Chlorite group
The chlorites are a group of phyllosilicate minerals. Chlorites can be described by the following four endmembers based on their chemistry via substitution of the following four elements in the silicate lattice. In addition, zinc and calcium species are known; the great range in composition results in considerable variation in physical, X-ray properties. The range of chemical composition allows chlorite group minerals to exist over a wide range of temperature and pressure conditions. For this reason chlorite minerals are ubiquitous minerals within low and medium temperature metamorphic rocks, some igneous rocks, hydrothermal rocks and buried sediments; the name chlorite is in reference to its color. They do not contain the element chlorine named from the same Greek root; the typical general formula is: 34O102 · 36. This formula emphasizes the structure of the group. Chlorites have a 2:1 sandwich structure, this is referred to as a talc layer. Unlike other 2:1 clay minerals, a chlorite's interlayer space is composed of 6.
This 6 unit is more referred to as the brucite-like layer, due to its closer resemblance to the mineral brucite. Therefore, chlorite's structure appears as follows: -t-o-t-brucite-t-o-t-brucite... That's why they are called 2:1:1 minerals. An older classification divided the chlorites into two subgroups: the orthochlorites and leptochlorites; the terms are used and the ortho prefix is somewhat misleading as the chlorite crystal system is monoclinic and not orthorhombic. Chlorite is found in igneous rocks as an alteration product of mafic minerals such as pyroxene and biotite. In this environment chlorite may be a retrograde metamorphic alteration mineral of existing ferromagnesian minerals, or it may be present as a metasomatism product via addition of Fe, Mg, or other compounds into the rock mass. Chlorite is a common mineral associated with hydrothermal ore deposits and occurs with epidote, sericite and sulfide minerals. Chlorite is a common metamorphic mineral indicative of low-grade metamorphism.
It is the diagnostic species of the zeolite facies and of lower greenschist facies. It occurs in the quartz, sericite, garnet assemblage of pelitic schist. Within ultramafic rocks, metamorphism can produce predominantly clinochlore chlorite in association with talc. Experiments indicate that chlorite can be stable in peridotite of the Earth's mantle above the ocean lithosphere carried down by subduction, chlorite may be present in the mantle volume from which island arc magmas are generated. Chlorite occurs in a variety of locations and forms. For example, chlorite is found in certain parts of Wales in mineral schists. Chlorite is found in large boulders scattered on the ground surface on Ring Mountain in Marin County, California. Clinoclore and chamosite are the most common varieties. Several other sub-varieties have been described. A massive compact variety of clinochlore used as a decorative carving stone is referred to by the trade name seraphinite, it occurs in the Korshunovskoye iron skarn deposit in the Irkutsk Oblast of Eastern Siberia.
Chlorite is so soft. The powder generated by scratching is green, it feels oily. The plates are not elastic like mica. Talc feels soapy between fingers; the powder generated by scratching is white. Mica plates are elastic. Various types of chlorite stone have been used as raw material for carving into sculptures and vessels since prehistoric times. List of minerals Thuringite Hurlbut CS, Klein C. Manual of Mineralogy. New York: Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0471805807. Grove TL, Chatterjee N, Parman SW, et al.. "The influence of H2O on mantle wedge melting". Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 249: 74–89. Bibcode:2006E&PSL.249...74G. Doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.06.043. "The Mineral Chlorite". Amethyst Galleries. 1996. Archived from the original on 25 Nov 2004. Retrieved 22 Mar 2019. "Chlorite Group: Mineral information and localities". Mindat.org. Retrieved 22 Mar 2019. "Chlorite". Maricopa.edu. Archived from the original on 12 Nov 2014. Retrieved 22 Mar 2019.]
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. It is bounded by the Rhine valley to the south, its highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres. The region is oblong in shape with a length of 160 km and breadth of up to 50 km; the Black Forest stretches from the High Rhine in the south to the Kraichgau in the north. In the west it is bounded by the Upper Rhine Plain; the Black Forest is the highest part of the South German Scarplands and much of it is densely wooded, a fragment of the Hercynian Forest of Antiquity. It lies upon rocks of the crystalline basement and Bunter Sandstone, its natural boundary with the surrounding landscapes is formed by the emergence of muschelkalk, absent from the Black Forest bedrock. Thanks to the fertility of the soil, dependent on the underlying rock, this line is both a vegetation boundary as well as the border between the Altsiedelland and the Black Forest, not permanently settled until the High Middle Ages.
