The Chiasso-Pedrinate returns, a hillclimb that does not reward the fastest

The historic re-enactment of the Chiasso-Pedrinate will take place on 19 and 20 September. It is the twelfth edition and coincides with the ninetieth anniversary of the organising Moto Club Generoso. The course is the original one: 2.7 kilometres from Chiasso, at 230 metres, up to Pedrinate, at 424 metres. Entries close on 15 August.

The format is not that of a hillclimb race. It is a regularity event: riders are set an average of 40 kilometres an hour, and the winner is whoever comes closest to it across the two official timed runs. Arriving first does not count; arriving at the right moment does. It is the format that allows motorcycles built as much as ninety years ago to run without exposing them to the stresses or the risks of a speed event, and it is what separates a re-enactment from a competition.

The categories

Vintage and classic machines built up to 1990 are eligible, divided into four categories plus sidecars: Veteran for machines predating 1951, Classic from 1951 to 1969, Post-Classic from 1970 to 1984 and Open from 1985 to 1990. The split follows the conventions of the international federation for historic motorcycling and serves to match machines of comparable technology and performance.

The programme runs over two days. Saturday is given over to scrutineering, a reconnaissance of the course and a welcome dinner with entertainment. Sunday brings practice runs, the two official timed ascents and the prize-giving. Information and entries go through the club's website.

The Chiasso-Pedrinate climb belongs to the era when hillclimbs were a widespread discipline across Italian-speaking Switzerland and northern Italy, on roads closed to traffic for the occasion. Little of that racing calendar survives. The re-enactment format, with its imposed average and a stopwatch measuring consistency rather than speed, is now the usual way of keeping those courses alive.