Author: Chris Ashby-Brown

The Tin Top Challenge has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting additions to the British hillclimbing scene. Introduced as part of the British Hillclimb Championship programme, the series was created to showcase the fastest and most spectacular production-based cars competing on the UK’s iconic hills as well as providing an entry point for those starting out in the point-to-point sport.

While single-seater and sports-racing machinery remain the pinnacle of the sport, the Tin Top Challenge provides a highly accessible and relatable platform for competitors and spectators alike.

The format sees the fastest tin-top competitors qualify for a dedicated Top Ten run-off after each class run, creating an additional competitive element and ensuring close, entertaining battles throughout the season. The challenge takes place at selected rounds of the championship and this weekend at Doune the series gets underway.

A Natural Entry Point

Few people understand the appeal of hillclimbing better than six-time British Hill Climb Champion Scott Moran. Speaking about the Tin Top Challenge, Moran believes one of its greatest strengths is the accessibility it offers competitors.

“You enter the British Hillclimb Cup, which is the class-based championship, and when you do that, if you’ve got a tin top, you tick the box and say, ‘I’d like to be involved with that.’ It doesn’t cost any more.”

The simplicity of the process means competitors can enjoy an additional competitive opportunity without extra financial barriers. For many drivers, the attraction lies in challenging those in similar cars as well as fighting to earn a second chance to compete for honours during the day.

Cars People Can Relate To

One of the key reasons for the challenge’s success is that spectators immediately connect with the machinery. While the outright British Championship is dominated by highly specialised single-seater racing cars capable of astonishing performances, production-based cars often resonate more strongly with fans.

Moran notes: “People can relate to saloon cars. Obviously, the single-seaters, everybody says, ‘Yeah, they’re awesome and brilliant,’ which they are. But people don’t know how to get into those.”

The Tin Top Challenge helps bridge that gap. Many competitors begin their hillclimbing careers in production-based cars before progressing through the sport, making the series an ideal showcase of the pathway available to newcomers.

“Most people start in either a saloon car or something like a Caterham and work their way up.”

Growing Competition

Since its introduction, the challenge has attracted some of the quickest closed-wheel hillclimb machinery in the country. Drivers such as Simon Bainbridge, Damien Bradley and Steven Darley have become leading figures in the category, campaigning everything from highly developed Audi and Subaru-based machines to record-breaking hillclimb specials.

The championship’s popularity has grown rapidly. Bainbridge secured consecutive Tin Top Challenge titles in 2024 and 2025, while Bradley won the inaugural championship in 2023, demonstrating the high level of competition that now exists within the series.

Events regularly feature an eclectic mix of machinery, including Subaru Imprezas, Mitsubishi Evos, Toyota Yaris’ Porsche GT cars and bespoke hillclimb specials derived from production vehicles. The resulting variety creates some of the most entertaining competition of any category within British hillclimbing.

Good for the Sport

Ultimately, Moran sees the Tin Top Challenge as a valuable addition to British hillclimbing as a whole.

“It’s just another aspect which I think is going to be good for the sport all round and Dad (Roger) and I are really behind it and we want to encourage as many people into it and support this great initiative.”

That sentiment reflects the challenge’s broader purpose. By providing a home for production-based cars, creating extra competition for existing competitors and offering spectators machinery they instantly recognise, the Tin Top Challenge has become an important part of the modern British Hillclimb Championship.

For competitors looking to take their first steps into the sport—or for fans who enjoy seeing familiar cars pushed to extraordinary limits – the Tin Top Challenge represents exactly what hillclimbing does best: accessible, exciting motorsport delivered on some of Britain’s most historic and demanding courses. First up is Doune in Scotland this weekend.

British Hillclimb Championship – Tin Top Challenge

20/21 June – Doune
4/5 July – Harewood
25/26 July – Wiscombe Park
8/9 August – Shelsley Walsh
19/20 September – Prescott

The opening phase of the 2026 British Hillclimb Championship, presented by Nova, has delivered exactly what fans hoped for – a three-way fight between defending champion Matthew Ryder, Will Hall and Wallace Menzies, with barely a tenth of a second separating the leading contenders at many of the season’s run-offs.

Now, nearly halfway through the season and five venues into the campaign, the title battle remains wide open, with momentum swinging from event to event. Here’s your catch-up before we head to Doune in Scotland.

Prescott: Hall and Ryder Trade Early Blows

The season burst into life at Prescott, where Ryder and Hall immediately established themselves as the men to beat. Ryder claimed the opening run-off victory, while Hall fired back in Round 2, ensuring the pair left Gloucestershire level on points after the first weekend.

Behind them, Menzies showed his customary speed, confirming that a familiar three-way championship battle was taking shape. One of the stories to emerge from Prescott was Alex Summers, who, in an 1100cc machine, managed to take the fight to the bigger cars, taking home a brilliant seven points from two runs.

Craigantlet: Records Fall as Ryder Takes Control

If Prescott provided intrigue, Craigantlet provided history.

On the demanding Northern Irish road course, Menzies, Hall and Ryder all dipped beneath the long-standing hill record. Ryder ultimately emerged with a perfect double victory, becoming the first driver to break the 39-second barrier before lowering the benchmark again later in the day.

Hall finished second in both run-offs by microscopic margins, while Menzies completed a brace of podiums. The performances cemented the leading trio’s status and handed Ryder an early championship advantage.

Elsewhere, Dean Tighe, who won the hearts of British hillclimb fans with his pilgrimage to the UK, became the first Australian in the modern era to pick up a championship point – six, to be precise, in Northern Ireland.

Harewood: Ryder Recovers, Menzies Strikes Back

The championship moved to Harewood, where the drama continued. Ryder overcame an opening setback to recover strongly, while Menzies secured his first run-off victory of the season.

