Lotuses and specials at the long-lost Blandford Hill-Climb

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The 1950s and early '60s was surely the Golden Age for grass-roots motorsport. Fifteen years after the war, the various air bases up and down the country were quiet - too quiet, perhaps - without the constant thunder of Merlin engines or the whoosh of Wellands, but they came alive instead to the buzz of Cooper 500s and the roar of big Jaguars.

Various regional motor clubs took advantage of the availability of airfields, and dozens of enthusiastic amateur races with nifty sports-cars descended upon them to enjoy the thrill of 'The Sport'. One such club was the West Hants & Dorset Car Club, which commenced automobile racing at Blandford Camp in Dorset in 1949, one year after the Blackmore Vale MCC held a motorcycle race there.

The WH&DCC's first meeting on 28th May was a straightforward hill-climb over a 1km course, and the meeting was won by the famous Freikaiserwagen of Joe Fry. It was followed in August by a circuit-race with the notable appearance of John Cooper, who won the 500cc class. Sadly, Fry was killed in an accident while practising for the 1950 hill-climb, and Blandford went quiet once again.

It returned, however, when the 750MC established another hill-climb using a different course in later in the 1950s, which was staged annually up to 1963, after which some new barbed-wire fences ruined the course.

These photographs, from the family album of Sid Broad, were taken at a Blandford meeting on 15th May 1960. Broad raced a Lotus Mk. VI with a 1466cc MG XPEG engine (seen near the back of the main picture) mainly around Devon and Cornwall. The Lotus Seven in front of it appears to be Betty Haig's Climax-powered entry. Car 19 is the Morris special of Ashley Cleaves. The very slippery, modern-looking car at the front of the shot is T. M. Horton's  Lotus 17, of which only 21 were made in 1959. The rather odd-looking car with the high roofline on the right appears to be the 1954 Lester-MG T51, which was enthusiastically campaigned from 1957 to 1962 by Bernard Harding. The car next to Broad's Mk. VI was the mighty Cripps Special, built on a 1933 Chrysler chassis with a 5.3-litre supercharged straight-eight.

What a shame those days are gone, but at least some of the cars still remain. Does anyone know the fates of any of the cars in the picture? Perhaps you even attended one of these meetings in your childhood or youth and have some memories to share? We'd like to hear them.

Words: Zack Stiling; pictures: Broad family via Charles Helps on Autosport Forums
 

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