Cop this! It’s Kop Hillclimb

Back in 1925, a serious accident at Kop Hillclimb near Princes Risborough led to the cessation of racing on public roads in England…

Fast forward to 2009, when a group of enthusiasts decided to revive the event, which is a great idea. Although Kop was originally a motor cycle event it has to be said that the revival is a bit biased toward 4-wheelers but hey, in the real world these things cost money to organise and realistically cars are always a bigger draw for the public than bikes. The profits go to charity so let’s not be petty…

On the other hand there’s no reason to avoid doing our damnedest to blow those rot boxes into the weeds and I’m pleased to say that from what I saw, the bikes gave a good account of themselves. Now I should point out that this isn’t a competitive event, just a bit of fun… The hill is closed to traffic for the event but it’s still subject to the law so you can’t go beserk and at the rider briefing we were respectifully asked to behave and avoid such incidents as silencers accidentally falling off – or presumably throttles accidentally sticking fully open… Even so it was suggested everybody put on a show at the line and then back off as they leave the spectators behind halfway up, which worked pretty well. The hill isn’t steep but it’s a long drag and by halfway the bikes had lost a lot of steam anyway.

We took the Rex Acme, the Martinsyde and Judy’s 1928 Scott Flying Squirrel.  The event covers two days and we decided to make the most of it. Saturday was a bit overcast but it was still good fun romping up.

Here we are on the start line, and thanks to Dan Towers for sending me the picture. He’s hoping to be there next year on his mid-‘thirties Norton Model 50.

I have to admit, the Rex was a bit disappointing. When I first got it , it actually leapt off the top of the Test Hill at Brooklands but since then I have geared it up for maximum beans at Mallory Park and it’s definitely not so lively uphill, in fact it nipped up near the top, partly because we’d all had to sit for a very long time on the start line, old engines getting hotter and hotter.  On Sunday the marshalls revised the arrangement and sent the bikes off in batches of twenty instead of all at once, which was a great improvement. The Rex freed off after a minute or so and seemed none the worse. I do have to remind myself that the average rider of the 1920s was neither my height nor my bulk and at 16 stone I probably represent the combined weight of a rider and a pillion popsie of the day, so I’m not complaining. Judy made a better getaway despite the Scott also being pretty tall geared and fitted with a close-ratio box. Since the Isle of Man I’ve made a larger main jet for the Martinsyde and it pulled away fairly well but was also way too high geared and settled into krobba-krob mode as soon as I changed into second.

But enough about us, what about all the other stuff there? Well here’s a few picture to give a flavour of the weekend…

James Bridge Butler’s 500cc Norton JAP special with trick Cooper car racing alloy cylinder

That ain’t a can, THAT’s a can….

If all Bee Ems were like this,  maybe I’d join the Institute of Advanced Motorcyclists…

Dangerous Veloctette; surely this sort of thing has to be stopped…well, at the top of the hill anyway

And here’s Mark with his nifty Motobi 175.

Alright,  alright, if you insist I suppose I must admit one or two of the cars were worth a look too…

A Car.

And just to finish here’s a feelgood story…

CB Workshop friend Paul Wilson (see the Banbury Run post) is still getting along with his Dad’s old 500 BSA but after successfully riding to the event he managed to lose the top off his AMAC carburettor float chamber on his first ascent of the hill. “Never mind, I’ll look for one on Ebay…” he said cheerfully. I pointed out that although Amal ones will fit, there’s a severe shortage of proper AMAC chamber tops… Having a slightly Victorian attitude to children,  I floated the idea that since he had his nippers with him, for a suitable prize from the ice cream stall, they might be encouraged to scour the verge for the missing item. It worked, the cap was discovered and fitted. Top work, kids!

 

I have to say we enjoyed Kop as much as any event this year, we’ve been there as spectators before and it was a brilliant weekend as participants. It was well organised all round… If you want to enter keep an eye on the Kop Hill website kophillclimb.org.uk , priority is given to pre-war vehicles by accepting their entries a couple of months ahead of later classics, I highly recommend it…so long as you leave a couple of spaces for us! Last year the event raised £55, 000 for charity and apparently this year’s attendance set a new record. It’s great to see a relatively new event taking off so successfully. Well done to all concerned!

Cheers,

Rick