Hednesford Hills Sunday 13th March 2016

After a superb meeting at Birmingham Wheels the previous weekend, it was more National Hot Rod action for The Spectator and Hednesford Hills Raceway the venue.

Built in the early 1950's on the site of a disused reservoir, Hednesford is known as one of the best short circuit oval venues in the UK. Viewing is excellent with large grandstands at either end of the raceway plus large grass banks on which to perch chairs and blankets on. Situated high up overlooking the town of Hednesford and nestling on the edges of Cannock Chase the first time visitor would struggle to work out that there is a motor sport venue in town!

As a child I absolutely adored watching Banger Racing on ITV's World of Sport with Dickie Davies. School was merely something to get through each week before Saturday's would arrive and I sat glued to the TV. Hednesford was a staple diet on the box in those days and with only 4 channels to watch from it was incredible exposure for the sport. I begged my Dad to take me to the local dirt track to watch banger racing and Dad promised me he would take me to Hednesford one day as it was the Mecca for the sport, but alas it took me until I was 26 to do so!!

I hadn't visited Hednesford since 2010 and as this particular Sunday was sunny (and dare one say it....slightly warm!) I was looking forward to visiting again and watching some more exciting racing from the National Hot Rods.

All Photos (c) Teresa Summers

 Hednesford is one of the larger ovals in the sport and the more open spaces of tarmac suit all non-contact formula. The NHR World Final is always held at Ipswich but Hednesford is considered to be the best place to watch the formula as the wide straights and bends lead to closer and cleaner racing. 28 cars took part in 2 heats and a final which was won by 304 Danny Friske with 115 Chris Haird in 2nd and 45 Mark Edwards 3rd. The early laps of the final were stunning with 3 abreast at one stage before things started to settle down a bit!

Also on the bill were Stock Rods (pictured below)  which are 1300cc/1400cc hatchbacks and provided some really close racing and a possible name to look out for in the future,a very young 928 James Morris who easily won the 2 heats before an epic 3 way battle for the lead in the final saw him just miss out on the win to Edward Trofer by 0.035 of a second...

 Only 11 National Bangers were booked in to race and Heat 1 saw only 6 start, Heat 2 only 5 then the Final saw only 4! Needless to say there wasn't much banging to be seen and quite why there was such a low turnout I'm not sure.

Completing the days racing were Incarods which are the budget/starter formula for aspiring oval racers and as they were originally not on the bill until the week before it was good to see a healthy turnout of 27 cars.
12 races all done and dusted by 5.00pm so a good afternoon's entertainment on a pleasant Spring day. National Hot Rods must be a well kept secret though as I thought there was a low turnout of spectators for such a prestigious formula. It seems it's Bangers and F1 stockcars that get the crowds but the standard of racing and car preparation in NHR deserve a larger audience.
Admission was £15 and strangely no programmes were available despite the small crowd!