The exciting Watergate Bay Sprint will continue its innovation of the popular closed-road event, by introducing a new category specifically for Electric Vehicles for the fifth anniversary, this 16/17 September, near Newquay in Cornwall.
The ground-breaking event was the first closed-road motorsport speed event to take place in England back in 2018 with the inaugural running of the Hillclimb from Watergate Bay itself. The weekend would then switch to a `Sprint` format in 2021, starting on the Newquay side of the B3276 at Trevelgue, tackling the 850-metre course back towards the Watergate beach resort.
Considered one of the highlights of the UK motorsport speed calendar, organisers of the prestigious event Watergate Bay Motorsport, have continued to innovate their offering and will now introduce a new class, specifically for Electrified Vehicles.
Whilst `EVs` are quickly becoming a common fixture on our roads, their use in motorsports and competition is largely lowkey outside of the global Formula E and Extreme E series.
But with most automotive manufacturers now offering a dynamic range of electric vehicles and with EV technology developing at a rapid rate, their use in competition has seen a large increase over the past few years and Watergate Bay Sprint is set to embrace their presence with a dedicated class for the 2023 event.
Dave Brenton, Deputy Event Director is delighted to be able to continue planning for this year’s event.
“We are very excited by the prospect of welcoming electric vehicles to this year’s Watergate Bay Sprint,” he says.
“There are still only a handful of events across the UK which cater for EVs but we fully recognise their place in both day-to-day transport and competition as well. Introducing a dedicated category enables those with anything from a Tesla to a Nissan Leaf the chance to compete in a Standard Cars class and enjoy the event toe-to-toe with our other competitors.”
“The introduction of electric vehicles also goes hand in hand with our Carbon contribution programme which will look at reducing the environmental impact of the event and we are working hard to finalise the project in the near future.”
Motorsport UK, the sport’s governing body is fully behind the introduction of EVs to the Sprint.
David Richards, Chair of Motorsport UK, commented: “At Motorsport UK we are very conscious of our responsibility to reduce the sport’s carbon footprint and our environmental impact and encourage all our clubs to look at ways in which we can achieve this objective. To ensure a sustainable future for the motorsport community, we need to adopt a variety of new technologies from sustainable fuels to electric vehicles and demonstrate them at our leading events. I congratulate Watergate Bay Sprint, a wonderful showcase of motorsport, for introducing electric vehicles into the 2023 event, embodying our vision and journey towards a net-zero sport.”
As in previous years, Watergate Bay Sprint will also continue to donate profits to local charities. From its inception, Watergate Bay Motorsport has ensured charities like the Cornwall Air Ambulance have benefited from over £30,000 since 2018.
For more information on Watergate Bay Sprint, please visit:
www.watergatebaymotorsport.co.uk
You can catch up with all the latest news from the event on its social media feeds
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Watergate Bay Speed Hillclimb will become the `Jewel in the Crown` of the 2019 Cornwall Motorsport Month, a dynamic initiative organised as a collaboration between Motorsport UK and Visit Cornwall.
Running for the second time on September 14/15, the closed-public road Hillclimb will see around 100 cars compete for the fastest time on the new-for-2019 course from Watergate Bay along the B3276 coast road between Padstow and Newquay.
Announced at the Media launch event at WAX Watergate Bay on Sunday (18thAugust), the Hillclimb will become the flagship event for Cornwall Motorsport Month which will see a huge range of two and four-wheel events taking place across the county during the month of September.
Jointly organised by Newquay Auto Club, Plymouth Motor Club and Truro and District Motor Club, the Hillclimb first ran in September last year as the first closed-road speed Hillclimb to take place since the passing of a Parliamentary law which enabled timed motorsport events to use closed public roads.
The ground-breaking weekend attracted a capacity entry and once again a bumper entry from all over the UK will head to the North Cornwall coast to tackle the 850-metre event, which has been extended from last years course.
It will run as one of the main events in September’s motorsport extravaganza which will house events such as off-road events, Kart meetings, Autotests, Talks and Motorcycle Trials. The initiative, backed by Ginsters, will officially launch at Cornwall Motorfest in Crantock on 31st August which will see Kwik Fit British Touring Car ace Tom Ingram attend.
