Shelsley Walsh Newsletter
July 2021
We’ve a lot going on here at Shelsley Walsh as we build up to our big weekend with Classic Nostalgia this Saturday and Sunday. You’ll be glad to know that access will be for spectators on the hill and the paddock for the first time since September 2019 as the garden party atmosphere will spread from the top to the bottom of the hill again so we look forward to seeing you again, especially as the weather looks good too!
The Shelsley Walsh Team
Classic Nostalgia
Classic Nostalgia is just days away this weekend as our big event of 2021 is back after a year’s break with the very best garden party atmosphere with spectators welcome to a weekend of Shelsley Walsh where access is available on the hill and all through the paddock.
40+ Group B, A and WRC rally cars will be present to celebrate Richard Burns’ WRC victory from 2001 with his very Safari winning Subaru WRC from 2000 being brought by Prodrive. A Sebastien Loeb Citroen WRC is there too thanks to Girardo & Co coming along with a flurry of very nice kit that you usually see only on Instagram or YouTube. Colin McRae’s Metro 6R4 that he thrashed on the Donegal Rally will be here for the first time so get your cameras ready to record the bark of that V6..! The Hepworth 4WD returns to Shelsley Walsh 50 years after it broke 30 seconds for the very first time up the hallowed tarmac plus a Shadow F1 car with full DFV noise and also The Stovebolt Special, a Porsche RSR and a huge squadron of Lotuses thanks to Paul Matty’s sports and racing car championship. Sir Stirling Moss’ Ferrari SWB will give charity rides up the hill to lucky bidders and winners, a plaque to Murray Walker will be unveiled on Saturday lunch time, the Battle of Britain fly overhead on both days plus live music, trade stands, car club displays and a Concours D’Elegance will all be part of what promises to be a great weekend.
For the full in depth run down of what is in store over the Classic Nostalgia weekend head over to classicnostalgia.co.uk and remember that 2021 MAC Members can get in for free while tickets are online in advance and are discounted over the gate price on the day. Please do remember to register online so we know what numbers are coming along even if you are an MAC Member by using your membership number on the ticket page.
The truly outrageous Beast of Turin will also be coming to Shelsley with the quite incredible 28.1 litre 4 cylinder engine meaning it has over 7 litres per cylinder…!
Hill Climbers at Goodwood
2015 British Hill Climb Champion Alex Summers was driving at Goodwood Festival of Speed, not in his usual back DJ Firestorm but the all new McMurtry Spierling that has huge electric power, downforce and presence. Sharing the car with five-time Le Mans 24 winner Derek Bell the car is rear wheel drive, got 1000bhp per ton and a projected top speed of over 200mph but the key is the patented fan that sticks the car to the road a la Brabham fan car.
“You can decide how much power the fan has at any given setting but the power in a straight line is absolutely astronomical. I soon hit a big speed in front of the house here (at Goodwood) and also in a straight line testing and it’s a real…well, wow factor. It’s probably a bit slower than the Firestorm to a 100mph but then because it hasn’t got the drag it just takes off; it doesn’t stop accelerating.”
"Our drag coefficient with the DJ is over 1 but with this its about 0.3 so it’s very slippery. The principle of running the fans means it has a lower energy penalty to run the fans than to run the wings out in the air. 80kw of power is needed to run the fans than there is to having wings but to push a wing through at 130mph is much more of an energy need and we have essentially 800-1000bhp with the electric motor in the McMurtry.”
Variety is the spice of life Alex - it’s great to see you in the limelight.
Robin Mynett, 75 years at Shelsley Walsh
One attendee at June Shelsley was 93 year old Robin Mynett who has been to Shelsley Walsh every year since 1946 and the first meeting we had after the war. It rained like the bible that day with crowds still trying to get in a 4.30 in the afternoon but he celebrated his 75th anniversary of being at Shelsley Walsh by being back to the hill twice now in 2021, once to see the British Championship cars in June, and then to see the Vintage cars in July.
Robin has seen the outright hill record go from 37.37 seconds as it was during the war to Groves’ current 22.58 seconds and the flurry of 22 second runs we had on the hill last year. He was 18 years old when he first came to the hill...
