driving the hill have three runs up the mile-long course which ascends by 300 feet. More than £50,000 has been raised for local charities over the five years and Brooklands is one of the recipients.
Former powerboat racer, Barrie Williams joined me as a passenger and was super- impressed with the day. He said: “I hail from a motor sport and powerboat racing background, so an invitation to participate in the Shere Hill Climb was an opportunity not to be missed. However, the ambience and spirit of the event surpassed all expectations. Not only was the age range of the vehicles staggering – I believe some 105 years, but so was the type range, it seems the main criteria for acceptance is ‘interesting’, which creates a fascinating and eclectic mix. A Ford Mustang could be followed by a Jaguar E-type, then a Land Rover, a Cobra, a Morgan, Lancia Integrale, a Rallye Hillman Imp and so on. The strong emphasis is that the event is not officially timed, so it’s not meant to be competitive. I officiate frequently at major powerboat racing events, but it’s rare and welcome to encounter such a friendly and responsive atmosphere as that experienced at the Shere Hill Climb. Big thanks to the organising team and their volunteers for giving the entrants, spectators and charities such a great time.
My imprinted memory – looking down from the grandstand at the start line and seeing the biggest ever grins on the competitors faces as the flag dropped!”
Diana Willows
Motorcycles at Shere There were just four representatives of the Brooklands Motorcycle Team at Shere this year
ABC (in the foreground) with Graham Edwards’ Royal Enfield (centre) (Martin Gegg).
due to a clash with the Isle of Man Classic TT. Star of the Brooklands contingent was Ian Dabney with the Museum’s 1921 Sopwith ABC. Work on the ABC started nearly two years ago with the intention of participating in the 2016 hill climb. However, the Bradshaw-designed engine had a few issues to be smoothed out before being successfully tested at Dunsfold earlier this year. Registration papers had already been obtained by the Museum’s Curatorial Team, so all that was needed was a quick, but rather tense, trip to the MoT station to give the thumbs up to Ian’s work. (Vehicles of this age do not require an MoT but we use the MoT process as a third-party assurance for Museum motorcycles that are road registered).
Early on the morning of the hill climb, Ian, Graham Edwards (Royal Enfield) and myself (AJS) met in the paddock to be joined later by Tony Baxter, who had to abandon his 1930s Tri- umph for his more modern, but classic, Moto Guzzi. The team were also joined by two private entrants riding an Ariel Square Four and a nicely restored 1960s Lambretta. We lined up at the start before pulling away be- hind the ABC, on its first outing on a public road. The hill climb course itself is the easy part, but for the bikes there is the more challenging return route down the steep bends of Coombe Lane. Once on the A25 the first shower of the day ar- rived and the team chose to retire the older bikes leaving Tony on his Moto Guzzi, the Ariel and
Martin Gegg’s 1937 AJS – only two owners (Martin Gegg).
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