MCAC hillclimb
MCAC ran Hill Climbs at the Chalfont Heights estate owned by Mr.Louis Stroud. I have never found any reference whatsoever to MCAC hill climbs at Amersham. Although Bill Brunell calls the location in all 3 photos in his book (incl. the one taken at Gerrards X station) the 'Amersham Hill Climb' (and he may well right in that Chalfont Heights was also, maybe, known as Amersham), the 2 photos of competitors racing up the hill (one of them in the MCAC website) are definitely NOT on MCAC events. The proof is the competitors' numbers are correctly shown as MCAC in the railway station picture, but they are not the Club's competition numbers in the other two pictures. (I have several other pictures of the era showing the same MCAC competition numbers). Therefore the only query is whether or not Chalfont Heights was also known as Amersham. It certainly was not reported as Amersham in the many editions of the Auto Motor Journal which carried reports of this annual event. Anyway, I have many pictures of Hill Climbs, from the first in 1908, to the last in 1935. I attach a particularly good one from the centre spread of the Auto Motor Journal of 25th July 1929, showing Dr. Benjafield (one of the 'Bentley Boys' and winner of Le Mans in 1927) ascending the hill at speed. He won the Kensington Cup 5 times in 6 years between 1926 and 1932 and was a member 1927 to (at least) 1939 and a Committee member 1928 - 1938.
(From the picture you can see why the RAC refused a permit in 1936 on the grounds of spectator safety. The Club never again ran a speed hill climb after 1935.)
Roy Bacon's 'Golden Age' : The pictures are from the extensive collection of motoring pictures taken by Bill Brunell up to 1940. His daughter was Kitty Brunell who not only features in many of the pictures in the book, but was also a Club member (1929 - 1939 and maybe later - all the membership records were lost during the War) and the first Club member to enter the RAC Rally, which she did in 1932 in a Crossley, in the very first such event (dnf), and again in 1933 in an AC Ace (with 5 other Club member-entrants) where she won 3 trophies. Unfortunately there was no such thing as an overall winner, but she won the most individual awards. She also accompanied her father on the 1929 Monte Carlo Rally and a photo of the awards presentation in Monte Carlo is in the book. There are many in the book that do, the best (apart from those of Kitty, who sports the RAC/MCAC badge on all her cars in all her photos) is the one attached. This photo is of Committee member Mr.T.O.Blake acting as 'Clerk of the Scales' at Gerrards Cross Railway Station in 1931. He is weighing the eventual winner of the Middlesex Hill Climb at Chalfont Heights on 13th June (Mr.J.Wallis in his Triumph Super Seven, winning the Autocar Challenge Cup - his name is on it!). The lady behind him is Kitty Brunell herself. This event was featured on the front page and centre spread in the Auto Motor Journal weekly edition of 19th June 1931. The Club (me at the moment) has an original of this edition.
(From the picture you can see why the RAC refused a permit in 1936 on the grounds of spectator safety. The Club never again ran a speed hill climb after 1935.)
Roy Bacon's 'Golden Age' : The pictures are from the extensive collection of motoring pictures taken by Bill Brunell up to 1940. His daughter was Kitty Brunell who not only features in many of the pictures in the book, but was also a Club member (1929 - 1939 and maybe later - all the membership records were lost during the War) and the first Club member to enter the RAC Rally, which she did in 1932 in a Crossley, in the very first such event (dnf), and again in 1933 in an AC Ace (with 5 other Club member-entrants) where she won 3 trophies. Unfortunately there was no such thing as an overall winner, but she won the most individual awards. She also accompanied her father on the 1929 Monte Carlo Rally and a photo of the awards presentation in Monte Carlo is in the book. There are many in the book that do, the best (apart from those of Kitty, who sports the RAC/MCAC badge on all her cars in all her photos) is the one attached. This photo is of Committee member Mr.T.O.Blake acting as 'Clerk of the Scales' at Gerrards Cross Railway Station in 1931. He is weighing the eventual winner of the Middlesex Hill Climb at Chalfont Heights on 13th June (Mr.J.Wallis in his Triumph Super Seven, winning the Autocar Challenge Cup - his name is on it!). The lady behind him is Kitty Brunell herself. This event was featured on the front page and centre spread in the Auto Motor Journal weekly edition of 19th June 1931. The Club (me at the moment) has an original of this edition.
The picture above shows a Triumph Super Seven at Gerrard's Cross Station.
(Photo from Roy Bacons 'The Golden Age of British Motoring')
Below are copies of the front cover and report from the 19th June 1931 issue of 'The Auto Motor Journal'.
