Commiserations to all those who suffered from Covid and petrol scares and couldn’t join us because this last weekend at the Kop has to have been one of the best yet.
The weather started off misty but cleared to a brilliant summer blue. We nearly equalled the record for spectators on the Saturday and then raced past it on a very warm Sunday.
We had a record number of bikes to celebrate our 110th anniversary of bikes running the hill and the new for 2021 features did well. The helicopter rides across the Chiltern hills were a sell-out, the Heritage Skills Centre kicked off our drive to encourage new apprentices in engineering and the exotic park had some delicious exhibits. Our thanks to McLaren and Aston Martin Racing for sending cars and to Triumph and BMW for providing some very exciting bikes for our special guests to ride.
A huge thank you to all our guests. To Sammy Miller who was a star as always, this year riding his Rennsport BMW and Gilera (and who will ever forget him volunteering to ride the soapbox in a giant snail!). To Allan Millyard who turned up en famille along with the fabulous, earth trembling Flying Millyard and special thanks from all the team to the Queen of bike racing, Maria Costello – what a shame the Road Traffic Act we adhere to didn’t allow us to see her run her Hagerty sponsored racing sidecar outfit up the hill!
In the hour between all the many and various special vehicles running the hill on the Saturday, the Alvis Owner Club excelled themselves putting on a magnificent lunchtime cavalcade. The Sunday lunchtime was dedicated to the 60th E Type Anniversary. What a great line up, led by some truly historically important Jaguars organised by one of the Entrants Team’s most cherished patrons, Dick Skipworth.
But the biggest thank you must go to all of you for coming from far and wide in your hundreds to be with us to make this one of the largest and most spectacular and relaxed meetings of classic, veteran, and vintage vehicles in the country. You are the reason over 16,000 people come to the Kop Hill Climb Festival. You are the reason we have become the biggest raiser of charitable monies in the three counties to help local good causes.
We’ll soon be posting on the website a selection of the highlights of the weekend, so look out for that. Don’t forget, we’ll be opening up for your 2022 entries in April for what will be the 110th anniversary of cars taking to the hill. From all of us on the team, take care and see you there.
