USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT ABOUT HILLCLIMBING AND SPRINTING

The fact that you' re reading this means that you're probably well aware that hillclimbing has little to do with muddy boots. Nor is it connected with a two-seat motorcar attempting to get as far as possible on a steep, unsurfaced section of wooded countryside. That's trialling, an altogether different branch of motorsport.

To the speed hillclimber, the object is to traverse a section of tarmac road, from a standing start, in the shortest possible time. The sister sport of sprinting involves the same basic objective, but without a gradient being involved, which often means that an airfield or purpose-built racing circuit such as Castle Combe, Goodwood or Croft can be used. In both cases, classes exist to cater for an extraordinary range of machinery, from road saloon cars through to state-of-the-art purpose-built F1-engined single seaters with top speed approaching 180 mph on the faster events. Both branches of the sport are highly competitive, often with a few hundredths of a second separating winners from losers, but both are equally well renowned for the friendliness, camaraderie and sportsmanship which exists between competitors.

If you wish to compete, your level of involvement in the sport will of course depend on your budget, but you can enter the sport armed only with a virtually standard road car, the necessary safety equipment and the basic MSA National 'B' Speed Competition Licence. You then need to join an MSA recognised motorsport club, send off your entry fee (usually around £60 for club events), and off you go! The Hillclimb and Sprint Association is an MSA affiliated club which was established in the late 1970s to represent and promote the interests of these two branches of motorsport. The Association's inaugural members included many of the sport's top names, many of whom are still involved in the sport to this day. Apart from the obvious benefit of a large and active like-minded membership who are closely involved with the sport as competitors, event officials and marshals, members receive our bi-monthly magazine 'Speedscene' , which is dedicated solely to hillclimbing and sprinting.

The Association also organises its own speed championship, is an invited club to many other events, promotes its own sprints, and produces other publications such as fixture lists and 'how to start' information. All benefits of belonging to the HSA -the Club for Sprinting and Speed Hillclimbing.