From north to south the Black Forest extends for over 160 km, attaining a width of up to 50 kilometres in the south, up to 30 kilometres in the north. Tectonically the range forms a lifted fault block, which rises prominently in the west from the Upper Rhine Plain, whilst seen from the east it has the appearance of a forested plateau; the natural regions of the Black Forest are separated by various features: Geomorphologically, the main division is between the gentle eastern slopes with their rounded hills and broad plateaux and the incised, steeply falling terrain in the west that drops into the Upper Rhine Graben. It is here, in the west, where the highest mountains and the greatest local differences in height are found; the valleys are narrow and ravine-like. The summits are rounded and there are the remnants of plateaux and arête-like landforms. Geologically the clearest division is between east and west. Large areas of the eastern Black Forest, the lowest layer of the South German Scarplands composed of Bunter Sandstone, are covered by endless coniferous forest with their island clearings.
The exposed basement in the west, predominantly made up of metamorphic rocks and granites, despite its rugged topography, easier to settle and appears much more open and inviting today with its varied meadow valleys. The most common way of dividing the regions of the Black Forest is, from north to south; until the 1930s, the Black Forest was divided into the Northern and Southern Black Forest, the boundary being the line of the Kinzig valley. The Black Forest was divided into the forested Northern Black Forest, the lower, central section, predominantly used for agriculture in the valleys, was the Central Black Forest and the much higher Southern Black Forest with its distinctive highland economy and ice age glacial relief; the term High Black Forest referred to the highest areas of the South and southern Central Black Forest. The boundaries drawn were, quite varied. In 1931, Robert Gradmann called the Central Black Forest the catchment area of the Kinzig and in the west the section up to the lower Elz and Kinzig tributary of the Gutach.
A pragmatic division, oriented not just on natural and cultural regions, uses the most important transverse valleys. Based on that, the Central Black Forest is bounded by the Kinzig in the north and the line from Dreisam to Gutach in the south, corresponding to the Bonndorf Graben zone and the course of the present day B 31. In 1959, Rudolf Metz combined the earlier divisions and proposed a modified tripartite division himself, which combined natural and cultural regional approaches and was used, his Central Black Forest is bounded in the north by the watershed between the Acher and Rench and subsequently between the Murg and Kinzig or Forbach and Kinzig, in the south by the Bonndorf Graben zone, which restricts the Black Forest in the east as does the Freudenstadt Graben further north by its transition into the Northern Black Forest. The Handbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany published by the Federal Office of Regional Geography since the early 1950s names the Black Forest as one of six tertiary level major landscape regions within the secondary level region of the South German Scarplands and, at the same time, one of nine new major landscape unit groups.
It is divided into six so-called major units. This division was refined and modified in several, successor publications up to 1967, each covering individual sections of the map; the mountain range was divided into three regions. The northern boundary of the Central Black Forest in this classification runs south of the Rench Valley and the Kniebis to near Freudenstadt, its southern boundary varied with each edition. In 1998 the Baden-Württemberg State Department for Environmental Protection published a reworked Natural Region Division of Baden-Württemberg, it is restricted to the level of the natural regional major units and has been used since for the state's administration of nature conservation: The Black Forest Foothills (Schwarzwald-Rand
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. Foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering, but instead is in planes perpendicular to the direction of metamorphic compression; the foliation in slate is called "slaty cleavage". It is caused by strong compression causing fine grained clay flakes to regrow in planes perpendicular to the compression; when expertly "cut" by striking parallel to the foliation, with a specialized tool in the quarry, many slates will display a property called fissility, forming smooth flat sheets of stone which have long been used for roofing, floor tiles, other purposes. Slate is grey in color when seen, en masse, covering roofs. However, slate occurs in a variety of colors from a single locality. Slate is not to schist; the word "slate" is used for certain types of object made from slate rock.
