Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
On the Sunday following the Goodwood Revival rather than taking a rest or perhaps cutting the lawn, my pals and I took a trip just down the road from our respective homes to the Firle Hill Climb Revival, being run for the second year by the Bo Peep Drivers Club.
The first Firle Hill climb took place in 1949, run by the Bentley Drivers Club. The climb was 600 yards in length and quite steep, running up Bo Peep Lane to the top of the Sussex Downs.
Victory in the first year went to FH Howorth driving a 4.5 liter Lagonda. The event continued to be run by the Bentley club until 1957 when the BARC took over. David Cook, driving a four wheel drive 2.O liter BRM P67 took the ultimate course record of 22.78 secs in 1966.
The Firle Hill Climb attracted many top names such as Tony Marsh, Patsy Burt and Gentleman Jack Sears. W.O. Bentley attended in 1951, and in 1957 the course steward was Captain Fraser Nash. Unfortunately an accident involving a Lotus Elan and two walkers during the 1967 running meant the end of Firle as a competitive event.
The idea of a revival came about last year as a group of classic cars owners thought it might be a way to raise money for their chosen local charity such as the Chailey Heritage Foundation, which helps children and young people with complex disabilities. The event proved so popular that they decided to form the Bo Peep Drivers Club to keep the owners together for future events. As was the case last year the weather cooperated with warm sunshine.
The cars attending ranged from Austin Sevens, a Morris Minor convertible, an early Corvette, a Lamborghini Countach and even the 27 liter Rolls Royce Merlin-powered Handlye Special. The event is not timed so crash helmets were not mandatory and passengers are allowed. Camaraderie is ever present in the paddock, no egos to be seen or heard, just car people enjoying their classics in the Sussex countryside.
[Ps…readers know the cars in the photos; it was difficult to get all the names of the participants, so we’ll leave Jonathan’s portraits as is to tell the story on their own…Ed.]
Variety is the spice of life. What were the criteria for being there? 25 years old?
Splendid photo. coverage. Atmospheric. Well done.
Must be the first, and probably only time a 1951 Chev appears in Veloce Today! Nice paint job too. I hope the drive train wasn’t stock, with the column shift that frequently needed a hammer on the stuck linkage
The organizers try to keep the entry to pre 1985
Nice to see this event revived.
I was only there once, at a Bentley Drivers Club event in the mid-60s. It was a very scenic venue and attracted a really interesting variety of pre-war cars.
reminiscent of the grand ascent at hershey–and the as yet undiscovered marble city hillclimb here in oklahoma: run whatcha brung in these parts. new porsche turbos, etc. it’s radar-judged by the police. what delightful afternoons!
Thanks for the report;just want to nitpick again and observe that the Handlye Special does not have a Rolls Royce Merlin engine.It is in fact an unsupercharged Meteor from the same manufacturer,see pictures on other sites showing the car with carburettors mounted on the intake manifold.The two engines are basically the same but the unblown version is obviously less powerful.Meteors were used among other things in Centurion tanks.I don’t know of a single Merlin-engined road car,to the best of my knowledge they all have a Meteor (which is not a bad thing I hasten to add).
Keep up the good work,
Michel Van Peel
Michel, you are good but not quite that good! Please contact me as I have some information which you may wish to see. bopeepdc@sky.com if you can. I organised the hill climb at Firle and am a friend of the big Rolls Royce owner. He has some details which you may find interesting.
Merlin/Meteor? Swandean Spitfire of Michael Wilcox, near Worthing UK. maybe.
I have very happy memories of competing on the hill in 1966, I think in an MGCC organised event. I no longer have the MGA Twin Cam that I ran then, but would much enjoy another run in my Lotus Elite.
It would be great if Rob Bryant could keep me informed about next year’s event.