Motorsport events will take place across Cornwall during September
– click to download high res version – Image Credit: John Issac
A packed month of activities will follow with everything from a charity Go-Kart event to the Cornwall Classic Tour. Another highlight will include Le Mans Comes to St Mawes, as five-times Le-Mans winner Derek Bell, and current Aston Martin factory drivers Darren Turner & Jonny Adam will be interviewed by F1 pundit Tony Jardine about their experience at Le Mans, the toughest endurance race in the world, on Monday 9th September.
The evening will also include a screening of a Le Mans film Truth in 24, the story of Audi winning Le Mans in 2008 and a display of the Aston Martin race car that took Jonny Adam to GT victory in 2017, with ticket proceeds being donated to Cornwall Air Ambulance.
Kevin Moore, coordinator of Cornwall Motorsport Month believes Watergate Bay Speed Hillclimb is the perfect way to highlight motorsport in the region.
“It’s fantastic to see the improvement and development of the event [Watergate Bay] year on year from the original ideas of the team, and on behalf of Motorsport UK I`d like to congratulate the organising team for their hard work and dedication,” he says.
“Cornwall Motorsport Month has really grown over the last few months and we have plenty of activities planned over September. We are delighted to welcome Ginsters as an official partner to the programme.”
Present at the Media Launch was Debbie Henshaw, Fundraising Coordinator for Cornwall Air Ambulance who, along with Cornwall Food Foundation, will benefit from the Hillclimb as profits will be donated to the charities once again in 2019.
“We are delighted to have reached £1.65m on the way to our target of £2.5m to secure a new Air Ambulance for Cornwall which we are hoping to be able to take delivery of in April 2020,” she says.
“On behalf of Cornwall Air Ambulance I would like to thank everyone involved in the Hillclimb, the spectators and their families who have helped raise vital funds, thank so you much”.
Discounted advanced ticket sales are now available for Watergate Bay Speed Hillclimb which includes entry to the event, paddock and display areas.
Watergate Bay Speed Hillclimb is sponsored by:
Watergate Bay Hotel, Cowling Plant Hire, Celtic Tuning, Mid Cornwall Self Storage, Penmellyn Vets, The Colourworx, Rallyprep, Hatton Energy Motorsport, Toniq, Brady Construction and WAX.
More information on the event can be found at www.watergatebayhillclimb.co.uk
More information on Cornwall Motorsport Month can be found at www.cornwallmotorsportmonth.comYou can catch up with all the latest news from the event on its social media feeds:http://www.twitter.com/watergatehill
http://www.facebook.com/watergatebayhillclimb/
Watergate Bay Speed Hillclimb would formally like to invite you to their Media Launch event which will take place at WAX, Watergate Bay in Newquay on Sunday 18th August at 11:00 am.
After a successful inaugural event last year, the hillclimb will once again see around 100 cars and competitors competing against the clock, tackling the climb from Watergate Bay towards Newquay over the weekend of 14/15 September 2019.
Organised by Newquay Auto Club, Plymouth Motor Club and Truro and District Motor Club, the event remains the only hillclimb in England to take place on closed public roads and is the flagship event in Cornwall Motorsport Month, organised in association with Motorsport UK and Visit Cornwall.
The media launch event will offer the opportunity to find out more about the Hillclimb, talk to the organisers and our supporters.
As last year, Watergate Bay Speed Hillclimb is also supporting two local charities with profits being donated to Cornwall Air Ambulance and The Cornwall Food Foundation.
If you are able to attend the launch event, please RSVP to:
Launch Coordinator and Deputy Event Director
Dave Brenton
dbrally1@sky.com
07748593005
More information on the Hillclimb can be found at www.watergatebayhillclimb.co.uk
Meeting Venue:
WAX
Watergate Bay
Nr Newquay
TR8 4AB
More information and media enquires:
Matt Cotton
Event Media Officer
Tel: 07870 216931
Email: matt@mcrmotorsportmedia.com
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
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Zacry’s restaurant , part of the stunning Watergate Bay Hotel are offering a very special Hillclimb lunch for you to enjoy over the weekend, whilst watching the cars blast off the start line from their prime positioning at the bottom of the hill.
Start with a cold Cornish beer or glass of wine, then dine on barbecue Cornish lamb served on flat bread with date molasses, pomegranate, mint yogurt, zhug, a Middle Eastern hot sauce, pickled white cabbage and rocket. Followed by raspberry and almond tarte with clotted cream.
A vegetarian option is available on request.
All for a very special price of £20, bookable in advance by following this link: