# Hillclimbing

Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the first known hillclimb at La Turbie near Nice, France, took place as long ago as 31 January 1897. The hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England, is the world's oldest continuously staged motorsport event still staged on its original course, having been first run in 1905.

## Europe

Hillclimbs in continental Europe are usually held on courses which are several kilometres long, taking advantage of the available hills and mountains including the Alps. The most prestigious competition is the FIA European Hill Climb Championship.

### Austria

An Austrian venue: Gaisberg. A historic course is at Semmering.

### France

The French hill climb championship, or Championnat de France de la Montagne, has been one of the most competitive of the European national series, attracting many new F2 and 2-litre sports cars during the 1970s and early 1980s. Notable champions from this period include Pierre Maublanc (1967 and 1968), Daniel Rouveyran (1969), Hervé Bayard (1970) and Jimmy Mieusset (1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974). The best-known Course de Côte are Mont Ventoux and Mont-Dore.

### Germany

Germany has a long hillclimbing tradition, with some manufacturers of cars or motorcycles entering factory teams until ″Bergrennen″ became amateur events in the 1970s. Two states, Nordrhein-Westfalen und Baden-Württemberg, do not allow hillclimbing racing events anymore, mostly due to environmental reasons. Thus, the probably most famous event, the Freiburg-Schauinsland race in the Black Forest, is not a competition anymore like almost 100 years ago, when the fourth International Schauinsland hillclimb at Freiburg was held on August 5, 1928: "A car made the fastest time of the day, Heusser's Bugatti putting up 74.009 km/h, the fastest motorcycle being Stegmann's DKW at 69.6 km/h." Caracciola (Mercedes) won the over two-litre racing car class.
In the 1930s, during the era of the famous "Silver Arrows" from Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz, Hans Stuck (1900–1978) dominated European hillclimbing, which earned him the nickname "Bergkönig" or "King of the Mountains". The high-powered supercharged Grand Prix cars were often modified to use twin rear tyres, like trucks, to provide better traction.
Germany has only a small share of the Alps and few climbs there, like ″Jochrennen″ from Hindelang to Oberjoch, with the Rossfeld race in the Berchtesgaden Alps being a part of the 1965 World Sportscar Championship. At that time, Porsche entered lightweight open-top ″Bergspyder″ variants as their racing models were made for endurance racing up to 24 hours, with the Porsche 909 Bergspyder being the most extreme, weighing in at only 384kg.
Thus, most German hillclimbs are in the Mittelgebirge regions, but even the rather flat northern part of Germany has hillclimbs, like the one in Hilter near Osnabrück, which is part of the German ″Berg Cup″ series. In the 2023 calendar, Schottenring, Wolsfeld, Iberg near Heilbad Heiligenstadt, Homburg, Saarland, Hauenstein near Hausen, Rhön-Grabfeld, Eichenbühl, Mickhausen are the events in Germany. Additional rounds are held in Luxembourg, Austria or Switzerland.

### Great Britain

In Great Britain, the format is different from that in other parts of Europe, with courses being much shorter. Cairncastle is Great Britain's longest hillclimb at 1.65 miles (2904 yards). These short courses are more akin to uphill sprints – and almost always take under one minute for the fastest drivers to complete. For this reason, cars and drivers do not generally cross between the British and continental European championships.
Hillclimbing is also relevant to motorcycle sport; the governing body is the National Hill Climb Association.

### Italy

In the Italian championship, also known as the Campionato Italiano Velocità Montagna, there are the longest and most challenging hillclimbs like Trento-Bondone, Coppa Bruno Carotti (the Italian races in FIA European Hill Climb Championship), Pedavena-Croce d'Aune, Monte Erice and Verzegnis-Sella Chianzutan, which are also the most known.
Hillclimbing in Italy became famous in the 1970s, early 1980s, between 1994 and 2000 and at the end of the 2000s, especially in the last two periods thanks to TV services, magazines and live Internet commentaries.
The most famous Italian drivers, who won a lot even in Europe, are Ludovico Scarfiotti (famous Ferrari driver who won the F1 race in Monza 1966), "Noris" (he won almost every race in Italy until 1972, when he died), Domenico Scola (who runs a Sport Prototype even now at the age of 80), Mauro Nesti (over 20 championships between Italy and Europe, from the 1970s to the 1990s), Ezio Baribbi (three times Italian champion), Fabio Danti (1994 Italian champion, 1995-96 European champion, died in 2000), Pasquale Irlando (Italian champion in the early 1990s and European champion in the last 1990s, the one who turned the Osella PA20), Franz Tschager (three times European champion in the early 2000s), Simone Faggioli and Denny Zardo (Italian champion in 2005 and 2008, European champion in 2003)

### Malta

Hillclimbing is a very popular sport on the island of Malta. Numerous events are organised annually by the Island Car Club. Participants are divided according to their type of vehicle into various categories ranging from single seaters to saloon cars.

### Portugal

There are several traditional hillclimbing race events in Portugal, and its national championship growing in popularity since 2010. Falperra International Hill Climb is the most popular and famous hillclimb, being held since 1927, most of the editions as part of the European Championship.

### Romania

In Romania, the first major event was the Feleac course, in Cluj. From 1930, it was a round in the European Hill Climb Championship. A record of the Feleac was set by famous German racer Hans Stuck in 1938, driving a 600 bhp (450 kW) Auto Union Grand Prix car. Stuck stormed through the 7 km (4.3 mi) gravel course in 2 min 56 sec. In recent decades, the course was widened in order to be suitable for intense traffic and therefore is considered inappropriate for auto racing.
The modern Romanian hillclimbing event is the Viteză în Coastă or Campionatul Național de Viteză pe Traseu Montan (VTM).

### Slovakia

There are several traditional hillclimbing race events in Slovakia. Some of the best known and most popular include the Pezinská Baba hillclimb race and the Dobšinský Kopec hillclimb race.
One of the most well known Slovak drivers competing in local and international hillclimb events is Jozef Béreš. Béreš is also very popular on social media networks thanks to the videos of him driving his legendary Audi Quattro S1 racecar.

### Switzerland

Motor racing was banned in Switzerland in the aftermath of the fatal collision between cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1955. However, this prohibition does not extend to events where drivers compete only indirectly via the clock. Events such as rallies, hillclimbs and slaloms are very popular, including the FIA European Hill Climb Championship.
The most known hillclimb races are the Gurnigelrennen, the course en côte Ayent – Anzère, the course en côte St. Ursanne – Les Rangiers, and the historic Klausen Hill Climb known as the Klausenpassrennen. Ludovico Scarfiotti clinched the European hillclimb championship at Ollon-Villars on August 30, 1965, driving a Dino Ferrari 2-litre.