Weekend
And what a weekend it has been for 'Team OMS' and everyone who attended the BARC Yorkshire Centre Golden Jubilee celebrations at Harewood Hillclimb.
Not only was the hillclimb celebrating its 50th birthday so was Avon Tyres MSA British Hillclimb Championship front runner Trevor Willis, along with Peter Hamilton a previous OMS 2000M owner who now competes in historic single seater racing in his Techno F3 race car.
A tremendous amount of planning & organisation had gone into the weekend's meeting. Harewood hill is arguably the most scenic in the hillclimb calendar, with views up the valley towards Nidderdale & on a clear day to the east York Minster itself. Saturday dawned to a frosty morning with clear blue skies that turned into a warm sunny day, much to the relief of the organising team. Large numbers of spectators enjoyed the days activities and competition.
Running alongside the 2012 BARC Harewood Speed Hillclimb Championship season finale meetings were demonstration runs by cars that had competed at that very first event in 1962 along with British Hillclimb Championship winning cars. Significant drivers also participated including Barry Williams, David Gould and Nicky Porter to name just a few. Familiar faces in the crowd came to reacquaint themselves with drivers and organisers past and present from Harewoods 50 year history.
A static display of classic cars could be viewed in the hillside enclosure along with a number of stalls & displays. Further down the hill visitors had the opportunity to try their hand at some Production Car Trial sections organised by Ilkley & District Car Club. OMS drivers Trevor Willis & Gary Hill took up the PCT challenge in true competitive fashion along with Gary's wife Katie Hill. The end result of their mini competition was first place Trevor, second Katie & last but not least Gary.
Trevor was entered at the meeting in his OMS 25 V8, but in view of the final round of the British Hillclimb Championship being crucial to Trevor’s' title bid he elected to share the David Oldridge 600cc Hornet with Gary Hill instead of bringing his car. Their meeting was cut short on first practice runs when the engine let go. Gary took up the offer of a share drive with Lee Griffiths in the 1600cc OMS 25, whilst Trevor chose to be a spectator for the weekend: he was heard saying that it made a welcome change for him to be able to watch a meeting, have the time to chat with people & see the cars on the hill and on display.
Lynn & Steve Owen were keen to score points towards the Harewood FTD Championship that Steve was dueling to win with fellow OMS driver John Chacksfield. Steve secured the 10 points he needed for a maximum score to become BARC Harewood Speed Hillclimb FTD Champion 2012. Lynn added to her points tally on Saturday and again on the Sunday when she scored a maximum 10 points, to finish 4th overall making it an OMS annex of the top 4 places, with Graham Smiths' OMS 2000m in 3rd. Results from both meetings and the overall championship positions can be found on the Harewood Hillclimb website.
BARC Yorkshire Centre has also published a celebration booklet covering the history of first 50 years of Harewood Hillclimb. It features photos from those early days along with pictures of championship winners and current competitors. Copies are available to buy from the club, visit their website for information about buying a copy.
To view the BBC ONE Yorkshire regional news coverage of the event please click here.This link is only available for 7 days from the news posting date.
Date: 23/09/2012 | Author: L.Owen