History of the climb

It all started low key early in 2008 getting together a band of motor enthusiasts and researching the background at the Vintage Sports Car Club archives in Chipping Norton.  Kop Hill was one of the top hill climb venues from 1910 to 1925. The revival was to commemorate those distant days when thousands of spectators gathered on a barren Chiltern escarpment to see the leading racing cars and drivers of the day tackle the dirt track road of Kop Hill.  Among many were Raymond Mays in his Bugatti Brescia, Malcolm Campbell in his ‘Bluebird’ Talbot and Lionel Martin with the first prototype Aston Martin named after nearby Aston Hill.

The Kop was infamous in one respect when in April 1925 a young Oxford undergraduate, Francis Duveen, tried out one of Mays racing Bugatttis shot off the road and struck a spectator.  This resulted in a ban by Act of Parliament on motor racing on public roads on the mainland maintained to this day but it still thrives in Ulster and the Isle of Man.

The fastest time recorded on Kop was in 1922 when Count Zborowski, a grand prix driver, achieved 26.8 sec over 1000yds  in his 8 cylinder aero engined Ballot at average of 70mph !