At Girlracer we like to try and bring you stories from all aspects of motorsport and we’ve not had much from the worlds of sprinting and Hill climbing (Other than Goodwood!) so when we heard about Rebekah Edwards we thought we should feature her and the disciplines she competes in.
Rebekah only started hill climbing a year ago, her first ever event was the 16th July 2016. Both disciplines (Hill climbing and Sprinting) are quite low budget entries into motorsport and Rebekah actually competes in her daily driver, a VW Lupo called Dora!
Dora isn’t completely standard but it’s still fully legal. It’s possible to enter with a totally standard road car though. The one must have addition is a timing strut on the front of the car which is used to break the timing beam at the start and the ends of the runs.
Both Hill climbing and Sprinting are very similar in that you have to complete a course against the clock with the obvious difference being that the former is always based on a hill! Cars always compete one at a time, there is no direct racing. The fastest time in each class and overall are the winners. It’s a bit like a qualifying session on track without having an actual race!
Rebekkah has proved to be a natural to both Sprinting and Hillclimbing. She took victory in her first competitive weekend ever, the day after her debut when she won her class at the Llys Y Fran Hill climb on the 17th July.
Cars in both events are split into classes based on your engine size and what modifications your car has. Rebekah’s Lupo compete in class 1a for road going production cars up to 1400cc.
As with all motorsport you must be a member of either the organising club that is running the championship or an invited club. You also must have a competition licence but the good news is that the National B non racing licence can be obtained without taking a test although you do need to be able to actually drive a car!
You will also need some safety gear for yourself, the usual racing kit of Overalls, Gloves, racing shoes or boots and a proper crash helmet.
Rebekah is still in the early stages of her competition career but has already taken part in several races in Wales and Somerset. She has recently joined the British Women Racing drivers club who welcome members from all aspects of the sport not just circuit racing and rallying. She has well and truly been “bitten by the racing bug” and although she will go and support friends and family, she is much happier when competing herself.
This season she is a championship contender in the Trident Engineering Welsh Sprint and Hill climb championship.
This weekend, a year after her debut she took part in a sprint at the Pembrey circuit near Llanelli in South Wales. In damp conditions, she found herself in close competition with an Austin Mini and the two cars were close for the entire competition but by the end of the day Rebekah won her class by a couple of tenths of a second. The on Sunday it was time to head to the Llys y Fran Hillclimb. Again she was competing against a Mini as her main rival and she came out on top by Four seconds. It yet was another trophy for the promising young driver and a great way to celebrate her first year in motorsport.
You can meet Rebekah and Dora the Lupo as she goes up the famous Shelsey Walsh Hill climb course near Worcester as part of Retro rides in August. (20th)
We’ll try to keep you up to date on how Rebekah gets on in her career, either on the site or our Facebook page so remember to like that. It contains links to all the latest news stories as well as lots of exclusive content that you won’t see on the main site. By Marc Waller
