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.Barbon Speed Hillclimb for Motorcycles - Barbon Hillclimb for Motorbikes - 11 May 2019 www.kirkbylonsdale.co.uk, accessed 4 February 2021 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.Motor Sport, July 1963, Page 548. 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 venue hosts 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 YearDriverVehicleTimeNotes1950Peter HolyoakClosed to club test event87.20 secs(150yds longer)1951B CrabtreeMG37.20 secs R1952Gillie TyrerFraser Nash BMW35.40 secs R1953B CrabtreeMG36.20 secs1954I E DavisonCooper MG34.07 secs R1955P.S. HughesTojeiro-J.A.P.34.68 secsMotor Sport, July 1955, Page 384. 21 May.1956C.A.N. MayCooper-J.A.P. Mark 832.18 secs RC. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 84. 26 May.1957Peter ProctorCooper-Norton33.37 secsC. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 98. 26 May.1963Tony MarshMarsh Climax28.779 secs RMotor Sport, July 1963, Page 548. 25 May.1964Peter WestburyFerguson P99 Climax27.17 secs RMotor Sport, July 1964, Page 420. 23 May.1965Peter Boshier-JonesLotusMotor Sport, September 1965, Page 745.1966Tony MarshMarsh Special GM31.37 secs1967David GoodB.R.M. 4-w-dMotor Sport, August 1967, Page 702. 20 May. 1968 Peter Lawson BRM P67 27.38 sec 1969Round 4 D. HepworthHepworth FF Traco-Oldsmobile26.78 sec RMotor, 14 June 1969, Page 69. 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
External links Liverpool Motor Club Barbon Hillclimb