News about Hill Climb

RARE CHANCE TO SEE HISTORIC CARS RE-ENACT CHALFONT HILL CLIMB

A procession of classic cars will re-enact a historic hill climb on the Chalfont Heights Estate in June, in a one-off display marking the 80th anniversary of the last event held here in 1935. The commemoration of the Chalfont Heights Hill Climb on the Village Feast Day on Saturday 27th June has been organised jointly by FEAST OF ST PETER, THE CELFUNDE INHERITANCE, and the CHALFONT HEIGHTS ESTATE. Hill climbs were held on the dirt roads of the Estate between 1929 & 1935.

Riley Brooklands 9 Hairpin BOC 1935

Riley Brooklands 9 Hairpin

On the morning of the annual FEAST DAY event on Goldhill Common, Chalfont St Peter, many cars of the types that took part in the hill climbs between 1929 and 1935 will retrace the original route of the climb. Starting at 11.00 from the bottom of Woodside Hill, just off the A413, they will proceed up along the original course to the Finish on Woodside Hill then along Ellis Avenue, Chiltern Hill and out of the estate via Upway to Joiners Lane. From there they will drive back down to the village centre where they will proceed through the High Street and Market Place to join the other classic vehicles gathering on Goldhill Common.

The event offers unrivalled opportunities to see many of these historic, beautifully kept cars in the original setting that is part of the Village history. When the hill climbs took place in the 1930’s there were only a few houses on Woodside Hill and hundreds of spectators came to see them compete.

Peter Whitehead Riley 1932

Peter Whitehead Riley 1932

Cars like the Bugatti, Riley, Frazer Nash, Invicta, Alvis, Bentley, MG and others that you will see on the 27th June were brought to Chalfont St Peter by enthusiastic owners. They included Peter Whitehead who raced in F1, won in a Jaguar at Le Mans, had his racing workshop at Motorwork in Market Place and regularly conducted business in the White Hart. We may not be fortunate enough to see such a gathering of Classic Cars again in Chalfont St Peter, some of which are nearly eighty five years old.

Heritage group Celfunde Inheritance will be displaying original photographs of the hill climbs and details of the course at their stand on Goldhill Common on FEAST DAY. The classic hill climb cars will park there next to the popular classic cars from about 11:30 onwards. The organisers would love to hear from anyone who recalls the hill-climbs at Chalfont Heights or who has photos, programmes, posters, maps or newspaper cuttings relating to those events by contacting [email protected]

For further details of the events see www.feastofstpeter.org.uk

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