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Hillclimb
The first motor sport events I ever attended were Hillclimbs. Sitting under large, beautiful gum trees at Collingrove on the edge of the Barossa Valley, looking down on bellowing sporting machines pass almost under my feet as they carved their way up the twisting, climbing and diving ribbon of tar hooked me for life on motor sport. This was not the intention of my parents when they took their primary school son to the events. Hillclimbs were and are great social occasions and family friendly fun.
Being at a Hillclimb is great fun; driving up the hill is even better. The excitement and adrenalin is high, but the chances of a mishap are low. You get to run one car at a time, so no-one else is going to bump you. You start from stationary at the bottom of the hill and drive as quickly as you can up to the finish line. On competition day you will have typically four or more official runs, with the single best time to count for the results
There are a wide variety of classes, for cars old and new, big and small, open wheeler or sedan, highly modified or near standard and so there is an opportunity for your car. The technical regulations for car preparation are straight forward. The car must be safe and a sound condition, with no loose objects inside. Some minor safety gear, such as a fire extinguisher is needed. If the car is road registered it does not need a roll cage or 4, 5 or 6 point safety harness that is required in the more highly specified classes.
Hillclimbs, therefore, can be contested quite cheaply, with little fuel used, wear and tear on tyres and car is low and almost any car can be made suitable quite easily. The events are a good test of your driver skill and concentration, as you start, corner and climb over a very short space of time (typically less than one minute for each run). You must concentrate hard to get everything right as the climb is too short to make up for time lost with a bad start, poor cornering line or missed gear change. But you do get more than one run to get it all right.
There are many locations in Victoria for Hillclimbs. Our club organises regular events at Mt Leura (Camperdown) but members also go to One Tree Hill (Ararat), Mt Tarrengower (Malden), Broadford, Rob Roy, Gippsland Park and Phillip Island. More experienced members travel interstate for the Australian Championship. Consider the thrill of competing at Bathurst, albeit in the opposite direction up Conrod Straight towards Skyline. This could be you! Come and try.
Keith McElroy.
