Classic fans gear up for Kop Hill Climb

More than 400 classic vehicles will take part in each day of this year's Kop Hill Climb. The September event, held at Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire, raised £100,000 for local causes last year.

This year, the event returns to celebrate motoring through the ages with cars from the 1900s to the modern day on show over the weekend of 16-17 September. From the early racing cars and bikes that ran Kop Hill in its heyday to some of the rarely seen performance vehicles of the past 40 years.

Cars like the fire-breathing 1914 German built Fafnir are a classic Kop Hill entry. Powered by a 10.5-litre four-cylinder aero engine, each cylinder alone displaces more than the engine of the average modern family car.

Italian marque Ferrari celebrates its 70^th anniversary this year and there will be plenty of ‘prancing horses’ at Kop Hill to celebrate, including a 1957 Ferrari 500TRC and the 1973 Competition Daytona.

Weighing just 680kg and powered by a 2.0-litre 80bhp engine, the TRC was a competitive race car in the 1950s. The later V12 Daytona Competition, one of only five lightweights built, has around 450bhp, which powered the model to Le Mans class wins in 1972, ’73 and ’74.

This year sees a visit from 'Genevieve', the car that was the star of the 1953 film of the same name, and a regular participant in the annual London to Brighton veteran car run.

Visitors can also meet ex-Wheeler Dealer Edd China, mechanical genius, inventor, and TV presenter who will be at Kop Hill on both days with his famous Casual Lofa Sofa – the fastest sofa in the world.

Kop Hill is one of the oldest Hill Climb venues in England. The first recorded races were in 1910. It became a major event on the motorsports car and motorcycle calendar and many famous drivers and riders of the time, including Malcolm Campbell.

The last event was in 1925, when as a result of an accident to a spectator, the RAC banned all motorsport on public roads. Today Kop Hill is a public road, and is closed to traffic during the event, which is an untimed commemorative run.

For more information on the event, visit kophillclimb.org.uk