Kop Hill Climb

The weekend of the 19th and 20th of September saw the running of the now, annual Kop Hill Climb. This event is a demonstration rather than a true competitive event. It is a recreation of an event that was run from 1910 until 1925 when an accident involving spectators led the RAC to ban racing on public roads.

The original Kop Hill Climb saw the like of Malcolm Campbell, Raymond Mays and Henry Seagrave competing there. The hill record was set in 1924 by Count Zborowski driving a Ballot GP. The climb was revived in 1999, then again and annually since 2009. It is a fabulous opportunity to see some wonderful cars driven very quickly. These range from prewar cars such as ERAs and blower Bentleys through to some beautiful cars from the 50s and 60s including a D Type Jaguar, many MGs, Italian exotica right through to a few modern exotics such as McLarens and Ferraris.

The classic and clubs display in the paddock is outstanding with all sorts of pre-1980 cars from MGs to Triumphs. Alvis, Lotus, American Muscle Cars and so much more. On each day there was over 500 classic cars. One of the highlights of the weekend was the pre-war record breakers, including the amazing Napier Railton with it's 23 litre aero engine.

The weather was fabulous both days and the turnout was amazing. We had 7 Magnettes on the Saturday and 6 on the Sunday. Anthony White ran his lovely ZA up the hill climb on the Saturday and David Halliday ran his ex-Jan Pearce ZB up the hill on the Sunday. Both cars performed very well.

The event attracted around 16,000 visitors and when the accounts have been paid, should raise at least £70,000 for charity.

For more information and some fabulous photos of the event, have a look at the website www.kophillclimb.org.uk This is also the website that you need to visit to enter in 2016. We look forward to seeing more Magnettes there is 2016.

Report by David Halliday, photos by David Halliday and Stephen Tickell