History
Today the club organises four hillclimbs a year and has a membership in excess of 500. Many different venues were used in the early years but Bouley Bay remained the favourite for competitors and spectators alike. The idyllic setting on Jersey’s north coast, with the French coastline visible on a clear day, is unsurpassed for its atmosphere and spectacle in British hillclimbing. The hillclimbs stopped briefly during the German Occupation but the club was quick to start again, by organising an international event in 1946. The following year Bouley Bay was one of only five venues in the inaugural British Hillclimb Championship and has held championship events ever since. Jersey Evening Post reports from the 1950s remark on regular crowd attendance’s in excess of 7,000
The original course was 1065 yards in length, but this was reduced to the current 1011 in 1949. Demanding, technical and challenging are just a few of the descriptions used by the UK competitors who visit each year for the British National Hillclimb championship. Unlike many UK events the JMC and LCC hillclimbs are open to all types of machinery from cars to sidecars and motorbikes to karts; all are welcome to entertain the crowds. With its mixture of blind bends through high banked tree lined corners to the tight hairpins towards the top, Bouley Bay has everything to challenge the best in the business. For spectators the high banks above the top half of the hill are a natural amphitheatre looking down the hill as the competitors race up.
1935
1952 hill climb - Picture Evening Post
1958 hill climb - Picture Evening Post
A large crowd of spectators in the 1950s
Crowds line the slopes of Bouley Bay to watch the 1951 hill climb
Radio corner in the 1960s
1985
1935
1965
1965
1965
Timers at work in 1965
The pits in 1965
Young Marcus Bisson, who would later race up the hill himself, tries his father's bike for size
1965
On the starting line in the 1960s
1977 - Picture Evening Post
1977 - Picture Evening Post
Joe Fry in 1949
Terry Le Main comes off his motor cycle in 1967
Peter Wakeham
Ray Langdon led the field with his Cooper in 1967
1965
1965
1965
Ken Wharton, a stalwart of the 1950s
1946
A BMW in 1946
Godfrey Amy at the wheel of a Cooper Norton in 1960
The finishing line
An Allard K1, J111, competing on the hill. The car was produced from 1946 to 1950. The photograph was probably taken in 1948, the year Bob Le Breton was given the car by his uncle
1950s
1960s
1960s
1953
1970s
1970s
1969
These pictures are taken from a cine film of the 1969 national event