“I always sat at Bottom Ess and studied the lines the drivers took on their way into the corner. I used to then have a chat with Raymond Mays about the lines and how I thought he could go quicker as I’d seen so many runs.”
The MAC gave Robin a Honorary Membership of the MAC during the Vintage meeting in recognition of the time he has devoted to Shelsley and towards the older machinery, particularly the Spencer family and Spider II.
Spider Trophies
Record holder at Shelsley Walsh in 1926 with 46.8 seconds was Basil Davenport in Spider, one of the most historical cars in the 116 years of history at Shelsley Walsh. The car has recently passed into the hands of Jim Edwards from David Leigh, the car being in safe hands with the 27 year old.
Davenport’s son Peter came down to the hill from Macclesfield over the Vintage weekend and brought with him the trophies that his father won at Shelsley including the very 1926 trophy that Basil won in September that year when he took the outright record. The trophies had never been back to the hill since the 1920s so it was a real treat to see them next to the cars in the paddock.
Peter first came to Shelsley at the same meeting as Robin Mynett, the June 1946 weekend which was the first meeting after the war. “It rained all day to the extent that people couldn’t get out of the car park so there were cart horses pulling cars out.”
Thank you Peter for coming down with your son in law Jo who lapped up Shelsley for the first time after hearing all the stories from one the years.
Shelsley Walsh; as old as motorsport but as modern as today too.
Summer Spree
At the end of July we have our two separate days of club motorsport with the Summer Spree which are just £10 entry per day or free with your 2021 MAC Membership. It’s a great weekend for those new to hill climbing to drive the hill and find their feet so we have the AUTOCAR Shelsley Walsh Young Drivers Championship coming along after their first weekend at Curborough last weekend plus the Midland Speed Championship and others too.
Duke of London Hill Climb
Something different will be coming to Shelsley on August 8th with the inaugural 'Duke's Hill Climb' that will start the day before from London when a convoy of cars both old and new but all classy and cool will wind their way up to the Teme Valley before an evening of food, drinks and live music in the Courtyard at Shelsley on the Saturday evening.
Overnight glamping and camping is available before hill climb action commences at 9am on Sunday morning. Places are filling up but spectators are more than welcome to see the eclectic cars on Sunday from a Ferrari F40 to Bentley Blower No. 2, McLaren P1 GTR, Rolls Royces of all ages, retro 1980s homologation specials, Porsches retro and new plus cars on display for all to enjoy.
See the Duke of London website for more details and…their very amusing Instagram is well worth a look for the style of the event and cars that’ll be there
Autojumble Cancelled
Regretfully we have to cancel our Autojumble on August 7th but we’ll keep it on the back burner and see what we can do in 2022. Apologies for any problems this may cause but let’s see for next year.
Digital Shelsley Walsh
Keep in touch with our Shelsley Walsh digital channels during the run up to meetings and for a daily stream of info, cool pictures and interesting angles of Shelsley Walsh and hill climbing related subjects. Our Instagram has just hit 10k followers while with all the other channels we now have a combined following of 37,100 followers
Our Tik Tok channel is going great guns with now over a 1000 followers in a new and different market for Shelsley Walsh. If you’re on the channel, then give us a follow as there is different content there over our regular Shelsley Walsh channels on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter - the links for which are at the base of this page.
Sponsors corner
We welcome our new partners at Shelsley Walsh into 2021 with Piston Gin, Liqui Moly Performance, Pirelli and Deltaworks joining us trackside with signage and other packages.
Piston Gin
Piston Gin are based in Worcester where the entire process of distillation is done as they bring in botanicals from all over the world to their HQ in Severn Street where the Worcester Porcelain works used to be. Having won many an international award for their gins the world over, the team there have a genuine fresh take on flavours and how to drink or sip gin with the old adage, ‘don’t knock it until you try it’ very much to the fore.
“What a great synergy with Shelsley Walsh speed hill climb and Piston distillery, the oldest motor sport venue in the world and the best gin! We always pride ourselves on keeping it local and keeping it precise so to partner with these guys is perfect.” said Nick Weatherall, founder of the distillery.
MAC Members can get a ‘DEAL OF A 10% OFF OR £45 for a bottle of Gin and 24 x FEVER TREE TONICS upon showing your MAC members card in the distillery.