Kop Hill Climb

The Kop Hill Climb is a hillclimb in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire. The climb was originally established in 1910 but due to a minor accident involving a spectator on the public road that formed the hillclimb, the last competitive event was held on 28 March 1925. The RAC then banned all motorsport on public roads, making the Kop Hill Climb the last of its kind to be run on the public highways in the UK. Since 1999 Kop Hill has been the focus of an annual revival run as a non-competitive, charity event.

The Kop Hill Climb revival

The hillclimb was revived in 1999^[1] by the Town Council and the Bean Car Club as part of the Risborough Festival, and has become an annual event again. Today, the Kop Hill Climb revival is run along non-competitive lines, to showcase cars and bikes dating back to the competitive era as well as more modern cars of interest and heritage. The event is run by Kop Hill Climb Ltd, a not-for-profit company manned by unpaid volunteers, which manages the hill climb event for the Buckinghamshire Community Foundation and raises money for local charities.

The climb takes part on a public road with a 1:6 gradient leading to 1:5 with a short 1:4 at its steepest at the top of the climb.^[2]

The original Kop Hill Climb event

Kop Hill in its original, competitive form became a major event on the motor sports car and motorcycle calendar and many famous drivers and riders took part in the early years including Malcolm Campbell (Talbot 12 hp "Blue Bird"), Raymond Mays (Bugatti), Henry Segrave (Sunbeam 2-litre Grand Prix) Archibald Frazer-Nash (KimII) J G Parry-Thomas (Leyland) and Capt.J E P Howey (Leyland).

Records

The fastest time recorded for a car was in 1922 when Count Zborowski driving a Ballot GP achieved 26.8 seconds, and the fastest motorcycle was in 1925 with Freddie Dixon achieving a time of 22.8 seconds with a 736 cc Douglas at an average of 81 mph (130 km/h).

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kop Hill Climb.

• Official website