It may mean a writing slate. They were traditionally a small, smooth piece of the rock framed in wood, used with chalk as a notepad or noticeboard, for recording charges in pubs and inns; the phrases "clean slate" and "blank slate" come from this usage. Before the mid-19th century, the terms slate and schist were not distinguished. In the context of underground coal mining in the United States, the term slate was used to refer to shale well into the 20th century. For example, roof slate referred to shale above a coal seam, draw slate referred to shale that fell from the mine roof as the coal was removed. Slate is composed of the minerals quartz and muscovite or illite along with biotite, chlorite and pyrite and, less apatite, kaolinite, tourmaline, or zircon as well as feldspar; as in the purple slates of North Wales, ferrous reduction spheres form around iron nuclei, leaving a light green spotted texture. These spheres are sometimes deformed by a subsequent applied stress field to ovoids, which appear as ellipses when viewed on a cleavage plane of the specimen.
Slate can be made into roofing slates, a type of roof shingle, or more a type of roof tile, which are installed by a slater. Slate has two lines of breakability – cleavage and grain – which make it possible to split the stone into thin sheets; when broken, slate retains a natural appearance while remaining flat and easy to stack. A "slate boom" occurred in Europe from the 1870s until the first world war, allowed by the use of the steam engine in manufacturing slate tiles and improvements in road and waterway transportation systems. Slate is suitable as a roofing material as it has an low water absorption index of less than 0.4%, making the material waterproof. In fact, this natural slate, which requires only minimal processing, has the lowest embodied energy of all roofing materials. Natural slate is used by building professionals as a result of its durability. Slate is durable and can last several hundred years with little or no maintenance, its low water absorption makes it resistant to frost damage and breakage due to freezing.
Natural slate is fire resistant and energy efficient. Slate roof tiles are fixed either with nails, or with hooks as is common with Spanish slate. In the UK, fixing is with double nails onto timber battens or nailed directly onto timber sarking boards. Nails were traditionally of copper, although there are modern alloy and stainless steel alternatives. Both these methods, if used properly, provide a long-lasting weathertight roof with a lifespan of around 80–100 years; some mainland European slate suppliers suggest that using hook fixing means that: Areas of weakness on the tile are fewer since no holes have to be drilled Roofing features such as valleys and domes are easier to create since narrow tiles can be used Hook fixing is suitable in regions subject to severe weather conditions, since there is greater resistance to wind uplift, as the lower edge of the slate is secured. The metal hooks are, however and may be unsuitable for historic properties. Slate tiles are used for interior and exterior flooring, stairs and wall cladding.
Tiles are grouted along the edges. Chemical sealants are used on tiles to improve durability and appearance, increase stain resistance, reduce efflorescence, increase or reduce surface smoothness. Tiles are sold gauged, meaning that the back surface is ground for ease of installation. Slate flooring can be slippery. Slate tiles were used in 19th century UK building construction and in slate quarrying areas such as Blaenau Ffestiniog and Bethesda, Wales there are still many buildings wholly constructed of slate. Slates can be set into walls to provide a rudimentary damp-proof membrane. Small offcuts are used as shims to level floor joists. In areas where slate is plentiful it is used in pieces of various sizes for building walls and hedges, sometimes combined with other kinds of stone. In modern homes slate is used as table coasters; because it is a good electrical insulator and fireproof, it was used to construct early-20th-century electric switchboards and relay controls for large electric motors.
Fine slate can be used as a whe
Greenschist
Greenschists are metamorphic rocks that formed under the lowest temperatures and pressures produced by regional metamorphism 300–450 °C and 2–10 kilobars. Greenschists have an abundance of green minerals such as chlorite and epidote, platy minerals such as muscovite and platy serpentine; the platiness have schistosity. Other common minerals include quartz, talc, carbonate minerals and amphibole. Greenschist is a general field petrologic term for altered mafic volcanic rock. In Europe, the term prasinite is sometimes used. A greenstone is sometimes a greenschist but can be rock types without any schistosity metabasalt; the green is due to abundant green chlorite and epidote minerals that dominate the rock. However, basalts may remain quite black if primary pyroxene does not revert to chlorite or actinolite. To qualify for the name a rock must exhibit schistosity or some foliation or layering; the rock is derived from basalt, gabbro or similar rocks containing sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar, chlorite and quartz.
