The Bugatti Owners' Club (BOC) was founded in 1929 and for years ran events at borrowed venues, including Lewes and the Chalfont Heights Estate in Buckinghamshire. A one-off event at Joel Park, Northwood Hill, Middlesex, on 22 June 1935 was won by Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth on a Bugatti. A planned development at Dancer's End near Tring, Hertfordshire was abandoned in 1936 due to noise complaints from nearby residents. In 1937 the BOC purchased the Prescott land, finally securing a permanent home for hillclimb competition.
The first event at Prescott was staged in April 1938 on what is now the Short Course. The unofficial fastest time in April was set by I. Craig in a 4.9-litre supercharged Bugatti at 55.58 seconds. The inaugural official meeting in May 1938 saw Arthur Baron claim Fastest Time of Day in a 2,270 cc supercharged Bugatti at a new record time of 50.70 seconds. Sydney Allard set the sports car record at that same meeting, driving a V12 Lincoln-engined Allard Special. George Abecassis broke the outright record on 3 July 1938 with a time of 47.85 seconds in his supercharged 1.5-litre Alta. Raymond Mays, driving a 2-litre ERA, took the record on 30 July 1939 with a time of 46.14 seconds at an international meeting that also featured Jean-Pierre Wimille in a supercharged Bugatti.
A notable corner of the course bears the name Allard's Gap, commemorating an incident at the BOC meeting on 15 June 1947 when Sydney Allard departed through the hedge at the semicircle and landed in an adjacent field.
Stirling Moss made his hillclimb debut at Prescott on 9 May 1948, driving a Mk2 Cooper after being unable to secure a place in the entry list at Shelsley Walsh. He finished fourth of twelve in the 500 cc class. On 9 September 1951, Ken Wharton broke the track record at 43.81 seconds in a Cooper, and Tony Marsh subsequently set a record at 43.32 seconds in June 1956. The 1963 British Hill Climb Championship was effectively decided at Prescott on 15 September, when Peter Westbury clinched the title by finishing second to Peter Boshier-Jones in the championship run-off.
The Long Course at 1,128 yards (1,031 m) has been the primary competitive layout since it was extended in 1960. A Short Course of 880 yards (804.7 m) remains in use for events organised by the Vintage Sports-Car Club. The hill has approximately 30 operational days per year, ranging from full British Hill Climb Championship rounds to driver schools and club fun-run days, accommodating machinery from pre-Second World War classics to top-level British championship single-seaters. Prescott hosts the opening round of the British Hill Climb Championship season in the modern era, with a second round later in the year and a Test Day added to the calendar as a pre-season preparation event.
Prescott represents the institutional home of Bugatti Owners' Club hillclimbing in Britain, combining pre-war heritage with a living, active competition calendar. Its continuity since 1938 and its championship status have made it a standard reference point for British hillclimb history, with records associated with some of the sport's most recognisable names — from Mays and Allard in the late 1930s through Moss, Wharton, and Marsh in the postwar years to the current generation of purpose-built hillclimb machinery chasing the 34-second mark.