THE fastest accelerating racing cars in the country make their first visit of 2007 to the world's oldest racing track this weekend.

The Midland Automobile Club stages rounds 11 and 12 of the MSA British Hill Climb Championship at Shelsley Walsh and the chase for points is set to be fierce.

All of the leading contenders for the 2007 title are due to be competing.

They include reigning British Hill Climb Champion Martin Groves and the father and son duo of Roger and Scott Moran.

The Morans are currently joint-leaders of the championship after rounds nine and 10 were washed out over the Bank Holiday weekend at Gurston Down near Salisbury.

Groves made an uncharacteristic start to the campaign, failing to record any points after a mechanical failure prevented him taking his class runs in rounds one and two at Easter.

But he is now in third place and has the leading two clearly in his sights.

The new Shelsley Walsh track surface, which proved a hit with club and one-make championship competitors at the first meeting of the season, is bound to attract extra effort from the MSA Championship entrants as they aim for the top.

If the weather is kind, expect an all-out assault on the hill record of 23.75 seconds which was set by Groves in a run of enormous commitment and style at last year's meeting in August.

Also being staged is a round of the MSA Hill Climb Leaders Championship, the scoring of which is based on class wins, while a round of the Midland Hill Climb Championship will also be contested.

In addition, the meeting is also set to host rounds of the Pirelli Ferrari Hill Climb Championship with 18 entries and the Paul Matty Sports Cars Lotus Championship with 24 entries.

For fans of more historic motors, there are classes for Classic and Sports Cars built before 1972 and racing cars manufactured between 1972 and 1985.

There is also a class for Shelsley Specials, historic cars built just for the purpose of climbing the world-famous hill as quickly as possible using the most ingenious methods available at the time.

There are 21 entries in the class for racing cars over two litres from which the challengers to the hill record are most likely to come.

Practice starts at 9.30am on Saturday and racing begins at 10am on Sunday.

Shelsley Walsh is located between Martley and Stanford Bridge, around 11 miles north west of Worcester.