I attended the 2017 Chateau Impney Hill Climb. As the photo above shows, this year I went with Media Accreditation with track pass. I made an early start to get to Chateau Impney in good time. Upon arrival the Chateau looked impressive with a fun fair and trade stands surrounding it. The Land Rover driving experience was also back again.
This year was the 60th anniversary of Maserati withdrawing from racing. To commemorate this, a vast array of Maserati's will take to the hill.
This year, 18 classes of car will compete for the fastest car in class and overall fastest time.
Class 1 cars are pre 1940 standard and modified sports cars unsupercharged up to 1500CC.
Class 2 cars are pre 1940 standard and modified sports cars unsupercharged over 1500CC.
Class 3 cars are pre 1940 special sports cars and all supercharged cars up to 1500CC.
Class 4 cars are pre 1940 special sports cars and all supercharged cars over 1500CC.
Class 5 cars are Edwardian and Victorian cars.
Class 6 cars are pre 1940 racing cars up to 1100CC.
Class 7 cars are pre 1940 racing cars over 1100CC up to 1500CC.
Class 8 cars are pre 1940 racing cars over 1500CC up to 3000CC.
Class 9 cars are pre 1940 racing cars over 3000CC.
Class 10 cars are racing cars up to 500CC from 1946 to 1967.
Class 11 cars pre 1961 racing cars up to 1500CC.
Class 12 cars are pre 1961 sports and sports racing cars up to 2200CC.
Class 13 cars are pre 1961 sports and sports racing cars over 2200CC.
Class 14 cars are pre 1961 racing cars over 1500CC.
Class 15 cars are pre 1968 sports and sports racing cars.
Class 16 cars pre 1968 racing cars up to 1500CC.
Class 17 cars pre 1968 racing cars over 1500CC.
Class 18 cars are production saloon cars from 1950 to 1967.
Walking through the paddock I began taking photo's and soaking in the atmosphere of this event. I then made my way to the Footman James area where I found a line up of Group B Rally cars, the Bugatti Owners club area and the Concours of Elegance. I took some photo's of the Group B Cars and then made my way to the Bugatti's and spent some time looking at the Chiron and the vintage Buggati's grouped around it. after taking photo's and a live video, I went to sign in at the Media Centre to collect my track pass. A short time later, the paddock started getting busy with drivers and assistants starting to prepare their cars for the Hill Climb. I bumped into Guy Loveridge and had a quick chat about how he felt about his chances for the weekend in his class. Guy said he would be happy if he finished second to last or higher due to the calibre of the competition. I then took a film of Rachel Williams Hardy Special III starting up. With cars gathering at the assembly point for the start, I made my way to find a good spot to take photo's of the action. On my way I chatted to a few of the drivers about the race ahead. Hughie Walker, spoke about the Fraser Nash that was being worked on until late Thursday night when it was decided that they would not be able to complete the work in time that was needed to get it running. Hughie wound up driving the Model T Ford Roadster, while his dad Mark Walker would drive the GN Thunderbug. Mark was due to drive the Darracq 200hp but work to fix this would not be completed in time. Hughie said it made the drivers sign on interesting having to explain all of this to the course clerk. Sarah Owen, the driver of the Bugatti Bresica T13 said was looking forward to the climb but said that the car had not been out since the previous years hill climb. I reached the area where i would take photo's from and waited for the cars to make their way up the hill. I chatted to several photographers, all of them were very welcoming and easy to chat to. I was lucky enough to be able to go both sides of the track and made the best use of this.
After the morning had finished I made my way back around the paddock. I saw Tania Brown, The Chief Paddock Marshall. At last years event, Tania was very welcoming and helpful with lots of useful information. This year was no different, we chatted briefly before moving on as Tania was getting the drivers where they needed to be. I spoke to Duncan Ricketts, Nick Topliss and Mark Gillies about their times up the hill. They were happy to be at the Hill Climb and had enjoyed themselves while driving up the Hill. I chatted to Stuart Webster from the about the Bugatti Owners Club about the cars they had on display. Stuart said that the Chiron would be the only one to take to the hill. It was then onto the Footman James stand where I met Charlotte who was their media person. I made my way back to the track for the demonstration runs to take more photo's.
After this had finished it was time to head home, I made my goodbyes after what had been one of the best events I have been to.
If you have not been to the Chateau Impney Hill Climb, I would ask that if you are able to attend next year please do. It really is worth the trip.
For further information, please visit http://www.chateauimpneyhillclimb.com/
Below are the photo's and video's I took
Riley Bullet
Lea Francis Hyper
Lea Francis Hyper's
Maserati Tipo 26
HRG Meadows 1.5 Litre
Invicta High Chassis
Invicta S Type
Lagonda LG45 Le Mans Spec
Delahaye 135M
Talbot Lago T23
Allard Tailwagger
Vauxhall 30-98
Bentley 3/4.5
Bentley 3 Litre
Bugtti Brescia T13
Riley TT Sprite
GN Vitesse
Bugatti Type 13
Riley Ulster Imp
From Left to right MG Dargue Special, Cooper Bristol T24/25, Connaught LG
Guy Loveridge with his Connaught L2
Porsche Speedster
BMW 1600 Ti
Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT
Austin Mini Cooper
Morris Minor "Bluebell"
Ford 105E
C-Type Jaguar
Ferrari 250 Chevy "Hot Rod"
Vintage and Edwardian Cars
Piccard - Pictet Sturtevant Aero Special
Berlet Curtiss 2 Seat Racing
Lorraine Dietrich 130HP
911 Sunbeam
Pope Toledo Gordon Bennet
Theophile Schineider Sport
Vauxhall Type A
Locomobile Speedster Model 38
Fafnir Hall-Scott Special
Hudson Super Six
Below are links to videos of some of these cars being started.
