Name: Damien Bradley
Home Town: Purley, Surrey
Competition Car: Subaru Legacy 2.3 Turbo
The Subaru started life as a “little old ladies” run-around in South London. Damien bought the Legacy for £500 as a 96 horsepower, automatic GL model some fourteen years ago, and embarked on turning it into something a little faster! The car now boasts over 700 horsepower and is one of the fastest and most spectacular cars competing in British Hillclimbing.
Motorsport History
Damien first started competing in the Time Attack discipline back in 2013 where he competed successfully until 2020.
Damien’s introduction to the sport of hillclimbing came via fellow top saloon car driver Steven Darley, who convinced him that he would enjoy both the thrill and camaraderie of the sport. His first competitive hillclimb event was quite recently in 2019 when he took part in a “Clubbie” meeting at Harewood. He was hooked and was set to embark on his first season competing at National level in 2020 until the pandemic stopped us all in our tracks.
2021 saw Damien entered in both the British Hillclimb Championship presented by Avon Tyres and BHC Cup presented by Footman James. Competing across the country he took his stunning Subaru Legacy to an overall win of Class C(iii) and 14th equal overall in the BHC Cup. He also qualified to compete in the FIA Masters which was one of his goals for the season. A highlight of his 2021 season was qualifying for the top 12 run-off at Harewood at the beginning in July. Although he finished 11th getting in amongst the top single-seaters was a massive achievement.
Damien also circuit races a BMW E36/46 with his brothers in the BMW Car Club Championship. He has had some success in recent years, finishing 2nd in his class. Hillclimbing the Subaru however is his main focus and passion.
Masters Experience
This will be Damien’s first competitive visit to an FIA Hillclimb Masters event. The car has been there before though, being driven in Gubbio (Italy) in 2018 by best mate and mentor Steven Darley.
Damien is looking forward to Braga and being part of Team GB, the camaraderie, the ambience and taking part in the driver’s parade.
Non-motorsport fact
Damien trained to take part in the Iron Man of Wales in 2021, which was unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. He only learnt to swim three years ago! After dropping the Subaru off to be transported to Braga on Sunday 3rd October, Damien took part virtually in the London Marathon!!
Braga Fact
Watch out for the Subaru in Braga where it will appear in a fantastic new livery featuring Avon Tyres. Avon have worked closely with Damien during the 2021 season to develop a new tyre specifically for use by saloon and sports cars.