Greenschist, as a rock type, is defined by the presence of the minerals chlorite and actinolite and may contain albite or epidote. Greenschist has a lepidoblastic, nematoblastic or schistose texture defined by chlorite and actinolite. Greenschists have some foliation resulting in mineral alignment of chlorite and actinolite. Grain size is coarse, due to the mineral assemblage. Chlorite and to a lesser extent actinolite exhibit small, flat or acicular crystal habits. Greenschist facies is determined by the particular temperature and pressure conditions required to metamorphose basalt to form the typical greenschist facies minerals chlorite and albite. Greenschist facies results from moderate pressure metamorphism. Metamorphic conditions which create typical greenschist facies assemblages are called the Barrovian Facies Sequence, the lower-pressure Abukuma Facies Series. Temperatures of 400 to 500 °C and depths of about 8 to 50 kilometres are the typical envelope of greenschist facies rocks; the equilibrium mineral assemblage of rocks subjected to greenschist facies conditions depends on primary rock composition.
Basalt: chlorite + actinolite + albite +/- epidote Ultramafic: chlorite + serpentine +/- talc +/- tremolite +/- diopside +/- brucite Pelites: quartz +/- albite +/- k-feldspar +/- chlorite, garnet, pyrophyllite +/- graphite Calc-silicates: calcite +/- dolomite +/- quartz +/- micas, wollastonite, etc. In greater detail the greenschist facies is subdivided into subgreenschist and upper greenschist. Lower temperatures are transitional with and overlap the prehnite-pumpellyite facies and higher temperatures overlap with and include sub-amphibolite facies. If burial continues along Barrovian Sequence metamorphic trajectories, greenschist facies gives rise to amphibolite facies assemblages, dominated by amphibole and to granulite facies. Lower pressure contact metamorphism produces albite-epidote hornfels while higher pressures at great depth produces eclogite. Oceanic basalts in the vicinity of mid-ocean ridges exhibit sub-greenschist alteration; the greenstone belts of the various archean cratons are altered to the greenschist facies.
These ancient rocks are noted as host rocks for a variety of ore deposits in Australia and Canada. Greenschist-like rocks can be formed under blueschist facies conditions if the original rock contains enough magnesium; this explains the scarcity of blueschist preserved from before the Neoproterozoic Era 1000 Ma ago when the Earth's oceanic crust contained more magnesium than today's oceanic crust. In Minoan Crete and blueschist were used to pave streets and courtyards between 1650 and 1600 BC; these rocks were quarried in Agia Pelagia on the north coast of central Crete. Across Europe, greenschist rocks have been used to make axes. Several sites, including Great Langdale in England, have been identified. A form of chlorite schist was popular in prehistoric Native American communities for the production of axes and celts, as well as ornamental items. In the Middle Woodland period, greenschist was one of the many trade items that were part of the Hopewell culture exchange network, sometimes transported over thousands of kilometers.
During the time of the Mississippian culture, the polity of Moundville had some control over the production and distribution of greenschist. The Moundville source has been shown to be from two localities in the Hillabee Formation of central and eastern Alabama. Metamorphism List of rock types List of minerals Pounamu, another type of rock called greenstone Blatt and Robert J. Tracy. Petrology. ISBN 0-7167-2438-3. Gall, Daniel G. and Vincas P. Steponaitis, "Composition and Provenance of Greenstone Artifacts from Moundville," Southeastern Archaeology 20:99–117 ). Steponaitis, Vincas P. Prehistoric Archaeology in the Southeastern United States, 1970–1985. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 15. Pp. 363–404
Rhine
The Rhine is one of the major European rivers, which has its sources in Switzerland and flows in an northerly direction through Germany and The Netherlands to the North Sea. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps, forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein, Swiss-Austrian, Swiss-German and the Franco-German border flows through the German Rhineland and the Netherlands and empties into the North Sea; the largest city on the Rhine is Cologne, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe, at about 1,230 km, with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s; the Rhine and the Danube formed most of the northern inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days, the Rhine has been a vital and navigable waterway carrying trade and goods deep inland. Its importance as a waterway in the Holy Roman Empire is supported by the many castles and fortifications built along it. In the modern era, it has become a symbol of German nationalism.
