to join the Championship as well as a  Beginners Guide to Sprinting and Hill Climbing 

The up coming rounds are:-

• Round 02 – May 09th 2015 – Goodwood
• Round 03 – Jun 14th 2015 – Angelsey
• Round 04 – Jun 21st 2015 – Silverstone
• Round 05 – Jul 19th 2015 – Shelsey Walsh
• Round 06 – Jul 25th 2015 – Castle Combe
• Round 07 – Aug 01st 2015 – Harewood
• Round 08 – Aug 02nd 2015 – Harewood
• Round 09 – Aug 08th 2015 – Loton Park
• Round 10 – Sep 12th 2015 – Wiscombe Park
• Round 11 – Sep 13th 2015 – Gurston Down
• Round 12 – Sep 20th 2015 – Curborough
• Round 13 – Oct 04th 2015 – Prescott

The start is crucial to a good time, drivers striving to get just the right amount of wheelspin to get a good “launch”