Recently Oliver’s Mount hosted a few scooters amongst 100 or so other more powerful bikes and three-wheelers. Scooter lap records were broken on the day.
Col gives us a few facts and his thoughts…
Every gram of weight-saving counts, Warren Wilkinson forsakes his dignity in a quest for speed by drilling holes in his rubber shoes…
The track
- Oliver’s Mount is the only ‘real road’ circuit in mainland England
- Opened in 1946
- 2.4 miles in length – although only part of the full circuit is used for the hill climb
The farmhouse paddock is the start of the hillclimb, then through the start-finish line flat-out into the tight left-handed “Mere Hairpin.” Then it’s up the hill to the steepest part of the circuit to the finish line in approx. one minute or less….
Back to front
Oliver’s Mount is England’s only natural road racing circuit and operates the extremely rare anti-clockwise direction of race travel so there are more left-hand corners than right-handers, it’s the opposite on a clockwise running circuit.
The 2023 hill climb had approximately 100 entrants, nearly all motorcycles but with five scooters mixed in.
Scooter entrants
Those riders were boosted by a last-minute entry from Warren Wilkinson. Warren was up until 10:30 p.m. the night before prepping his race bike.
Current BSSO #1, Steve Wright on his DSC Group 6 machine
Regular sprinters Darryl Ward and Pete Newbold (pictured) were also on the entry list
The final entries were father and son team Jez and Harry Mann from Guernsey who were using the same scooter.
Despite being advertised as ‘Scooters at the Mount’ the event wasn’t well supported by scooter riders. More scooter entrants are needed to keep the class viable in future hill climb meetings.
Pre-1960 vintage motorcycles
Entrants included pitbikes, 2 and 4-stroke sports bikes from the 70s, 80s and 90s, supermotos and motocross bikes, as well as sidecars and other 3-wheelers.
Famous entrants
In the past, Oliver’s Mount has hosted legendary motorcycle racers like Geoff Duke, Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, Giacomo Agostini, Wayne Gardener and the Dunlop family. As well as Carl Fogarty, Guy Martin and Barry Sheene. Barry claimed it was his favourite place in the world to race a motorcycle.
Entry costs
Don’t be goofing around like Darryl Ward (pictured above) get yourself entered next year. For as little as £80 for a day entry, or £140 for both days you could add your name to the list of respected names that have graced the hallowed tarmac.
More info?
Keep an eye on the Facebook page for future events.
Results
- Warren Wilkinson already held the record on his Gilera Runner until Steve Wright took it in 2022 on his DSC RB250 Lambretta
- After this recent meeting, Warren is now the fastest man up the hill on both geared and automatic scooters
- Warren was absolutely flying both days and finished 2.69 seconds faster than anybody else on a scooter
Quick rundown
- Big respect to Jez and Harry Mann and team for making the 650-mile round trip from Guernsey just to compete. Jez and Harry performed very well, they compete in approximately 12 hill climbs a year in the Channel Islands championships
- Steve was disappointed with his own personal performance, not his usual high and smooth standards
- Pete Newbold blew up
- Darryl Ward wasn’t setting any records
Words and paddock shots: Col
Action pics courtesy: Billy Parker at Scipspics. You can view his full album from Oliver’s Mount here.
Results say Warren was on a 1000cc Lambretta? That can’t be right.
No, not quite!