On an autumnal Sunday a few weeks ago at Loton Park, Scott Moran climbed out of a top-flight hillclimb car for perhaps the final time to end his career at the top of the sport. Though this is far from retirement for the Ludlow driver, it signalled the end of an era that took him to six British Hillclimb Championship titles, and run-off victory stats that will go unbeaten for a long time.
Now 47 years old, Moran had decided that the time demands of chasing a full British championship campaign were just too much to balance with family and business commitments. There is every chance that the younger Moran, 13-year-old Ollie, will soon make his first steps in the sport, following his father and grandad Roger in extending the Moran motorsport dynasty.
“It’s been fantastic,” says Scott, reflecting on his stellar career. “Winning the championship six times is incredible. I’d love that number seven, but if I don’t do it I’m not going to worry about it.
“I’m just stepping down from chasing the British Hillclimb Championship, that’s as much as it is. The BHC is a massive commitment and I’ve done it most years for 20 years now.
“I’m not retiring,” adds Moran, who competed at Prescott last weekend alongside Roger in their Skoda Fabia R5 rally car. “I’m just stopping competing at this level.”
The Moran story goes back to the young Roger competing as a 19-year-old in road rallies in the early 1970s. He progressed through rallying and eventually into hillclimbing, and it was there that Scott first started to compete. Scott ran an ex-Simon Durling Delta racing car for a couple of years in the mid-1990s, and then shared a Caterham with his sister Marie.
Source: Autosport