Saturday 18th August 1945

The first post-World War II speed event in England was staged on a grass and earth course at Naish House, near Portishead. It’s impossible to imagine today just how everyone felt after the traumas and uncertainty of WW2, finally ended just three days earlier on VJ Day, but the Bristol Motor Cycle & Light Car Club, galvanised by the enthusiastic Dick Caesar, quickly ushered in a new era of British motorsport with a hillclimb at one of its pre-war venues. Preparations in the summer of 1945 involved liberally placing straw bales at various danger points, and removing some molehills on the final bend. A crowd of six or seven hundred onlookers lined the hill to watch the competitors from as far afield as Leicester and Sussex among the 25 motor-cycle and 35 car entrants. The vehicles were run singly up the hill, with car and motorcycle classes alternating. Peter Falconer, making smooth and clean climbs, using just a foot or so of the banking, was fastest of the bikes, and also overall fastest time of day, with 48.6 sec. on his 500 Triumph Speed Twin, beating the pre-war record of 56.0 seconds.