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10 Jan 2009, 22:09 (Ref:2369046) | #1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rest and Be Thankful Hillclimb (1949-1970)
Your starter for ten...
Last year I visited this old hill climb and since then have been meaning to start this thread to discuss the venue. However I also have a question, where is the start? And the end? Racingcircuits.net had a map on this hillclimb, but it doesn't give exact details of the start and the finish. Can anyone nail it down with decent accuracy? A mirror is currently hosted at http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/racingcircuits/ I've also referenced Classic Motorsport Routes Richard Meadon (ISBN0749552255). Which is very good read, but lacks solid facts in its maps. The map of Rest And Be Thankful shows the location not the hill climb route. Racingcircuits.net says that the length is 0.810 mile and Classic Motorsport Routes says 1 mile (IIRC Father has borrow the book so I can't check). I believe it had two lengths during its active years. I've used 1 mile for my guess below. I also have some piccies. First a couple showing most of the climb.
Is the start on any of these (all looking up the hill climb in the direction of travel)?
What about the finish? How far out of the hairpin was it?
For my guess click here for a link to google maps. How wrong am I? Last edited by Adam43; 10 Jan 2009 at 23:05. Reason: Correcting a "no hotlinking" link |
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10 Jan 2009, 22:30 (Ref:2369062) | #2 | ||
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For reference there are a few threads where Rest and Be Thankful has been mentioned before. mainly in passing.
From the Hillclimb and Sprint forum What happens to old hillclimb venues Your favourite Hill Climb From this Motorsport History forum. Abandoned race circuits |
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10 Jan 2009, 23:25 (Ref:2369095) | #3 | ||
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Here are a couple of web notes of Rest and Be Thankful
sevenoaksmotorclub.com: Rest and Be Thakful- A Step Backwards Scotland from the Roadside (ourscotland.co.uk): Rest & be Thankful And then I came across the Friends of the Rest site. Which amongst other things included this video on youtube. Which allowed me to get the start and end point. Oh and the tunes are great! The finish is clearly not far out of the last corner at least in the year with the best shot in the video (see 49s into the video). The start is clearly and expectedly on the long straight (again at least in the year of the clearest photo in the video). Here is my refined guess, although I wonder if the start is further up the straight. Confirming the length will probably really nail it down. Last edited by Adam43; 10 Jan 2009 at 23:53. Reason: Sort out links. |
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11 Jan 2009, 11:29 (Ref:2369310) | #4 | ||
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1950 and the Rest was a meagre 1388 yards. The Finish being have way between the apex of the hairpin and the fork in the road. The Start was 50 odd yards up the course from the Paddock exit.
1951 to 1969 the Rest grew to 1425 yards; the Finish remained the same but the Start moved back to adjacent to the Paddock exit. I think that the Paddock exit is on the left next to the big rock in Picture 2283. The hill record stood at 50.09 seconds set in 1964 by Peter Boshier-Jones in his 1.3s Lotus-Climax FWB 22. I believe that there is a group trying to get the finance together to re-open the Rest. I understand that initially the course will be a lot shorter and then when additional monies become available the plan is to extend back to the full length. |
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11 Jan 2009, 14:32 (Ref:2369398) | #5 | ||
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sounds a v worthy cause - is there an appeal site or justgiving page or contact for donations?
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11 Jan 2009, 15:27 (Ref:2369418) | #6 | ||
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Somewhere in the attic I have photos (at the finish area) that I took when the "Rest" was used as a stage for the Scottish rally. I would guess that it might have been 81?
Mikkola in a Quattro, Jimmy McRae in a Manta? Stunning place to watch the cars coming through the glen and then up the climb. here's the sort of thing http://www.scottish-rallying-archives.co.uk/wood_79.htm http://www.scottish-rallying-archive.../fisher_79.htm http://www.scottish-rallying-archive.../wilson_79.htm BTW - my late father would tell me stories of when he was a boy and that was the main road from Glasgow to the west coast. In order to get the coach up that final steep bit, passengers had to get out and walk.* *NB as with any story told from father to son this may not be true. |
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11 Jan 2009, 16:02 (Ref:2369433) | #7 | ||
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it was 82 I was there - this video has a few seconds right at the end, but it really does not do the place justice
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ6lG1...e=channel_page found my photos too, off on a nostalgia trip now |
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11 Jan 2009, 16:53 (Ref:2369452) | #8 | ||
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Steve Wilkinson, thanks for the information. It was difficult to tell, but when I think you might be right about the picture 2283. It seemed significant when we were there.
