European Hillclimb 2013

[Lousada]

I also enjoy Hillclimb very much It has great aspects, like a huge variety of very fast and attractive cars. The downsides are far too many confusing classes and majority of gentleman drivers in the fastest machinery. Hillclimb is not a professional sport, everyone there is a more or less advanced amateur driver (exception being Simone Faggioli- he is the works Osella driver and I think you can see by the results how better he and his Osella are then the competition). I would really love to see this form of motorsport turn professional, with works teams and drivers, as it would be the most attractive and craziest form of motorsport, but unfortunately it is impossible to expect this. Hillclimb attracted manufacturers in the pre-WW2 era .

I understand what you mean. I used to visit the European Championship in Trier. The first time I looked into the programme-magazine there were 25 pages of different classes, all with 5 or less cars. It is impossible to understand.
I used to be a die-hard Rallycross-fan. Until a few years ago that was also an amateur sport. But in there every driver, even the amateur hobbyists had sleek websites often in English. Most of them published PR-reports too. You could find trackguides, results and almost daily news messages on international websites. When I started looking for the same in Hillclimb last year... nothing. I don't understand?? Where are all the Hillclimb fans hiding lol

Hillclimb races close to me (Rechberg, Ilirska Bistrica and naturally the best one- Buzet ) are all very popular with huge amounts of fans and I always spectate them when possible. I would also like to go to Italian round of the championship. If you plan to go to some of these races, feel free to contact me

Yes, I am very much thinking about visiting Buzet this year. Never been to Croatia, would love to visit it. When the time comes I will contact you

[Lousada]

Well I don't know a lot about E1 or H group. But some years ago in Rally we had really powerful cars (F18, F19 class) ... and they were banned by french federation. They were find too dangerous (and too fast for manufacturers which saw their Kit Car beaten by F19), so maybe it's why H and E1 group isn't allowed ? It looks very similar to what we had in rallies if it's the group of the Golf in pictures !

Yes the Golf is from E1. Also the Touringcars in the video I posted are E1 or comparable. The safety aspect is a bit weird considering they let F3000 and sportscars on the same track. I'd assume a steel shell touring cars would be safer and slower. But trying to understand what the suits in the fedaration think is impossible.

For the race, I think Mont Dore will stay in European Champ, even in France it has more popularity than the other.

And yes I leave in North part of France. I don't know a lot about belgium hillclimb ? If it's in East part of Belgium (as I presume) it's a bit too far

I have plotted the locations of the Hillclimbs on a map.
European Hillclimbs
French Hillclimbs
You should be able to zoom and scroll those maps.

In Belgium there are two 'divisions' in Hillclimb. The national championship (RACB) is for the more serious drivers and the ASAF is for the hobby drivers. A bit like the Championnat de France vs. Coupe de France.

[urabus-denoS2000]

I am also surprised there are no Hillclimb fans, you are probably correct when you say they are hiding somewhere On a serious note I think there are large popular forums but probably in German or Italian, since Hillclimb is most popular in Central Europe.

First round of Austrian Bergrallye is this weekend, it is close to me, I will maybe visit it

[urabus-denoS2000]

Yes, I am very much thinking about visiting Buzet this year. Never been to Croatia, would love to visit it. When the time comes I will contact you

If you want to feel the best atmosphere you can witness in a motorsport event, Buzet is the place to come

[vino_93]

Yes the Golf is from E1. Also the Touringcars in the video I posted are E1 or comparable. The safety aspect is a bit weird considering they let F3000 and sportscars on the same track. I'd assume a steel shell touring cars would be safer and slower. But trying to understand what the suits in the fedaration think is impossible.



I have plotted the locations of the Hillclimbs on a map.
European Hillclimbs
French Hillclimbs
You should be able to zoom and scroll those maps.

In Belgium there are two 'divisions' in Hillclimb. The national championship (RACB) is for the more serious drivers and the ASAF is for the hobby drivers. A bit like the Championnat de France vs. Coupe de France.