Richard Scaldwell starts the Lorraine Dietrich 130hp
Nicholas Hillyard starts his Theophile Schineider Sport
Geoff Smith starts his Piccard - Pictet Sturtevant Aero Special followed by Ivan Dutton starting his Berlet Curtiss 2 Seat Racing
From Left to right Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica, Ferrari 500 TRC, AC Ace Bristol and Chapman Mercury III
Ferrari 500 TRC
From left to right D-Type Jaguar Long Nose, Lister Jaguar Sports, D-Type Jaguar Short Nose
D-Type Jaguar Long Nose
From left to right Farralack Mk II, Aston Martin DB3/S C-Type Jaguar and Austin Healey 100/6
From left to right Lotus Buick, Ferrari 250 GT SWB, BRM Mk 1 and Owen Jaguar
Ferrari 250 GT SWB
Owen Jaguar
Maserati 450S
Maserati T61
Maserati 250F
Maserati 250 F
Maserati 6CM
Bugatti Type 51
Alfa Romeo 1750 Gs
Ford Model 68
Ford Model A Roadster
Hotchkiss AM80 Brooklands
Jim Robbins Special
Duncan Ricketts with his ERA E Type GP1
GN JAP GP
Frazer Nash Norris Special
Parker GN
GN Thunderbug
Menasco Pirate
Hillegrass Special
Amilcar G Type Montlhery
Austin Seven
Rachel Williams prepares to start her Hardy Special MkIII with help from her friends. Below is a link to the video.
Maserati Cooper Monaco
Chevrolet Camaro 2/28
Lola T160
Chaparral 1
Chaparral 2
AC Cobra
Ford Mustang
Ford Model T Roadster
Packard Bentley Mavis
Group B Rally Cars
Ferrari 308
Renault 5 Maxi Turbo
Ford RS 200
MG Metro 6R4
Peugeot 205 T16 EVO2
Audi S1 E2
Audi Quattro A1(s)
Ford RS 200
Bugatti Owners Club area
Bugatti Chiron
Below is my video of the Bugatti Chiron
Bugatti Type 40
Bugatti Type 40
Type 57 Atalante
Bugatti Type 35B
Bugatti Type 23 Brescia
Bugatti Type 40 Coupe
Type 35 Bugatti
Ferrari Enzo
McLaren MP4-12C
McLaren MP4-12C
Jaguar Project 7
Jaguar CX75
Morgan GTN
ERA RC8
Citroen 2CV Race Car
Vauxhall Prince Henry
Amilcar CV
Packard Bentley Mavis
ERA Riley
Jaguar XK120
Birkin Bentley Blower
Jaguar XJ220
Cars assembling to begin the hill climb
Hill Climb Action
The ford misses the breaking and turning point.
Marshall push Tom Waterfield and his GN Dragonfly back to the paddock
The Invicta S Type heads for the paddock.
Demonstration runs
The Ferrari donuts in from of the Chateau
This Audi went off at the first corner and is dragging some of is bodywork along.
In the background, the panel give up hanging on.
The missing panel from the Audi.
Listed below are the class winners
Class Driver Car Time
1 Sue Darbyshire Morgan Superaero 49.09 seconds
2 Ewen Getley Bentley 3 Litre 48.24 seconds (new class record)
3 Dr David Pryke Morgan Riley 47.70 seconds (new class record)
4 Tom Waterfield GN Dragonfly 47.60 seconds
5 Geoff Smith Picard-Pictet Special 53.02 seconds
6 Gary Clare Grannie 49.98 seconds
7 Ben Fidler ERA AJM 1 45.01 seconds (new class record)
8 Ian Baxter Alta 61 IS 43.71 seconds (new class record)
9 Justin Maeers GN Parker Special 44.57 seconds (new class record)
10 Mark John Riley Creamer Special 45.70 seconds
11 Mark Woodhouse Elva FJ 100 43.18 seconds
12 Justin Maeers Cooper Monaco T49 44.46 seconds
13 Malcolm Thorne Lotus Buick 15 43.34 seconds (new class record)
14 Rod Spollon BRM P48 46.17 seconds/
15 David Gidden Lotus 23B 41.25 seconds (new class record)
16 Jack Woodhouse Lotus 20/22 39.33 seconds
17 Martin Jones Brabham BT21B 40.53 seconds
18 David West Austin Cooper S 44.69 seconds
For further information please visit http://www.chateauimpneyhillclimb.com/
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