Among the biggest and most important cities on the Rhine are Cologne, Düsseldorf, Rotterdam and Basel. The variants of the name of the Rhine in modern languages are all derived from the Gaulish name Rēnos, adapted in Roman-era geography as Greek Ῥῆνος, Latin Rhenus; the spelling with Rh- in English Rhine as well as in German Rhein and French Rhin is due to the influence of Greek orthography, while the vocalisation -i- is due to the Proto-Germanic adoption of the Gaulish name as *Rīnaz, via Old Frankish giving Old English Rín,Old High German Rīn, early Middle Dutch Rijn. The diphthong in modern German Rhein is a Central German development of the early modern period, the Alemannic name Rī retaining the older vocalism, as does Ripuarian Rhing, while Palatine has diphthongized Rhei, Rhoi. Spanish is with French in adopting the Germanic vocalism Rin-, while Italian and Portuguese retain the Latin Ren-; the Gaulish name Rēnos belongs to a class of river names built from the PIE root *rei- "to move, run" found in other names such as the Reno in Italy.
The grammatical gender of the Celtic name is masculine, the name remains masculine in German and French. The Old English river name was variously inflected as feminine; the length of the Rhine is conventionally measured in "Rhine-kilometers", a scale introduced in 1939 which runs from the Old Rhine Bridge at Constance to Hoek van Holland. The river is shortened from its natural course due to a number of canalisation projects completed in the 19th and 20th century; the "total length of the Rhine", to the inclusion of Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine is more difficult to measure objectively. Its course is conventionally divided as follows: The Rhine carries its name without distinctive accessories only from the confluence of the Rein Anteriur/Vorderrhein and Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein next to Reichenau in Tamins. Above this point is the extensive catchment of the headwaters of the Rhine, it belongs exclusively to the Swiss canton of Graubünden, ranging from Saint-Gotthard Massif in the west via one valley lying in Ticino and Italy in the south to the Flüela Pass in the east.
Traditionally, Lake Toma near the Oberalp Pass in the Gotthard region is seen as the source of the Anterior Rhine and the Rhine as a whole. The Posterior Rhine rises in the Rheinwald below the Rheinwaldhorn; the source of the river is considered north of Lai da Tuma/Tomasee on Rein Anteriur/Vorderrhein, although its southern tributary Rein da Medel is longer before its confluence with the Anterior Rhine near Disentis. The Anterior Rhine springs from Lai da Tuma/Tomasee, near the Oberalp Pass and passes the impressive Ruinaulta formed by the largest visible rock slide in the alps, the Flims Rockslide; the Posterior Rhine starts near the Rheinwaldhorn. One of its tributaries, the Reno di Lei, drains the Valle di Lei on politically Italian territory. After three main valleys separated by the two gorges and Viamala, it reaches Reichenau in Tamins; the Anterior Rhine arises from numerous source streams in the upper Surselva and flows in an easterly direction. One source is Lai da Tuma with the Rein da Tuma, indicated as source of the Rhine, flowing through it.