Bodysnatcher, those pictures are good and shows them going down the hill! I presume the stage took in more of the road than the hill climb. Share the photos if you like I have an old postcard that shows teh final hairpin and the rest. It isn't of any action just of the view. My scanner is broken, but I'll get it scanned at work tomorrow. MGDavid. I agree a good cause. I read that the guy who owns the land is a fan too. I'd certainly like to have a go, assuming they repave it; there is no way may MG would get up there at any speed at the moment. |
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11 Jan 2009, 17:19 (Ref:2369470) | #9 | |||
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Quote:
http://www.friendsrest.freeuk.com/ Follow the above link for more details. |
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11 Jan 2009, 17:23 (Ref:2369474) | #10 | ||
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11 Jan 2009, 17:26 (Ref:2369477) | #11 | ||
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You're right Adam, i must have been mixing the rally up with other historic footage of the rest. Looking at my photos the cars are going down the climb.
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Alasdair |
11 Jan 2009, 17:32 (Ref:2369482) | #12 | ||
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It would be boring if everyone went the same way
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11 Jan 2009, 17:44 (Ref:2369493) | #13 | ||
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downhill! and close bit faded too As far as I remember the stage was the old course. Made sense really, with a "paddock" top and bottom. Last edited by Bodysnatcher; 11 Jan 2009 at 17:51. |
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11 Jan 2009, 17:50 (Ref:2369497) | #14 | ||
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A little faded, but cool!
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11 Jan 2009, 17:54 (Ref:2369499) | #15 | ||
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13 Jan 2009, 22:02 (Ref:2370931) | #16 | ||
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I like this photo (because it is no. 43), also because it jsut looks like it isn't a good line.
Whereas #54 seemed to be alright, but just messed up the power on exit (?) This one of #17 shows fencing that isn't there now. I've started this page on the site. At the moment they are in chronological order, but I plan to put it in the order of driving up he hill. http://www.adamashmore.co.uk/racing/...bethankful.htm Last edited by Adam43; 13 Jan 2009 at 22:17. Reason: sp |
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14 Jan 2009, 21:57 (Ref:2371652) | #17 | ||
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The rest and be thankful photos I've taken have been updated. Click Here
There are links to bigger versions and, I think, are in order of the the hill climb. There is a better scan of the postcard. |
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15 Jan 2009, 10:54 (Ref:2371902) | #18 | ||
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Quote:
http://flickr.com/photos/31797155@N02/page2/ Interesting to see the different approaches taken.... It was also used on the RAC from time to time- I've got a video at home of a film (think it was originally produced for Castrol?) of the 1960 RAC which features several sequences filmed there- haven't watched it for a while, but as I recall the stage start and hairpin feature fairly prominently |
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19 Jan 2009, 20:32 (Ref:2374806) | #19 | ||
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Thanks for the photos. I like this one:
The road looks patched up in this photo and those patches haven't lasted that well in the 2008 picture: Last edited by Adam43; 19 Jan 2009 at 20:35. |
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19 Jan 2009, 20:59 (Ref:2374822) | #20 | |||
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Quote:
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19 Jan 2009, 21:12 (Ref:2374828) | #21 | ||
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...or for keeping the driver cool?
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11 Feb 2009, 22:51 (Ref:2395730) | #22 | ||
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If you are at the top and look at the road surface really closely, you can see the remains of the paint marking the finish line.
Both parents were there back in the days of the hillclimb. Mum seems to remember my grandfather sharing a car with Joe Potts when she was quite small. There was an article in Motorsport a few years ago that was pretty reasonable. Don't know where the start was but I thought there was a concrete plinth for the timing equipment. I can remember watching the Scottish at the hairpin back the Eighties. Argyll Stages also used it. Wild place sometimes. Climbed the peak above it (beinn an lochann) It is something like 3 feet short of being a Munro Remember this place was a round of the British Hillclimb Championship. Last edited by Cameron Winton; 11 Feb 2009 at 23:00. |
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12 Feb 2009, 11:44 (Ref:2396048) | #23 | ||
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Quote:
Any time I saw the Rest being used as a stage, the start/finish was always close to the main road at the Arrocher end. The most impressive story is of the rally car at the start at the top with no brakes, the spectators apparently holding the car from running down the hill. The question was "how did he mke it through stone bridge"? Last edited by Adam43; 5 Mar 2009 at 21:03. Reason: tidy duplicate photo links |
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12 Feb 2009, 14:10 (Ref:2396121) | #24 | |||
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15 Feb 2009, 21:52 (Ref:2398028) | #25 | ||
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From http://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/
http://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/...adbook_web.pdf It puts the finish line just out of the last hairpin as suggested above. The start has moved over the years, but this is a good indication of the '49 start. |
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