Graeme Wight Jr.

Graeme Wight Jr is a Scottish racing driver, best known for his success in hillclimbing, where he has won two British championships.

Wight Jr began competing in hillclimbs at an early age, but in September 1992, still only 21, he was badly injured in a road accident when the brakes failed on his Hillman Imp. It was feared that he might be paralysed, and he remained in hospital for more than two months, but by 1993 he was not only out of hospital, but competing in - and winning his class in - hillclimbs once again.

In 1995, Wight Jr married. Two years later, after a time in a Vision sports car, Wight Jr won the Scottish Hillclimb Championship outright driving a Pilbeam. 1998 saw his first year of competition in the British Championship, at first in the two-litre class but then in the unlimited-capacity division. In 2000, now driving a Gould, he broke the hill record at Doune by 1.49 seconds, an astonishing margin in hillclimbing and indeed the biggest improvement in an outright record in BHCC history. After finishing fourth in the Championship that year, he finally reached the top in 2001 and 2002, winning the title in both years. Wight Jr became the first driver to complete the course at Shelsley Walsh in under 25 seconds when he recorded a time of 24.85 seconds on Sunday 2 June 2002, in the presence of Sir Stirling Moss. In that same year, he became the first reigning British Hill Climb Champion to be invited to drive at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

He was runner-up to Adam Fleetwood in 2003, but after that things started to go wrong for Wight Jr. He was Fleetwood's main rival in the first part of the 2004 season, but delays in the appearance of his new car meant that he barely competed after mid-June and could manage only eighth place in the championship. Continued development problems in 2005 meant that he was never in the running in that season's championship and only rarely qualified for the run-offs. He was also absent from the 2006 championship, but still hopes to return to competition.

This new car, christened the "GWR Predator" and of an entirely new bespoke design, is the product of a huge amount of effort. The concept of the car was to employ an ex-Arrows F1 Cosworth V10 as the powerplant, using the engine's inherent light-weight and power to allow even further increases of power to weight ratio. In October 2006, however, Wight announced that the V10 engine was to be sold as he had grown frustrated of being unable to compete due to continual engine problems. He decided instead to power the car with the Ex-DTM 2.6 V6 Opel Cosworth, previously used in his Gould GR51, though in the event the V10 was used in 2007 after all.

The Predator represents a huge leap the level of technology employed at what is ostensibly an amateur sport, with its combination of its ultra light weight, innovation and all-round complexity. With Wight's return to the hills at last looking likely for 2007, many hillclimb aficionados are predicting some fascinating encounters between the powerful and race proven Goulds and Wight's lighter and possibly nimbler Predator. Ironically, the currently dominant Gould GR55 is a close descendant of the GR51 that Gould originally designed for the Wights.

Wight announced in 2007 that the car would be converted from V10 to V8 power for the 2008 season, as once again he struggled with reliability problems. However, at the very last meeting — indeed, in the very last competitive run — of the 2007 season, at Shelsley Walsh, he finished second only to Scott Moran, recording an excellent time of 23.52 seconds.

His father, also Graeme Wight and sometimes known as Graeme Wight Sr to distinguish him from his son, also competed in hillclimbs, often sharing a car with Wight Jr.

References

• Graeme Wight: Hillclimb Hero, CARkeys, 3 June 2003. Retrieved 14 September 2006.