Hillclimb ace Alex Summers wins Royal Automobile Club’s Simms Medal

The Royal Automobile Club has today awarded its prestigious Simms Medal to Alex Summers, creator of a ground-breaking hillclimb racing car that aims to help female drivers compete at the very top of the sport.

His P4t single seater is the result of seven years’ research, development, hard work, design excellence, blood, sweat and tears and is a tour de force in hillclimb car design and construction. It is a project that tested Alex and his family in every way but has already won acclaim from across the sport.

The prime design concept was to create a front-running single-seater that would suit female as well as male drivers, with vital input from his wife Debbie and mother Lindsay. Both are incredibly competitive hillclimbers but have struggled to find the optimum driving position in state-of-the-art single seaters.

“It’s very different to other cars in being low to the ground so that smaller women, in particular, sit lower to the floor, without any extra foam or padding, and so still enjoy a commanding view of the hillclimb course,” said Summers.

“Ergonomically, if you’re smaller, you’re disadvantaged because you end up sitting too high – you’re too close to the steering wheel and then the pedals are too far away”.

“It’s a car for the women in my life to drive, and I am very keen to promote the idea of more female participation in motor sport.” Indeed, mum Lindsay was closely involved in the concept and build and developed remarkable skills in composite laminating. In every sense, this was a family project and without the support, talent, determination and hard graft of his parents Richard and Lindsay and wife Debbie, Alex would never have made it work.

The P4t made its debut in March this year at Loton Park and by the end of the season Alex had joined a very select group of gifted engineers and drivers to score points in the British Hillclimb Championship in a car of their own design and build.

The ultra-low and sleek car was built from scratch around a DJ Racecars 2.5-litre Cosworth engine. The project was a true labour of love and took an enormous commitment of time, energy and emotion. There were times when Alex was reduced to tears: notably when the rare and valuable engine started up and ran in the chassis for the first time. Any small error or tiny piece of swarf left in the system could have wrecked a hard to replace engine.

As well as being a gifted engineer, Summers is a very accomplished and talented driver. He won the British Hillclimb Championship in 2015 and battled Wallace Menzies all the way to end of the 2022 season. He has competed in a wide variety of hillclimb cars and has also raced. He started at age just 16 in a Formula Ford 1600, keeping alive a family love of the sport that stretches back generations. His great-great grandfather Dick Summers was a regular competitor at Shelsley Walsh in the 1920s in a Vauxhall 30/98, and Alex’s parents have been successful in both vintage and modern hillclimb cars for many years.

Alex Summers works as a development test driver for manufacturers such as Aston Martin and McMurtry Automotive. He has been involved with the McMurtry Spéirling electric supercar winner of the Simms Medal in 2022, working closely with ex-F1 driver Max Chilton of McMurtry to perfect its astonishing roadholding.

When he finished fifth in the final British Hillclimb Championship run-off at Loton Park in September, he returned to the paddock to a spontaneous round of applause from his rivals. It was a moment that made seven years of effort worthwhile. While there are currently no plans to produce more P4ts, Summers hopes his project will inspire more hillclimb competitors of both sexes.

Named in honour of one of the Club’s founder members, Frederick Simms, the Medal recognises ‘an outstanding contribution to motoring innovation’ by an individual or small company, one that exemplifies the ‘spirit of adventure’. Like the Club’s other major award for British engineering, the Dewar Trophy, the Simms Medal is usually awarded annually by the Technical Committee.

Ben Cussons, Chairman of the Technical Committee, said: “In the words of our citation, the Simms Medal for 2023 is awarded to Alex Summers for producing a competitive and innovative hillclimb car, at home, designed with female racers in mind.

“I think that very neatly sums up what impressed us about Alex and his lateral-thinking approach to extending the appeal and excitement of hillclimbing to a wider audience. With virtually no resources apart from his determination and help from members of his motor-sport mad family, he has built a highly competitive car, pushing design boundaries while at the same time keeping a tight focus on what makes a winning formula.

“Alex Summers and his P4t are exactly what the Simms Medal is all about: recognising adventurous spirit and innovative thinking, and everyone at the Club, and especially our Technical Committee, extends warmest congratulations to an excellent winner and what he’s achieved.”