Firle Beacon

The history of Firle hill climb had been well discussed here but it now seems that the owners of the park are trying to do a Goodwood. Firle Beacon Motorsport Rally, Sprint, Supercar Event, Lewes, East Sussex

They are obviously spending a lot of videos  and webpages and on social media but with a lack of substance.  Is is a rally, hill climb or sprint? Who is organising or authorising it?   Certainly on Face Book they have not answered those questions when asked. 

My Norton AV software blocked the website as known to be dangerous. 

It seems to be a clone of the FoS.  A tarmac hillclimb, plus a rally stage, and multifarious displays.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

I recall helping someone from a major SE speed event organising club look into any possibility of revival of a competitive hill climb at Firle about 14 years ago. Firle was very short and we worked out from other venues that btd (22 seconds?) at early Firle events would now be beaten by roadgoing classes, leaving anything else a bit too quick for modern safety. The killer then was public rights of way (and we were unable to establish how the original events got around that). Now, of course the law has changed on road closures...but safety requirements have changed too...

If the website is to be believed, the hillclimb route will be about 2.5km long, using roads in Firle Place grounds as well as the public road up the Downs.  So rather longer than 22 secs, I suspect!  One part of that route is currently dirt (or chalk!) so perhaps some surfacing will be needed.  The rally stage sounds like it runs on dirt roads for 'over 2 miles' up to the Beacon itself.   

Does not appear to be a hill climb as we know it.  ie. not a properly authorised competitive event. Neither is most of Goodwood FoS of course but a small part is. The driving on some of these "non competitive" events is as much a risk to proper motor sport as so called "cruises".

On Face Book, where they are pushing it, several folk, including myself have asked questions as to authorisation, organisers, exactly what the event is and the the PR people who must be handling the social media, seem unable or unwilling to answer these basis questions.  

So many people over the years have tried to "do a Goodwood" and most fail, some never get off the ground. 

Out of interest, how were events like Chateau Impney or Cholmondley Castle authorised and organised?  There are few of these events cropping up now - the Kop, Shere, Wolfstone and so on.  

Is it just me or is there is a slight '  how dare people enjoy themselves messing around in cars ' subtext ? If it's not formally timed then you can do what the hell you want surely ? Nobody seemed too exercised over BRMs being driven down Bourne High St a few years ago... . 

Out of interest, how were events like Chateau Impney or Cholmondley Castle authorised and organised?  

Both events were fully authorized by the MSA (Motorsport UK now-a-days after the rebranding). The BARC organised the on-track activities at Cholmondley (no idea who did the Chateau but MAC & H&DLCC personnel were involved).

The legal side is the "Dangerous Driving In a Public Place" legislation of a a few years ago which was to curb box racer in car parks. It was realised that this could apply to any sort of motorsport.  The government changed the law to permit 12 bodies to authorise events.  MSUK is the main one for competitive events but the bikes and 4x4 have there own and the IoPD cover many of the demo events.   

As I understand it the Kop event is non competitive and open to road registered cars only so doesn't break the RTA.  Competitive events can now be run on the highway if you get a specific road closing order for motorsport via MSUK and the county council. There have been two hill climbs this year and a few stage rallies. 

I get the impression that the Firle Beacon folk aren't up to speed with the Dangerous Driving in a Public Place stuff 

If they are getting a road closure order for the public road sections of the course, then they will find themselves having to get up to speed.  It isn't rocket science, just a lot of mind-numbing bureaucracy and paperwork with a few important factors (Safety, emergency access, and so on) embedded in it.