Bouley Bay
Jersey

The first Bouley Bay hillclimb was held in 1920 when the road surface was concrete and the club had just been formed at a meeting attended by seven people. Today the Jersey Motor Cycle and Light Car 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 & LCC hillclimbs are open to all types of unusual machinery from cars to sidecars and motorbikes to karts and sand racing specials - all are welcome to entertain the crowds. With it’s 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.

From the steep start line on the doorstep of one of The Waters Edge Hotel a short straight leads in to the first corners at Café. A tight left is immediately followed by a tight right hander leading on to the fastest part of the hill. Up through the gears towards Slemens corner taken at 80mph + by the top drivers. If you are brave enough at Slemens chunks of time are there to be had, but be warned if you are too brave the large trees at the side of the course have won many a battle with racing machinery. When they come out of slemens it’s a question of how late do you brake for the long left-hander at Les Platons. From Les Platons the hill snakes up towards the famous Radio corner hairpin where most of the spectators assemble. Another short straight leads up to the top corner with a quick blast on the throttle to the finish line and if your name is Martin Groves a time of 38.47 sec the outright hill record.

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Time Zone : (GMT) Western Europe Time, London, Lisbon, Casablanca

Circuit Length : 1011 yards

Lap Record : 38.47s, Martin Groves, 1995.

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