Into it flow tributaries from the south, some longer, some equal in length, such as the Rein da Medel, the Rein da Maighels, the Rein da Curnera. The Cadlimo Valley in the canton of Ticino is drained by the Reno di Medel, which crosses the geomorphologic Alpine main ridge from the south. All streams in the source area are sometimes captured and sent to storage reservoirs for the local hydro-electric power plants; the culminating point of the Anterior Rhine's drainage basin is the Piz Russein of the Tödi massif of the Glarus Alps at 3,613 metres above sea level. It starts with the creek Aua da Russein. In its lower course the Anterior Rhine flows through a gorge named Ruinaulta; the whole stretch of the Anterior Rhine to the Alpine Rhine confluence next to Reichen
Rallying
Rally is a form of motorsport that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. It is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points, leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages; the term "rally", as a branch of motorsport dates from the first Monte Carlo Rally of January 1911. Until the late 1920s, few if any other events used the term. Rallying itself can be traced back to the 1894 Paris–Rouen Horseless Carriage Competition, sponsored by a Paris newspaper, Le Petit Journal, which attracted considerable public interest and entries from leading manufacturers. Prizes were awarded to the vehicles by a jury based on the reports of the observers who rode in each car; this event led directly to a period of city-to-city road races in France and other European countries, which introduced many of the features found in rallies: individual start times with cars running against the clock rather than head to head.
The first of these great races was the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race of June 1895, won by Paul Koechlin in a Peugeot, despite arriving 11 hours after Émile Levassor in a Panhard et Levassor. Levassor's time for the 1,178 km course, running without a break, was 48 hours and 48 minutes, an average speed of 24 km/h. From 24 September-3 October 1895, the Automobile Club de France sponsored the longest race to date, a 1,710 km event, from Bordeaux to Agen and back; because it was held in ten stages, it can be considered the first rally. The first three places were taken by a Panhard, a Panhard, a three-wheeler De Dion-Bouton. In the Paris–Madrid race of May 1903, the Mors of Fernand Gabriel took just under five and a quarter hours for the 550 km to Bordeaux, an average of 105 km/h. Speeds had now far outstripped the safe limits of dusty highways thronged with spectators and open to other traffic and animals; the French government banned this style of event. From on, racing in Europe would be on closed circuits on long loops of public highway and in 1907, on the first purpose-built track, England's Brooklands.
Racing was going its own separate way. One of the earliest of road races, the Tour de France of 1899, was to have a long history, running 18 times as a reliability trial between 1906 and 1937, before being revived in 1951 by the Automobile Club de Nice. Italy had been running road competitions since 1895, when a reliability trial was run from Turin to Asti and back; the country's first true motor race was held in 1897 along the shore of Lake Maggiore, from Arona to Stresa and back. This led to a long tradition of road racing, including events like Sicily's Targa Florio and Giro di Sicilia, which went right round the island, both of which continued on and off until after World War II; the first Alpine event was held in 1898, the Austrian Touring Club's three-day Automobile Run through South Tyrol, which included the infamous Stelvio Pass. In Britain, the legal maximum speed of 12 mph precluded road racing, but in April and May 1900, the Automobile Club of Great Britain organised the Thousand Mile Trial, a 15-day event linking Britain's major cities, in order to promote this novel form of transport.
Seventy vehicles took part, the majority of them trade entries. They had to complete thirteen stages of route varying in length from 43 to 123 miles at average speeds of up to the legal limit of 12 mph, tackle six hillclimb or speed tests. On rest days and at lunch halts, the cars were shown to the public in exhibition halls; this was followed in 1901 by a five-day trial based in Glasgow The Scottish Automobile Club organised an annual Glasgow–London non-stop trial from 1902 to 1904 the Scottish Reliability Trial from 1905. The Motor Cycling Club allowed cars to enter its trials and runs from 1904. In 1908 the Royal Automobile Club held its 2,000 mi International Touring Car Trial, 1914 the important Light Car Trial for manufacturers of cars up to 1400 cc, to test comparative performances and improve the breed. In 1924, the exercise was repeated as the Small Car Trials. In Germany, the Herkomer Trophy was first held in 1905, again in 1906; this challenging five-day event attracted over 100 entrants to tackle its 1,000 km road section, a hillclimb and a speed trial, but sadly it was marred by poor organisation and confusing regulations.