Nice and usefull website !
Well Bomérée isn't so far ... but it's the same week as Rally Germany I think ><

When I was a child there was a illclimb race not so far from my parents house. Maybe 30 minutes ... it was the first motorsport race I saw. Alpine A310, proto with bikes engine, some F3 and some bigger proto ... it was really nice !

Now in my region (Picardie) there's only one small race without big level and it's the same in Normandy or in the other part of France. Unfortunately last year I couldn't go to the Finale of the Coupe de France, which was run in Cassel (Nord).

[Lousada]

I am also surprised there are no Hillclimb fans, you are probably correct when you say they are hiding somewhere On a serious note I think there are large popular forums but probably in German or Italian, since Hillclimb is most popular in Central Europe.

Well the Hillclimb fans are obviously not here, I will have to keep looking I have found some German language forums but they are rather silent too. Even Hillclimb specific ones like hillclimbfans. I am not really a person to start conversations even if it is digital. It took me a long while of doubting if I should post here. That only two people responded is not helping me Thank you both for your time though.

It is funny but from the people I spot on my website there are literally none from the eastern European countries. Well, there was one Croatian the last few days, that must have been you

First round of Austrian Bergrallye is this weekend, it is close to me, I will maybe visit it

So did you go? Did you like it? I saw Rupert Schwaiger won again with Felix Pailer absent...

[Lousada]

Nice and usefull website !
Well Bomérée isn't so far ... but it's the same week as Rally Germany I think ><

When I was a child there was a illclimb race not so far from my parents house. Maybe 30 minutes ... it was the first motorsport race I saw. Alpine A310, proto with bikes engine, some F3 and some bigger proto ... it was really nice !

Now in my region (Picardie) there's only one small race without big level and it's the same in Normandy or in the other part of France. Unfortunately last year I couldn't go to the Finale of the Coupe de France, which was run in Cassel (Nord).

Thank you. There is a national championship hillclimb in Hébécrevon near Saint-Lô 12-13 May.

[NoFear85]

Last year I was in Ilirska Bistrica and in Buzet. The first one was in bad weather conditions, but spectacular. In my oppinion is Buzet the best hillclimb race close to me or in Slovenian hillclimb championship. There you see, what is the real atmosphere

[MrJan]

I do a small bit of hillclimbing in the UK and I'm amazed by watching videos of hillclimbing on the continent (particularly the German/Swiss rounds). We simply can't have anything like that over here, we generally rely on venues being on the driveway of large houses. Also the cars are amazing compared to what we have. Take that St Ursanne video above, all the cars are well modified and there don't seem to be any 'shopping trollies'. Over here in the UK it's quite common for people to enter a hillclimb in the same car that they drive to work. At the higher level there are obviously well prepared (and expensive) single seaters, but the majority of the field is made up from people in road cars.

Here's a video of me at a venue that is no longer used Most people would go up in under 30 seconds, the fast single seaters could do it under 21secs.

[youtube]RtAwgxsgayc[/youtube]


And this is someone far quicker than me up Wiscombe Park, the closest hillclimb to where I live. Not sure of the time that this guy does but it's probably around 35 seconds whereas my PB at Wiscombe is about 48 seconds!
[youtube]n5gB3gPvjJM[/youtube]

And this is one of my favourite videos of a UK event, Graeme Wight Jnr at Doune
[youtube]d9Lopg7YbUY[/youtube]

I hope that one day I'll visit one of the Swiss or German climbs and see what it's like in Europe, although I keep spending all my money entering instead.

[urabus-denoS2000]

British hillclimb is absolutely crazy with various no limit open seaters It's only really annoying to see races only half a minute long. Nice driving MrJan btw

I didn't go to Lodersdorf, I was too busy unfortunately. But since Felix didn't drive I didn't miss much Impressive drive from Andreas Marko once again