first motor sport event in wales?

does anybody know what the first motor sport (car) event in wales was? the first i'm aware of is a hillclimb at buttrills hill in barry organised by the south wales auto club in 1905. caerphilly hillclimb started in 1907. if anybody knows of anything earlier i would like to know.
thanks, john william davies.

thats a tough one - I'd suspect earlier thant that but god knows what?

Can't help on this one, but I'm sure my friend Hans Etzrodt would be interested to receive any details you may have on early Welsh hillclimbs for his list:

http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/hcw1.htm

Neither of the ones you mention are included.

thanks for the link to the hillclimb website. it says that all british local events between 1900-1904 are listed and only the major events from 1905 onwards. there aren't any welsh hill climbs mentioned in the 1900-1904 period. the barry hillclimb was in 1905 and it wasn't a major event so isn't listed. if there were no hillclimbs before 1905 what else could there have been? i know they had speed trials on the beach at porthcawl pre ww1, but they would have started later than 1905.
john william davies

Originally posted by j w davies
... caerphilly hillclimb started in 1907. if anybody knows of anything earlier i would like to know... According to Nicholson and Mason no Caerphilly hill climb took place in 1907 but the first one was held in 1906.

yes you are right, i thought it was 1907 because it says here http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/tracks/gbhc.html and here http://home.wanadoo.nl/the8wteam2/hillclim/hillclim.html . i presume you are referring to mason "uphill racers" and nicholson "sprint speed hillclimbs and speed trials in britain 1899-1925", i have neither, though i'm thinking of getting mason from amazon for £50. will be off to the british library in the next few weeks, i shall try and have a look at the nicholson book. are there any other books that have coverage of early british hillclimbs/speed trials?

Originally posted by Hans Etzrodt
According to Nicholson and Mason no Caerphilly hill climb took place in 1907 but the first one was held in 1906.
The index to my Nicholson says 1906, but the text seems to say 1907.
Mason is quite clear that it was 1907

so it was 1907 then? sept 11 1906 was a tuesday. sept 11 1907 was a wednesday.

A copy of the Nicholson book went through unsold on eBay earlier today - might be worth contacting the seller for a private deal ....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2231752698&category=48443

£50 looks reasonable for Mason, although I paid a lot less than that for one recently (on behalf of a friend) :)

Originally posted by David McKinney
The index to my Nicholson says 1906, but the text seems to say 1907.
Mason is quite clear that it was 1907 Yes, how could I have gone wrong? Thanks for your correction, David. 1907 is the correct year for the first hill climb at Caerphilly.

Originally posted by j w davies
does anybody know what the first motor sport (car) event in wales was? the first i'm aware of is a hillclimb at buttrills hill in barry organised by the south wales auto club in 1905... John,
T.R. Nicholson, in his book SPRINT on p62: Buttrill's Hill, 500 yds (Barry, Wales), date was July 8, 1905; fastest car was G.S. Seccombe (Wolseley 12 hp) in 1m22.4s. Buttrill's Hill was one of those events I had decided belonged to the many lesser events but I will add it to the list for your pleasure. I will also add the 1907, 1908 and 1910 hill climbs at Buttrill's Hill. There are still many British and Irish hill climbs I have intentionally not yet included in the list of "Hill Climb Winners 1897-1949" but I might do so one day in the far future when I am not so busy. I believe they were all considered less important by the British motoring press of that time.