# Barbon Hillclimb

Barbon Hillclimb is a hillclimb held near Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, north-west England. The event is held on the Barbon Manor estate with the course ordinarily being used as a driveway to Barbon Manor, a Victorian shooting lodge. (The Manor house is not open to the public). The course is 738 yards (675 metres) in length, making it the shortest of the British Hill Climb Championship tracks outside the Channel Islands. Since 2013, the car events have been promoted by Liverpool Motor Club in addition to their popular Sprints at Aintree.
Motorcycle events were run at Barbon by the Westmorland Motor Club until 2011, but resumed in 2019.

## History

From 1950 to 2012, Westmorland Motor Club ran three events per year at the venue: two for cars and one for motorcycles, though the motorcycle events took a break in 2011 but ran again in 2019. Since 2013 the car events have been run by Barbon Hillclimb Ltd, a joint venture between Kirkby Londsdale Motor Club and Liverpool Motor Club, the latter being the official promoter of the events.
The target for 1963 competitors was the existing record by Jack Cordingley's JBW-Maserati in a time of 30.46 secs. A new hill record was set by Jos Goodyear on 4 July 2015 of 20.08 secs, beating the previous record held by Scott Moran in 2008. Goodyear's record still stands despite several competitors getting very close to breaking it.
Substantial re-surfacing took place in 2015 and the British Hillclimb Championship event moved from May to July to further improve the events for competitors and spectators alike. The British Championship rounds last visited Barbon in 2019.
The spectacular and challenging venue hosts highly competitive Regional and National Championship car events in June and July each year, attracting a loyal following of competitors and spectators.

## Barbon Hillclimb car event past winners

| Year | Driver | Vehicle | Time | Notes |
| 1950 | Peter Holyoak | Closed to club test event | 87.20 secs | (150yds longer) |
| 1951 | B Crabtree | MG | 37.20 secs R | |
| 1952 | Gillie Tyrer | Fraser Nash BMW | 35.40 secs R | |
| 1953 | B Crabtree | MG | 36.20 secs | |
| 1954 | I E Davison | Cooper MG | 34.07 secs R | |
| 1955 | P.S. Hughes | Tojeiro-J.A.P. | 34.68 secs | 21 May. |
| 1956 | C.A.N. May | Cooper-J.A.P. Mark 8 | 32.18 secs R | 26 May. |
| 1957 | Peter Proctor | Cooper-Norton | 33.37 secs | 26 May. |
| 1963 | Tony Marsh | Marsh Climax | 28.779 secs R | 25 May. |
| 1964 | Peter Westbury | Ferguson P99 Climax | 27.17 secs R | 23 May. |
| 1965 | Peter Boshier-Jones | Lotus | | |
| 1966 | Tony Marsh | Marsh Special GM | 31.37 secs | |
| 1967 | David Good | B.R.M. 4-w-d | | 20 May. |
| 1968 | Peter Lawson | BRM P67 | 27.38 sec |
| 1969 | Round 4 D. Hepworth | Hepworth FF Traco-Oldsmobile | 26.78 sec R | |
| 1998 | British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace | Gould Ralt GR37 | 21.04 sec | |
| 1999 | British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace | Gould Ralt GR37 | 21.11 sec | |
| 2000 | British Hill Climb Championship : David Grace | Gould Ralt GR37 | 20.86 sec R | |
| 2001 | Meeting Cancelled (Foot & Mouth Disease) | | | |
| 2002 | British Hill Climb Championship : Graeme Wright Jnr | Gould GR51 V6 | 21.02 sec | |
| 2003 | British Hill Climb Championship : Graeme Wright Jnr | Gould GR51 V6 | 21.05 sec | |
| 2004 | British Hill Climb Championship : Adam Fleetwood | Gould GR.. | 20.51 sec R | |
| 2005 | British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves | Gould GR55 | 20.91 sec | |
| 2006 | British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves | Gould GR55 | 21.17 sec | |
| 2007 | British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves | Gould GR55 | 20.71 sec | |
| 2008 | British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran | Gould GR61X | 20.50 sec R | |
| 2009 | British Hill Climb Championship : Martin Groves | Gould GR55 | 21.58 sec | |
| 2010 | British Hill Climb Championship : Wallace Menzies | DJ Firestorm | 21.61 sec | |
| 2011 | British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran | Gould GR61X | 21.29 sec | |
| 2012 | British Hill Climb Championship : Scott Moran | Gould GR61X | 20.51 sec | |
| 2013 | British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis | OMS 28 | 21.69 sec | |
| 2014 | British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis | OMS 28 | 21.81 sec | |
| 2015 | British Hill Climb Championship : Jos Goodyear | GWR Raptor | 20.08 sec R | |
| 2016 | British Hill Climb Championship : Trevor Willis | OMS 28 | 22.34 sec | |
| 2017 | British Hill Climb Championship : Meeting Cancelled due to weather | | |
Key: R = New Course Record. All details extracted from Barbon Hillclimb Programmes unless indicated otherwise

## Footnotes

* ↑ Barbon Speed Hillclimb for Motorcycles - Barbon Hillclimb for Motorbikes - 11 May 2019 www.kirkbylonsdale.co.uk, accessed 4 February 2021
* ↑ Motor Sport, July 1963, Page 548.
* ↑ Motor Sport, July 1955, Page 384.
* ↑ C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 84.
* ↑ C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 98.
* ↑ Motor Sport, July 1963, Page 548.
* ↑ Motor Sport, July 1964, Page 420.
* ↑ Motor Sport, September 1965, Page 745.
* ↑ Motor Sport, August 1967, Page 702.
* ↑ Motor, 14 June 1969, Page 69.