SIR Stirling Moss shared the spotlight with Graeme Wight junior as large crowds flocked to watch hillclimbing at Shelsley Walsh.

Moss, one of Britain's greatest racing drivers, was special guest for the day at a venue he competed at early in his career.

He signed autographs for queues of fans, drove up the hill in demonstration runs in cars he used to compete in, and presented the prizes at the end of the day.

The biggest prize of all went to flying Scotsman Wight, who shattered the hill record with a time of 24.85 seconds in his Gould V6 car -- almost half-a-second better than the time he set last year.

He also earned a £1,000 prize for becoming the first driver to break the 25-second barrier at Shelsley.

Even Moss was impressed, saying: "To take a whacking great chunk off the record like that is quite incredible."

Moss, back at the historic Teme Valley venue for the first time in over 50 years, said Shelsley brought back many happy memories for him.

The 72-year-old competed there three times in the late 1940s before embarking on a glittering Grand Prix career.

Moss said: "The first time I entered, they turned me down because they said the entry list was full -- I was only 17 at the time so they might have thought I was too young.

"I remember the beautiful countryside and it was always a good atmosphere here.

"I'd forgotten how much these cars vibrated, but the thing that struck me today is how narrow the track is and how good the surface is now.

"Coming up on a day like this is really wonderful -- there are so many enthusiasts here."

Wight's record-breaking run enabled him to win the first top 12 run-off of the day and strengthened his lead in the British Hillclimb Championship, with Inkberrow's Tim Mason second in his Gould.

But a broken differential -- sustained when Wight's father, also called Graeme, was at the wheel -- prevented any further record attempts, and Hereford's Deryk Young took the honours in the second run-off, clocking 25.56 seconds in his Dallara. Mason was third.

Several class records fell as drivers took full advantage of a resurfaced start line.

Local class winners included Martley's Mark Goodyear, who took the Super Sports Cars section in his Vision, Ian Fidoe of Worcester who won the Sports Libre Cars up to 2000cc class in his Pilbeam, Tenbury's Craig Jones who was fastest in the Modified Production Racing Sports Cars over 2000cc class in his Morgan Plus 8, and Rob May of Bliss Gate, near Bewdley, whose Lotus Super Seven won the Classic Sports Cars category.