The Westbrook Hay Hill Climb was an annual motorsports event near Hemel Hempstead in England, where drivers competed on an uphill course. The Herts County Automobile & Aero Club held the first Westbrook Hay speed hillclimb in 1953, and organised all events there until the course closed in 1962. Between 1959 and 1962 the track hosted four rounds of the British Hill Climb Championship.
A 1953 edition of Motor Sport describes the course as "situated in the Westbrook Hay estate near Hemel Hempstead on the main Hemel to Berkhamsted road (A41). The timed length will be 500 yards and the road surface is tarmac. From the start on a gradient of 1 in 3 the road takes a fast left-hand sweep to come to a right-angled bend also to the left. From there the road sweeps to the right to the finishing line. The overall gradient is 1 in 11."Motor Sport, September 1953, Page 462.
The course started just to the south of the A41 (today near the junction with the A4251), between Hemel Hempstead and Bourne End and climbed 650 yards up the main drive to Westbrook Hay House, today occupied by Westbrook Hay School.
Events and past winners YearDriverVehicleTimeNotes1953M.A.H. ChristieCooper 1,100 c.c.20.76 sec Motor Sport, November 1953, Page 591; C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 51. 3 October.1954Tony MarshCooper S/C25.59 secC. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 54. 650 yard course.1955A.E. MarshCooper26.01 secMotor Sport, July 1955, Page 384. 21 May.1956Tony MarshCooper25.05 sec RThe Motor Year Book 1957, Temple Press, Page 205. 21 July.1957David GoodCooper 1,000 c.c.C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 100. 13 July.1958 D. Boshier-JonesCooper 1,100 c.c.25.09 secC. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 114. 12 July.1959D. Boshier-JonesCooper-JAP25.46 secAutocar, 14 August 1959, Page 30. 11 July. R.A.C. Championship Round.1960D. Boshier-JonesCooper-JAP 1,100 c.c.24.06 sec RMotor Sport, August 1960, Page 622. 9 July.1961David GoodCooper-JAP24.18 secMotor Sport, August 1961, Page 646; C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Pages 173–174. 8 July.1962Arthur OwenCooper-Climax22.85 sec R7 July.1963Event cancelled.Motor Sport, September 1963, Page 678. Key: R = Course Record.
Footnotes
See also Great Auclum National Speed Hill Climb