Name: Trevor Willis
Home Town: Menith Wood, Near Shelsley Walsh
Competition Car: OMS 28 – RPE Hayabusa V8
Motorsport Background & Experience:
Trevor took his first steps in motorsport in the early nineteen nineties, competing in a mixture of Sprints & Hillclimbs . Being based in Wendover at the time, the majority of tracks he competed at were in the South East of England, including Goodwood and North Weald. Initially competing in a self-built road going Westfield, Trevor was normally found languishing at the back of his class, rather than at where he was aiming, which was of course the very front! By his own admission he was most definitely not competitive, which was predominantly down to a number of naïve decisions that he had taken during the original build. The engine wasn’t powerful enough, the car was too heavy and he had also chosen the wrong tyres. As a result, the basic handling of the Westfield was best described as poor and Trevor had to drive the car really hard to try and match his competitors.
It took a couple of years of intensive development of the Westfield before Trevor started to enjoy some success. His first class win was at the Valence hill climb in 1995 and a decision was taken to compete in the CCC Sprint & Hillclimb Championship, which Trevor subsequently won outright in both 1996 & 1997. This really lit the fuse for more competitive action. Trevor therefore decided to enter the Midland Hillclimb Championship and promptly won his class first time out in the Westfield at Loton Park! Success followed, culminating in Trevor being crowned Midland Hillclimb Champion in 1999.
BHC/BHC Cup Experience:
Trevor was now tempted to test himself against the cream of British Hillclimbing. He therefore organised a trip to see Steve Owen, the owner/founder of OMS, at their factory in Leeds, with the intention of purchasing a sports racing car. On the factory tour Trevor was impressed with the OMS 2000 single seater chassis that he saw, so he bought one of these instead! With the two litre Vauxhall engine from the Westfield installed, success came almost immediately. Multiple British Hillclimb Championship (BHC) presented by Avon Tyres, run-off qualifications were secured in Trevor’s first season in single seaters and in 2001 ‘number ten’ and his first overall BHC top ten placing. It was during this period that the track-side marshals were so impressed by the close up view of his attacking style that they christened him ‘Scary Trev’, a name that is still used by many to this day!
At the end of the 2005 season, Trevor had achieved 5th place in the BHC, won the Leaders Championship (now BHC Cup presented by Classic Car Insurance Broker Footman James) and therefore was looking for his next step. The unlimited capacity single seater route was chosen and an OMS CF06 was ordered and fitted with a V8 motorcycle engine based on two Hayabusa engines. After a period of intense development, the big breakthrough came when Trevor won his first BHC run-off in the OMS at Bouley Bay in 2007. This was backed it up a few weeks later with another win at Wiscombe Park.
Over the next few years, chassis upgrades and further developments led Trevor to his first overall BHC title in 2012. He won the BHC title again in both 2017 & 2018, which along with a massive seventy eight run-off wins places him amongst the most successful drivers in Championship history. Trevor has in fact proudly held a BHC top ten number for fifteen consecutive seasons. He has also remained loyal to the OMS brand for over twenty years, and now drives an OMS 28 fitted with a more powerful V8 motorcycle engine from builder RPE. With approaching 500 horsepower at his disposal, Trevor is hoping that the 2022 season will see him knocking on the door of an overall top three BHC finish once again.
A fact that not many people know:
Trevor has a passion for motorcycles. He currently owns a total of five, all of which are of Italian heritage.
Bouley Bay Fact:
Trevor has held the outright record at Bouley Bay since 2016. His time of 36.48 seconds will be his goal when he takes to the track on 13th July. The venue suits both the OMS and Trevor’s style and is a place where he has had considerable success. Trevor has not taken victory in a BHC run-off since Harewood in 2019. A win is therefore definitely overdue! No doubt he will be trying his very hardest to get that elusive run-off victory at Bouley Bay. As Trevor says “There are few better places to be than at Bouley Bay on a sunny day.”. Good luck ‘Scary Trev’!