One participant had been Prince Henry of Austria, inspired to do better, so he enlisted the aid of the Imperial Automobile Club of Germany to create the first Prinz Heinrich Fahrt in 1908. Another trial was held in 1910; these were successful, attracting top drivers and works cars from major teams – several manufacturers added "Prince Henry" models to their ranges. The first Alpine Trial was held in 1909, in Aus
Hillclimbing
Hillclimbing is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the first known hillclimb at La Turbie near Nice, France took place as long ago as 31 January 1897; the hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England is the world's oldest continuously staged motorsport event still staged on its original course, having been first run in 1905. An alternative style of hillclimbing is done with offroad motorcycles going straight up steep hills, with the victor being the motorcycle which can climb the highest, or make it to the top the fastest; the motorsport has a long tradition in the U. S. and has been popular in Austria since the 1980s. The Austrian event in Rachau focused on crowd entertainment, inspired many similar events. Hillclimbs in continental Europe are held on courses which are several kilometres long, taking advantage of the available hills and mountains including the Alps.
The most prestigious competition is the FIA European Hill Climb Championship. An Austrian venue: Gaisberg. An historic course is at Semmering. In the British Isles, the format is different from that in other parts of Europe, with courses being much shorter; the Harewood Hillclimb is mainland Great Britain's longest permanent hillclimb at 1,584 yards. The longest in the UK and Ireland is County Antrim, Northern Ireland at 1.65 miles. These short courses are more akin to uphill sprints – and always take under one minute for the fastest drivers to complete. For this reason and drivers do not cross between the British and continental European championships. Hillclimbing is relevant to motorcycle sport; the French hill climb championship, or Championnat de France de la Montagne, has been one of the most competitive of the European national series, attracting many new F2 and 2-litre sports cars during the 1970s and early 1980s. Notable champions from this period include Pierre Maublanc, Daniel Rouveyran, Hervé Bayard and Jimmy Mieusset.
The best-known Course de Côte are Mont Mont-Dore. Two German venues: Freiburg-Schauinsland, Rossfeld; the fourth International Schauinsland hillclimb at Freiburg was held on August 5, 1928: "A car made the fastest time of the day, Heusser's Bugatti putting up 74.009 km/h, the fastest motorcycle being Stegmann's DKW at 69.6 km/h." Caracciola won the over two-litre racing car class. In the Italian championship known as the Campionato Italiano Velocità Montagna, there are the longest and most challenging hillclimbs like Trento-Bondone, Coppa Bruno Carotti, Pedavena-Croce d'Aune, Monte Erice and Verzegnis-Sella Chianzutan, which are the most known. Hillclimbing in Italy became famous in the 1970s, early 1980s, between 1994 and 2000 and at the end of the 2000s in the last two periods thanks to TV services and live Internet commentaries; the most famous Italian drivers, who won a lot in Europe, are Ludovico Scarfiotti, "Noris", Domenico Scola, Mauro Nesti, Ezio Baribbi, Fabio Danti, Pasquale Irlando, Franz Tschager, Simone Faggioli and Denny Zardo Hillclimbing is a popular sport on the island of Malta.
Numerous events are organised annually by the Island Car Club. Participants are divided according to their type of vehicle into various categories ranging from single seaters to saloon cars. In Romania, the first major event was the Feleac course, in Cluj. From 1930, it was a round in the European Hill Climb Championship. A record of the Feleac was set by famous German racer Hans Stuck in 1938, driving a 600 bhp Auto Union Grand Prix car. Stuck stormed through the 7 km gravel course in 2 min 56 sec. In recent decades, the course was widened in order to be suitable for intense traffic and therefore is considered inappropriate for auto racing; the modern Romanian hillclimbing event is the Viteză în Coastă or Campionatul Național de Viteză pe Traseu Montan. There are several traditional hillclimbing race events in Portugal, its national championship growing in popularity since 2010. Falperra International Hill Climb is the most popular and famous hillclimb, being held since 1927, most of the editions as part of the European Championship.
There are several traditional hillclimbing race events in Slovakia. Some of the best known and most popular include the Pezinská Baba hillclimb race and the Dobšinský Kopec hillclimb race. One of the most well known Slovak drivers competing in local and international hillclimb events is Jozef Béreš. Béreš is very popular on social media networks thanks to the videos of him driving his legendary Audi Quattro S1 racecar. Motor racing was banned in Switzerland in the aftermath of the fatal collision between cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1955. However, this prohibition does not extend to events where drivers compete only indirectly via the clock. Events such as rallies and sla
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