Kop Hill Climb 2023 (Part 1)

A year ago I wrote a blogpost about the Kop Hill Climb (see here). It's an annual fundraising event based around hundreds of vintage cars running up a steep 1:5 hill near Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. I'm one of the main safety wardens for the event and my 'beat' is the top of the hill. 

The event brings in 15,000-20,000 visitors every year and this year I'm delighted to report that we reached the significant total of raising over a million pounds for local charities. We got close to it in 2022 but this year's gate took us over the line. In 2021 the event was awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service - kind of like an OBE for an organisation - and I'm proud to wear my pin.

I didn't take too many photos or much video footage this year as many of the cars are the same as previous years. Although this old 1915 Seagrave fire engine caught my eye.

And so too did this 1924 American LaFrance racer which began life as a Type 75 LaFrance fire engine in upstate New York. Here's what a Type 75 looked like:

And here's the racer it was converted into. If you're interested in the stats it's a 150hp engine with 900cu in 14,750cc T heads (I'm sure that will mean something to some of you). Both vehicles were new to the event this year.

The was a flypast on the Saturday by a WW2 Hurricand and a Lancaster bomber on the Sunday. Related to that, the paddock at the bottom of the hill had a Rolls Royce Merlin engine (1430hp) on display this year. Both the Lancaster and the Hurricane (and the Spitfire) were powered by Merlins. This one was fired up once an hour. The noise was spectacular. Here it is with my good friend - and current president of the Eccentric Club - Lyndon Yorke (more about Lyndon here).

Here's a different Merlin on display at another event 10 years ago - the propeller looks so odd when captured on digital video.

On tomorrow's blog I'll post a video with clips from this year's and previous years' Kop Hill Climbs.