The course runs 1,000 yards (914 m) — a distance standardised in 1907 from the original 992 yards used in 1905 — and rises 328 feet (100 m) over that length, for an average gradient of approximately 1 in 9, with the steepest section reaching 1 in 6.24 (16%). The course is notably narrow, at points no more than 12 feet (3.66 m) wide. This combination of gradient and constriction rewards raw power and precision, creating an event where the gap in times between the most potent cars and the rest is greater than at many other hillclimb venues.
The inaugural event on 12 August 1905 was won by Ernest Instone in a 35 hp Daimler, who set the hill record with a time of 77.6 seconds, equivalent to an average speed of 26.15 mph. In the early years, hillclimbs were not purely speed events: performances were rated by a formula combining time, horsepower, and total weight. Cars of 20 hp or more were required to be four-seaters carrying passengers and full touring equipment. Drivers' times were not even announced to spectators.
From 1913, restrictions on competing cars were dropped and specialised racing machinery became eligible. Times fell immediately: Joseph Higginson's Vauxhall 30-98 recorded 55.2 seconds in June 1913, more than eight seconds faster than the previous best. The First World War halted competition until July 1920, and during the 1920s emphasis moved firmly from the formula system toward earning the fastest time of the day (FTD).
Count Zborowski, of Chitty Bang Bang fame, drove a Sunbeam at the 1921 meeting. Raymond Mays made his first appearance the same year, beginning a long association with the hill. Basil Davenport emerged as Shelsley's first genuine "superstar," breaking the hill record four times between 1926 and 1928 in his GN "Spider." From 1926 the MAC began holding two meetings per year, one closed to club members and one open to all comers.
The 1930s were the event's golden era. The 1930 Open meeting counted towards the inaugural European Hill Climbing Championship, bringing international competitors including Hans Stuck in an Austro Daimler and Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes SSK. Stuck lowered the record significantly to 42.8 seconds.
Mays dominated the middle of the decade, setting successive records. He became the first driver to break 40 seconds when he recorded 39.8 seconds in a 1.5-litre ERA at the May 1935 meeting, later improving to 39.6 in his 2-litre ERA. Stuck returned in 1936 in a 16-cylinder Auto Union but was hampered by wet conditions and could not match his earlier time. New timing apparatus accurate to one-hundredth of a second was installed for the September 1936 meeting. At the last pre-war event, in June 1939, Mays set a record of 37.37 seconds in his ERA R4D.
The 1930s also saw the introduction of BBC live radio broadcasts at Open meetings, beginning in 1932, bringing Shelsley Walsh to a national audience.
Hillclimbing resumed at Shelsley Walsh in 1947. Stirling Moss had attempted to enter his first competition event there that year but found the entry list full; he returned to win in 1948. Several Formula One drivers competed regularly at Shelsley during the 1950s, among them Ken Wharton, a four-time British Hill Climb Championship winner who broke the hill record on four occasions, and Tony Marsh.
The first sub-30-second climb was recorded by David Hepworth in 1971 in his four-wheel-drive Hepworth FF. The outright record was broken numerous times in subsequent decades, most prolifically by Alister Douglas-Osborn, who claimed it eight times between 1976 and 1983. Richard Brown brought it to 25.34 seconds in 1992. After a long plateau, Graeme Wight Jr became the first to break 25 seconds in 2002, recording 24.85 seconds and collecting a prize that had stood unclaimed.
Martin Groves, three-time reigning champion, set two records in 2008, eventually reaching 22.58 seconds. In August 2021 Sean Gould lowered the outright mark to 22.37 seconds. The June 2026 British Hillclimb Championship round saw Will Hall reduce the record further to 22.33 seconds.
The land on which the course runs belongs not to the MAC but to a private landowner under a lease first signed in 1905 for 99 years. As 2004 approached, the MAC launched the Shelsley Trust fundraising campaign to secure a further 99-year lease. The target of over one million pounds was achieved and the new lease signed in 2005, the event's centenary year, ensuring the future of the oldest continuously active motorsport venue in the world.
In June 2021 a memorial plaque to Stirling Moss was unveiled at the circuit, attended by Motor Sport editor Joe Dunn, Moss's biographer Philip Porter, and Moss's personal Jaguar XK120.