Past the finish line

It was a pleasing end to my motorsport photography season to have the cover shot of the British Hillclimb Champion 2022, Wallace Menzies, on the front of the November/December edition of Speedscene magazine. Inside, there were a further five of my photographs from the Prescott event in September and six from the Loton Park finale at the end of the same month – including the all-important ‘class of 2022’ group shot.

It also marks the end of my motorsport photography ‘journey’ (for the time being, at least) having recently sold my 35mm gear to concentrate on medium format photography, which doesn’t lend itself particularly well to sports. For almost a decade I’ve enjoyed this fast-paced genre but I feel that it is time to move on now and explore other avenues.

King of the hill (part 2)

It has been almost 6 months since I published the post ‘Hillclimb season begins‘ and, in what seems like a blink of an eye, that season is over and Wallace Menzies retains the title for another year. As usual I have managed to record all of the Midland rounds at Loton Park, Prescott and Shelsley Walsh for the Hillclimb and Sprint Association (HSA) magazine Speedscene and related website (the latest report from Loton Park is now live here) and posted a selection of photographs from each event on my blog.

So here is my final post about the British Hillclimb Championship 2022 with a further random selection of photographs from last Sundays event at Loton Park.

All photographs © John Hallett Photography

King of the hill 2022

The overall winner of the British Hillclimb Championship 2022 has been decided after yesterdays event at Loton Park. Technically the title race could have been decided at Prescott three weeks ago but changeable weather on the day put paid to that and so the cliffhanger result occurred on the last event of the season.

There was definitely an atmosphere of anticipation in the air with the highest number of spectators that I’ve seen this year at Loton Park. The practice runs had been carried out the previous day and so Sunday consisted of two timed runs and two top-12 run-offs, the latter adding points to the championship league table.

The ‘king of the hill’ for 2022 is Wallace Menzies (the third time he has held coveted number 1) having led this years championship from the start. He put in the fastest runs on both of the run-offs but the result was decided on the first when Alex Summers slid off the track at Museum bend which effectively handed Wallace the title.

So another great season of hillclimbing comes to an end. What will next year bring?

I couldn’t resist grabbing this image on the way || © John Hallett Photography

Top-10 for 2022 || © John Hallett Photography

The long and winding….hill

Today saw the last Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) speed event of 2022 – the second visit to Prescott but this time on the long course which takes in Ettore’s loop. It was a one-day event and so there were two practice runs in the morning and two competition runs after lunch. Prescott has a return road and so the on-track action is relentless which explains how they can get through the 150+ entries with relative ease, although it still takes about 2 hours for them all to take their turn. You could tell that Autumn has started with the low-lying early morning sun casting shadows across the track and the cold wind that caught you by surprise as a reminder you that you should have taken a coat!

Here is a very quick selection from the day and I hope to post more later in the week. Why? – because after the relatively relaxed pace of todays vintage meeting, tomorrow I’ll be attending the season finale of the British Hillclimb Championship at Loton Park. The overall winner has yet to be decided and it all rests on the two run-offs. Exciting stuff!

Getting ready for their run || © John Hallett Photography

A climb in the park

This weekend the Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) paid its annual visit to Loton Park in Shropshire. Coming just two days after the sad news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II there was a respectful two-minute silence held at 1pm (during which you could have heard a pin drop) followed by a round of applause. This was well attended by spectators, officials and marshals alike.

A full paddock of vintage machinery || © John Hallett Photography

I went on the Saturday instead of my usual Sunday because it was arranged that I would meet up with a fellow photographer. Unfortunately he had to pull out at the last minute but, on the basis that the entry list was pretty much the same for both days, I decided to carry on with the original plan. Unfortunately there were few Edwardian cars entered (just four on the Saturday) which happen to be my favourites but it was still a good day despite numerous stoppages for minor spins and oil spillages.

Schools’ out for Autumn

It doesn’t seem like 5 minutes since I posted ‘Back to School’, reporting the first drivers school I attended this year (it was actually back in May) but yesterday saw the last drivers school of 2022 at Shelsley Walsh and I was once again the official photographer for the day.

Shelsley Walsh drivers school – Autumn 2022 || © John Hallett Photography

Penultimate climb

Yesterday was the penultimate hillclimb of the 2022 British Hillclimb Championship held at the Prescott in Gloucestershire. The overall title position is still up for grabs and it won’t be decided until the final round at Loton Park in a few weeks time – but any points gained yesterday could have a bearing on the eventual rankings.

It was a bit of a strange day with sporadic showers leading to a very slippery track at times and almost an hours stoppage to extract a spectator who had tumbled down a bank. However, in-between there was some very spirited driving.

Wallace Menzies has to wait until Loton Park to see if he has grabbed the title once again || © John Hallett Photography

Temperature climbing (part 2)

With my photographs from Sundays hillclimb at Shelsley Walsh now published on the Hillclimb and Sprint Association (HSA) website it is an opportune moment to add a few more of my shots from the day, albeit all from Bottom Ess. Why? see Temperature climbing (part 1).

© John Hallett Photography

© John Hallett Photography

Temperature climbing (part 1)

Yesterday was a round of the British Hillclimb Championship at Shelsley Walsh during a period of hot weather when a climb up 100m (328 feet) is really not something that you want to do – particularly when carrying a backpack full of camera gear. It had to be done though so that I could get some shots of the main protagonists as they battled for points in the final rounds of a championship that comes to an end next month.

Fastest up the hill – young Matt Ryder in a Gould GR59J took the run-off in 22.44s, almost the hill record || © John Hallett Photography

The long and short of it (part 3: car park capers)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spectators car park quite so full of vintage and classic cars as I did last Sunday at the VSCC’s visit to Prescott and I was like a kid in a candy shop. Full credit to all of the owners who had clearly spent time polishing their pride and joy especially for the day. To appreciate these efforts here are some photographs of a mere handful and I apologise for not knowing the full details (or in some cases ANY details) of those vehicles. Don’t forget to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog series.

Overland

Triumph Mascot

Austin 7

MG Magnette ZA/ZB

A pair of Sunbeams

Austin Healey 3000

Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Sp

Picnic time

Daimler Dart

Citroen Ami 6

Citroen C-type

Aston Martin

Salmson

Tatra T87

The rear of the Tatra T87

AC Ace

Porsche