ONWARDS & UPWARDS

By Peter Finlay With appreciation to Paul Hamilton for assistance with Raymond Mays memorabilia, insight and photographs.

The editor and his wife went to the inaugural Hillclimb at Mount Coot-tha in May 2009 and were enthralled by the array of cars and drivers participating. It rekindled memories of warm languid days at Silverdale here in NSW, causing him to wonder about the roll of Hillclimbing in Historic Motorsport.

As far back as 1915 timed climbs of One Tree Hill, as it was then known, were conducted regularly. Boyd Edkins won the first event. Edkins, a well-known Sydney motor dealer, attained fame as an interstate record- breaker and Hillclimber. Also recognised as a competitor in 1915 and the winner in 1918 of the Mt. Coot-tha Hillclimbs was Frederick Eager, the “son” in the name E.G Eager and Son Pty Ltd, motor dealers in Brisbane. While discussing this article with Paul Hamilton at a literary luncheon for the release of Peter FitzSimons’ book on Charles Kingsford Smith we were reminiscing about Hillclimb events of the past wherein notable “name” drivers took part and added much glamour to the aura of the competition. Paul mentioned in a subsequent email:

Paul Hamilton

“I think your article is a great concept for identifying the linkage with circuit events and the extent to which participation in both disciplines of the sport was, in past times, quite the normal practice. Most areas of modern life (banking included!) seem to have become so highly specialised that we can easily overlook simple lessons which have been learned elsewhere by those involved in activities closely related to what we are doing.  That all seems like a backward step to me and I suspect that such trends within the finance industry may have contributed some to the world’s current woes.  I am also quite sure that my first-lap performances on relatively cold tyres have always benefitted from my Hillclimb involvement!” Hear, hear, I say”

The 1967 Australian Hillclimb Championship event at Mount Panorama was one which Paul and I recall with great clarity for it was there that David McKay entered his Scuderia Veloce Repco-Brabham for Greg Cusack to drive. The “gun” sprint drivers of the day were present, led by Colin Bond in his supercharged Lynx Peugeot, with the Canberra road racer showing just how effective a circuit racing car could be, even when confined to the 1,123 yards (1,026 metres) of the original, longer, “Esses” course running the opposite way to normal circuit events. I was a mobile spectator in my Nota Formula Vee.

Until recently, the CAMS Manual of Motor Sport listed the winners of all Australian Championships. I must admit that Paul and I have shared a common and sadly unsated desire to assume the mantle of Australian Hillclimb Champion. Paul was denied his best opportunity in the 1975 Bathurst event while driving his venerable Elfin 600. My own missed chances occurred annually and somewhat monotonously between 1993 and 2002. Second places in 1993 (Mawer 004 Ford s/c) and 1996 (Pilbeam MP 62-Vauxhall) twice gave me the “bridesmaid’s garter award. Nice try, Pete, but no cigar. Typical of the split seconds which determine winners and losers in sprint events, my loosing margin was seven hundredths of a second. A bee’s dick, but it might as well have been seven minutes so far as the record books are concerned.

In the list of AHCC winners we find a staggering array of automotively- ambidextrous champions, many of whom were principally better known for their achievements on the track, rather than the hills. Amongst them are listed one World Champion driver, Sir Jack Brabham, plus two Australian Champion drivers – Lex Davison and Bill Patterson. The AHCC was instigated in 1938 when Peter Whitehead in the ERA was the victor. Frank Kleinig, well known for his exploits on Australian tracks in his Hudson, took out successive national titles in 1948 and 1949. Jack Brabham startled the establishment when he ran his Twin Special Speedcar at Rob Roy in 1951, while John Crouch (Cooper – 1952) and Reg Hunt (Vincent 1000 s/c 1953) took out the AHCC at the same venue.

Again from 1954, the list for the following ten years contains names of drivers whose names were famed as much for their performances in other areas of motor sport as for Hillclimbing:

1954 Bill Patterson – Cooper J.A.P
1955-56- 67 Lex Davison – Cooper Vincent
1964 Ivan Tighe – Tighe Vincent
1965 Tim Schenken – White 500
1966-71 Alan Hamilton – Porsche
1970-72-73 Paul England – Ausca
1975 Stan Keen – Elfin-MR5

In this time-frame, to these names should be added those of drivers whose performances, as meritorious as they were, tended to specialise in Hillclimbing: the great Bruce Walton (1959 through to 1963) in his Walton-Cooper, Ray White (1968 and 1969) White 1500 and 2000 respectively, Murray Bingham (1972) Bingham Cobra, Peter Holinger (1976, 1978, 1979) in his self-constructed Repco V8 engined Holinger…. probably the definitive minimalist Australian Hillclimb device and every bit in the mould of the famous British specials such as Basil Davenport’s G.N. Spider. Having said that, Ron Hay’s supercharged Honda 6-engined car, created in the 1970s, is still going strong now back in Ron’s hands. The stark, tube-framed car with a few sheets of aluminium to cover its “private parts” just gets on with the job very effectively.

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Paul Hamilton