Hall’s consistency again paid dividends, with two runner-up finishes allowing him to move to the top of the championship standings despite not taking a win.

Paul Haimes also announced himself as a contender with an impressive performance that hinted at stronger results to come.

Gurston Down: Ryder Closes the Gap

At one of the fastest hills in the country, Ryder returned to winning form. The reigning champion claimed both run-off victories to reduce Hall’s championship lead, while Menzies remained firmly in contention with another pair of podium finishes.

Behind the leading trio, Haimes enjoyed his strongest weekend of the year, securing fourth place in both rounds. Alex Coles also continued his impressive progress, strengthening his position in the top five of the standings.

By the end of the weekend, Hall’s advantage had been reduced to just four points.

Shelsley Walsh: Hall Produces a Moment of Magic

The latest chapter came at the sport’s most historic venue, Shelsley Walsh, where Hall delivered one of the standout performances of the season.

In front of a packed crowd, he lowered the outright hill record with a stunning 22.33-second ascent, writing his name into the venue’s history books. The achievement provided a significant boost in the championship battle and underlined the extraordinary level currently being reached by the championship’s front-runners.

Championship Picture

After eight rounds, the 2026 season has evolved into a fascinating contest between Hall, Ryder and Menzies.

Hall’s relentless consistency has kept him at the summit for much of the campaign with 96 points, but Ryder’s recent victories at Gurston Down have dramatically narrowed the gap. He now sits on 87 points, while Menzies remains close enough to capitalise on any mistake from the leading pair with 83.

Trevor Willis is enjoying a strong campaign in fourth place, with some of his favourite hills still to come. Dave Uren had a troubled start to 2026, but a second-place finish in the most recent run-off at Shelsley Walsh has lifted him back into the top five.

Paul Haimes began the season hoping simply to secure a championship number for 2027, and that ambition is looking increasingly achievable as he sits sixth, ahead of Alex Coles in seventh and former champion Alex Summers in eighth.

Avid Warburton is growing in confidence as the season progresses and would dearly love to hold on to his current ninth place, with Jonathan Varley hot on his heels in tenth.

Check-In with the BHC Cup

Over in the BHC Cup, presented by BMTR and supported by Hoosier, Richard Snow hit his stride early with a scintillating run in his Porsche GT4 RS, capturing class-winning points to put him in the overall lead.

Jonathan Varley is performing strongly on two fronts, with a top-10 overall championship position and second place in the Cup representing a strong start to his 2026 campaign.

Rapid Richard Price, in his Caterham, is always one to watch and is tied for second with Varley, sitting just five points clear of Paul Talbot and his mighty Mini 1275 GT.

The Cup is open to all competitors, with points awarded according to class results, creating an eclectic mix of machinery ranging from standard road cars to top-line single-seaters.

For Goulds, Porsches, Alfa Romeos, Van Diemens, Subarus and Hillman Imps alike, there is competition and battle throughout the results table.

Hillclimb fans still have plenty to look forward to, with trips to Scotland, the Channel Islands, Devon and Shropshire still to come. Next time out will also see the launch of the 2026 Tin Top Challenge, presented by AET Turbos, adding another exciting layer of competition in the closed-roof classes.

With outright records already tumbling at Craigantlet and Shelsley Walsh, and several run-offs decided by mere hundredths of a second, the championship is shaping up to be one of the closest and most compelling in recent memory.

As the series heads into the heart of the summer schedule, the question remains unchanged: can Hall maintain his advantage, can Ryder complete the comeback, or will Menzies launch a charge of his own?

If the opening rounds are any indication, the answer is likely to remain uncertain right up until the final few events of the season.

Will Hall stunned the hillclimbing world by setting a new outright hill record at Shelsley Walsh on the first of Sunday’s two run-offs with a time of 22.33s, the fastest climb ever recorded at the Worcestershire venue.

Later in the day, as ambient temperatures dropped, Hall did it again to complete a perfect weekend. Although the afternoon times were a little slower, his climb of 22.72s was still enough to give him a second run-off victory.

These were two incredibly popular victories for the Midlands driver. In the opening run-off he stunned everyone by bettering the outright hill record set by Sean Gould in August 2021 at 22.37s. On the newly resurfaced Shelsley hill, Hall dipped to a 22.33s to shave four hundredths of a second off this most famous and prestigious of hillclimb records.

In the opening run-off, Matthew Ryder led the chase of Hall at 22.54s as Wallace Menzies also broke the 23s mark with a 22.91s before Trevor Willis had one of his best days at Shelsley with a 23.33s to take fourth.

Later in the day, with the temperature dropping and the threat of rain in the air, Hall ran last and knew that a superb 22.98s climb by David Uren was his target. Sure enough, Hall did it all right and grabbed victory with a 22.72s. Ryder slipped to fourth behind Menzies to make the day’s result even more important for the season-long championship.

Others to feature included Paul Haimes and David Warburton and Jack Cottrill got his 2026 score off the ground with two eighth places in his Dallara. With a big crowd and tremendous competition across all the classes, this was another great day for hillclimbing at its most famous venue. It could also prove to be a very important day in the championship battle, as Hall stemmed Ryder’s run of recent successes.

On his new record, Hall said: “After qualifying on 22.8, I didn’t quite think it was going to be that. And then Matt did 22.54 in the run-off. I don’t like knowing what I’ve got to do, but I just got on and drove it.

“It wasn’t all perfect, but it wasn’t far off. There’s a little bit more I think, into Bottom Ess, but it’s being brave enough to just stay on the throttle later. I just want to keep the record to August. And then it could be another deal as more rubber goes down.

“It is very special as I’ve been coming here all my life: since I was in a push chair. So, I just wish my dad was here to see it.”