A brilliant day at Gurston Down Hillclimb Drivers School for IntoSpeed 2025!

It was fantastic to see so many ladies trying hillclimbing for the first time at BARC South West Centre’s Gurston Down Hillclimb School recently.  The seven female participants taking part were supported on the day by BWRDC committee – themselves competitors or marshals (one committee member is both!), who were on hand to provide encouragement and answer any questions.

After an introductory talk to all the school pupils (a mixture of male and female), the pupils were divided into 3 groups, one of which was specifically for ladies who then walked the 967 metre hillclimb course (think of it as a tarmaced narrow country lane) accompanied by their Instructor, who gave lots of tips along the way.  The ladies, all of whom were driving their road cars, did a couple of convoy runs which enabled them to get to grips with the correct racing lines then it was their turn for solo runs.

After a delicious lunch in the Gurston Down restaurant with lots of chatter amongst pupils and their supporters, there was some useful advice on safety equipment should anyone decide to move onto the next stage and take part in a competitive event.  Then it was back behind the wheel for more runs.  BWRDC member and Gurston regular Jane Russ was the marshal stationed at the end of the course to park up the cars before the pupils returned back to the start line paddock area for constructive feedback from the Instructors who had been watching their runs from different points along the course.

At the end of the day all the pupils were presented with certificates by the School Principal – and the ladies were also given a limited edition BARC/BWRDC IntoSpeed branded umbrella and goody bag.

Thank you to Gurston photographer Robb Webb who did a great job capturing the day on camera.  To close proceedings, there was a group photo of all the ladies involved in the day (as it has to be a record number!) – be it as pupils, also our paramedic, BARC SW Centre’s Clare Buchanan and her daughter Isabelle who had been selling merchandise and BWRDC committee.

BWRDC Committee member Becky Crocombe had started her morning with an interview on BBC Radio Wiltshire on the breakfast sport slot then we had a visit from Lucy Taylor of That's TV Salisbury who had the perfect introduction to hillclimbing with so many like minded women at Gurston for the IntoSpeed initiative.

Thank you to the team at Gurston Down Hillclimb School – to the Instructors, the marshals, Course Control, all those behind the scenes.  Thanks also to Charlotte Mackenzie and Jessica Runicles from Motorsport UK for their support.

Photo credits: Robb and Becky Crocombe