The Grand Ascent Hill Climb was held June 12-13, 2015 on the roads leading to the historic Hotel Hershey in Pennsylvania. Staged in conjunction with The Elegance at Hershey Concours, the two-day Grand Ascent, a revival of the famed Hershey Hill Climb, featured more than 40 vintage cars racing against the clock.
The Grand Ascent at Hershey is a VSCCA-sanctioned hill climb exhibition in the European tradition, where drivers piloted race cars up the historic back road to the Hotel Hershey. Modeled on similar events such as England’s Goodwood Festival of Speed and paying homage to long standing events such as Mount Equinox, the Grand Ascent relived the excitement of race cars storming up hill to test the mettle of the driver and the machine. The Grand Ascent is a challenging hill climb. The narrow roadway is shaded with a canopy of mature trees that render the course almost tunnel-like. It is a very technical course narrow in width, rising 200 feet in a mere 0.7 of a mile with demanding twists and turns throughout its length.
Notable and interesting entrants in the Grand Ascent at Hershey included a 1934 Maserati 8C 3000; 1936 Bear Special Indy Champ Car; 1937 Dreyer ‘Big Car’; 1941 Oldsmobile Special; 1953 Aston Martin DB2/4; 1959 Abarth Zagato 750 Double Bubble and the ex-Bob Tullius Group 44 Triumph TR4 driven by Wayne Carini.
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Similar to The Elegance at Hershey, photographer Matthew Little also documented the Grand Ascent Hill Climb at Hershey 2015 with the following pictures capturing the historic race cars challenging the hill climb. We split up Matthew’s images into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs.
The Grand Ascent Hill Climb at Hershey 2015 – Featured Photo Gallery
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The Grand Ascent Hill Climb at Hershey 2015 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Two
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The Grand Ascent Hill Climb at Hershey 2015 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Three
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The Grand Ascent Hill Climb at Hershey 2015 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Four
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The Grand Ascent Hill Climb at Hershey 2015 – Main Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)
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The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
[Source: Elegance at Hershey; photos: Matthew Little]
Wonderful pics. I raced a Lotus Super 7. Wish I had it now!
I might suggest that the GP Bugatti shown is a 16 cylinder T-45, not a T-35. I built this car from pieces and am pleased to see it still competing.
I totally agree with Mr. Leydon, and I didn’t have anything to do with building the car, but I am pretty observant.