Bugatti Owners' Club Day Hillclimb

written by Richard Barnett

If you’re ever in England, and want to see how we really do motor sport properly, make a trip to Prescott in Gloucestershire.

Where?  Not Brands or Silverstone?  No – because if you want to see some England’s most splendid cars being put through their paces, but you cannot bear the crowds of Goodwood, Prescott is for you.

Prescott is the hillclimb owned by the Bugatti Owners’ Club.  The hillclimb uses the drive of the country house at the top of the hill.  And what a driveway!  Climbing steadily among trees, with plenty of sharp bends to catch out the novice or the unwary, this short uphill blast really taxes the most powerful and most carefully-prepared machinery.

Here in England, hillclimbs have a loyal following.  Pitting man or woman and machine against the slope, the clock and the other competitors makes for some of the most exciting motor sport a spectator can watch.

Early June saw the Bugatti Owners’ Club day, when a number of Bugattis, plus other notable pre-and postwar classics competed against the clock and each other.

All this goes on in the spectacular scenery of Gloucestershire, with the sweeping Malverns, birthplace of English composer Elgar and home of Morgan cars, visible in the distance.

And for old car lovers, this is the kind of event to attract the more unusual car.  Bugattis of course, and several Bentley specials, Allards (plus a couple of mouthwatering Ford V-8 specials) and more popular postwar cars, such as Triumphs and MGs. 

What this event has (as indeed does any Prescott event, but this one in particular) is charm.  By the bucketload.  And the same applies to the Vintage Sports Car Club event, held here later in the year.  

You couldn’t manufacture this event at all.  You don’t have to adopt period dress to get in the paddock, for example.  Some other events might try, but if you want to see old cars in the right surroundings, you’d be very pushed to find something better than this!

 About the writer: Richard Barnett is a lifelong car enthusiast who has also been lucky enough to work with cars throughout his professional career. He claims to have started his motoring interest when he was two and a half years old.

During his working life Richard has sold motoring books, run a motoring library, done motor industry consultancy, been a motoring journalist (writing stories for the now defunct AutoClassic, Classic and Sportscar and Autosport) and currently works in motor industry pr.

A member of Britain's prestige Royal Automobile Club, Richard is also a member of the Society of Automotive Historians, the Vintage Sports Car Club, the Historic Sports Car Club and the Classic Rally Association. He has an extensive motoring library and attends as many historic motor racing events as his calendar allows.

Richard owns a Lancia Flaminia and his favourite car is a Facel Vega HK500.