The name Woodside has been carved on the silverware of local motorsport for decades, but this season it was Tim’s time to shine as he conquered his first Northern Ireland Hillclimb Championship.
On his first fully focused season on the hills, the 52-year-old Dunadry driver won the championship by just five points, ahead of a tie-break for the remaining rostrum steps between the McGimpsey brothers. Ricky and Ryan hustled Tim, and each other, incredibly hard all year.
Tim’s name now joins an illustrious list of winners, among them his father, Robert, who claimed six championships in the nineties. And his brother, Simon, who won the series in 2001.
So where did Tim Woodside hone his craft, unlocking his first speed title?
“My first motorsport was auto testing, as soon as I got my driving licence,” Woodside explains. “Followed by karting for a couple of seasons. Then into a Formula Ford in Sprints and Hills, and then I went into Formula Ford racing.”
Following in the footsteps of his winning family members, who clinched their titles in a Pilbeam MP82, Tim has been driving a similar MP82 to great success in recent years. His increasing pace and flamboyant style brings nothing but a smile to all of those standing in the hedgerows of our closed public roads.
The Pilbeam used by Tim is the former championship winning car of Robert Morgan. Which, in recent years, saw an upgrade from 2.7-litre to 2.9-litre Millington Diamond engine. The engine management is kept very simple, with no luxury of launch control or traction control like that seen on almost all of the modern machinery.
The alloy honeycomb chassis, aero pack, and all other pieces of the Pilbeam puzzle are as it came from the factory in 1998. Avon crossply tyres feature all season and for the most part of it, wets were most commonly fitted.
The eight round championship was cut short to seven, with Knockagh being cancelled for yet another year. With two drop-scores considered at the end of the season, there really isn’t any room for error, never mind being caught sleeping by a hard chasing pack.
Two events in North Down got Tim’s campaign off to a good start with a win at both Croft and Craigantlet. Heading west to Spamount, Tim brought home second overall, before claiming his third win of the season at Drumhorc.
The Antrim hills hosted the next three rounds, where Tim bagged top points at day one of the Cairncastle event, but a DNF on day two due to stripping second gear meant a strong finish at Garron Point was needed. Despite finishing second on this hill, Tim took maximum championship points as the event winner wasn’t registered for the series.
“I was happy given that it’s the first time I’ve done all the rounds”, Woodside commented on his season. “and it was my first time out at Spamount, so that was a learning process. All the other hills I had done before.
“I was happy with the way everything went, with no major drama. There’s always potential for a DNF, such as at Cairncastle day 2 but the drop scores give you a buffer there.
“The championship was my focus from the beginning, and I wanted to gather up points at every event, so I was happy with the way it panned out.”
Outside of the championship, Tim set a new all-time hill-record at Cultra in 2023, and took his second win at this prestige event in 2024. Sprints also feature during Tim’s season, but his focus has been on the hills this year which paid off perfectly.
Next year, you can expect to see Tim again, as he plans to commit to the hillclimb championship and to enter as many sprints as possible. But in a car that is a few generations ahead of the Pilbeam.
Tim explains, “It’s an Ex British Championship Gould GR 55. It’s more developed and modern than the Pilbeam in that it’s carbon tubbed and with modern electronics including traction control and launch control.
It’s a 6-speed semi-automatic rather than the 4-speed manual of the Pilbeam, with a V6 engine rather than 4 cylinders and significantly more downforce. On paper it is quicker, but we expect to have to develop the set up throughout the 2025 season to suit our roads.”
From what I know, Woodside will be the first person to campaign the local series in a Gould, and although they are built for hillclimbing, the undulating country roads, with questionable surfaces and grip will be a real test for Tim and the car.
With similar weight to the Pilbeam, the Gould’s V6 racing engine, which was originally developed for the works Opel Calibra in the DTM (German Touring Car) Championship, will provide substantially more power.
Concluding, “My friend and mechanic John Harris is completely instrumental in the whole thing, putting out a reliable, safe car every time. I’ve raced with John for the best part of thirty years now and I’m always very confident in any car that John has prepared.”
“It’s as much his championship, as mine!” states Woodside about the Ballygowan man.
