Midlands motor racing event in jeopardy is saved by Shropshire businessman

Racing fan Graham Wynn, who is chairman of the TTC Group, responsible for educating drivers as part of the National Driver Retraining Scheme, is sponsoring the Midlands Hill Climb Championship half way through the racing season.

Graham and his wife Jenny, who is MD of the Telford based TTC Group, are both supporters of the sport.

“This is the difference between surviving and not surviving,” said championship co-ordinator Tony Fletcher.

“We can’t really run without sponsors. We were running out of time and we were going to lose money.”

TTC Group sponsorship deal will include paying for 40 trophies and 100 pieces of cut glass prizes for the end of season annual awards dinner.

The re-named TTC Group Midlands Hill Championship has 129 annual entrants, some from as far afield as Scotland, who compete in 11 races at thee Midlands venues at Shelsey Walsh in Worcester, Loton Park, Shrewsbury and at Cheltenham’s Prescott track, home of Bugatti owners club.

“Mr Wynn, who races a lightweight Force LM001 sports racer built from scratch by Ian Dayson of Force Racing Cars, a leading UK constructor of sprint and hill climb cars, said: “When we realised the championship was in jeopardy we had to do something to ensure it could continue. Hill climbing is a growing motor sport across the UK and it is good that there are three excellent venues in the Midlands area.”

The sport of hill climbing has been recently endorsed by Formula 1 motor racing champion David Coulthard who said he was impressed by the professional driving standards especially on the track’s sharp bends during a visit to Shelsey Walsh in May this year.

Responsible for educating 200,000 motorists and motorcyclists each year, the TTC Group is a long established organisation which runs education courses for drivers and motorcyclists instead of them being fined for minor motoring offences. They also run courses across the UK for drink drive offenders.

Mr Wynn, who received the OBE for services to road safety, regularly swaps the training room for the track where he enjoys racing at UK hill climb tracks during a break from work and has won a number of trophies since taking up the sport three years ago.

“The racetrack is a place where motor enthusiasts like myself can safely practice our driving skills. But driving fast is only for the racetrack and not the public road.

“On our driver retraining programmes we do give motorists the skills to stay safe on the roads to reduce road crashes in the UK,” said Graham, who regularly gives talks on road safety.

For more information about driver safety courses visit www.ttc-uk.com.