A popular Midlands motor racing event is back on track after a
Shopshire businessman stepped in to back it just in time.
Racing fan Graham Wynn, who is chairman of the TTC Group,
responsible for educating drivers as part of the National Driver
Retraining Scheme, is sponsoring the Midlands Hill Climb
Championship half way through the racing season.
Graham and his wife Jenny, who is MD of the Telford based TTC
Group, are both supporters of the sport.
"This is the difference between surviving and not surviving,"
said championship co-ordinator Tony Fletcher.
"We can't really run without sponsors. We were running out of
time and we were going to lose money."
TTC Group sponsorship deal will include paying for 40 trophies
and 100 pieces of cut glass prizes for the end of season annual
awards dinner.
The re-named TTC Group Midlands Hill Championship has 129 annual
entrants, some from as far afield as Scotland, who compete in 11
races at thee Midlands venues at Shelsey Walsh in Worcester, Loton
Park, Shrewsbury and at Cheltenham's Prescott track, home of
Bugatti owners club.
"Mr Wynn, who races a lightweight Force LM001 sports racer built
from scratch by Ian Dayson of Force Racing Cars, a leading UK
constructor of sprint and hill climb cars, said: "When we realised
the championship was in jeopardy we had to do something to ensure
it could continue. Hill climbing is a growing motor sport across
the UK and it is good that there are three excellent venues in the
Midlands area."
The sport of hill climbing has been recently endorsed by Formula
1 motor racing champion David Coulthard who said he was impressed
by the professional driving standards especially on the track's
sharp bends during a visit to Shelsey Walsh in May this year.
Responsible for educating 200,000 motorists and motorcyclists
each year, the TTC Group is a long established organisation which
runs education courses for drivers and motorcyclists instead of
them being fined for minor motoring offences. They also run courses
across the UK for drink drive offenders.
Mr Wynn, who received the OBE for services to road safety,
regularly swaps the training room for the track where he enjoys
racing at UK hill climb tracks during a break from work and has won
a number of trophies since taking up the sport three years ago.
"The racetrack is a place where motor enthusiasts like myself
can safely practice our driving skills. But driving fast is only
for the racetrack and not the public road.
"On our driver retraining programmes we do give motorists the
skills to stay safe on the roads to reduce road crashes in the UK,"
said Graham, who regularly gives talks on road safety.