My first Hillclimb

[eejay56]

After talking to Doug about hillclimbs I took my Spit to the Bible Creek Hillclimb Aug 15,16. What a blast. Bible Creek is the most difficult and dangerous of the NHA circuit so I was careful and pretty slow. The top time was about a minute faster than me. There was only one other LBC out of 40 some cars. We all got 3 runs each day. I am hooked, I'll be there next year and I'm going to try to make it to the Larrison Rock Hillclimb too. Here is video. Hillclimb

 

[dougie]

Eric -

Be care what you wish for. Here's how Don Chapman's Purple Lips Healey end up at the Larrison Hillclimb in the mid-90's.

Dougie

 

[aeronca65t]

Nice video and looks like a good course. A lot of the same cars we see on the east coast.

Yeah, gotta be careful, but they are good fun.

I ran the Hershey Vintage Hillclimb (before it was cancelled for good) and I've been to a bunch of Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association events.

~Here's One~ I went to last year.

 

[AngliaGT]

Eric,


Glad you enjoyed it.I think the first time's the most fun.
Maybe you can speed up the video,redub it,& tell everybody that
you set a new class record.
Maybe next year I'll be able to afford to run again.

- Doug

 

[AngliaGT]

Nial,

Interesting,but those are molehills you have back there.
We have mountains out here.
I noticed the new Mini - one of those crazy Ney Jersey
drivers I've been warned about?
Is that event run out of a town?Looks like it from the
pictures.

- Doug

 

[eejay56]

We got an early reminder to be careful. The first run of the day somebody totaled their VW! He was lucky there were lots of trees to hit so he only went about 50 feet down the hill instead of 300. Fortunately the driver wasn't hurt other than his pride. Doug, it's near the coast about 15 miles out of Willamina, way out in the sticks. 1 1/2 hours from Salem. 2.2 mile course with 1000 ft. climb and 19+ turns. Here's what it looks like at real speed. Fast run This is the formula car you see at the beginning and end of my video. His time was 2:17. My best was 3:04.5 The run in my video was 3:08. Nial, cool pictures. I sure wish we could get that many LBCs out for an event.

 

[aeronca65t]

Nial,

Interesting,but those are molehills you have back there.
We have mountains out here.

Haha.....hey, we work with what we have! :laugh:

Nial,
Is that event run out of a town?Looks like it from the
pictures.

It's right in the middle the city of <span style="text-decoration: line-through">Duryea</span> Reading,, PA. It's sort of amazing really. The course is right next to a very urban area, so there are tons of folks hanging out. I'm sort of surprised that they still get away with it. There is one turn with a cliff and modest guard rail that has a drop of at least 300 feet. Many of the cars are doing 100+ before that turn. Not for the faint-hearted. :shocked:

 

[pjsmetana]

Great video! I liked seeing the line up of cars you had there. Most of them looked to be Japanese, and in the way of light weight, good brakes, and modern handling, I can see why. I bet that little Honda CRX in front of you did well. I used to have one of those and I could take a recommended speed of 35mph turn at 100 easily with it, and it stopped on a dime. One of my most favorite cars I've ever owned.

 

[Twosheds]

It's called the Duryea Hillclimb but it's held in the town of Reading, PA. It's the oldest continuously run speed event in the U.S. or something. The Pagoda Hillclimb is run on the first part of the course every year, too.

I spectated in '04; I happen to be wearing the T-shirt today!

A couple years ago Rich Rock took me up the course as I sat in a lawn chair in his clapped-out van. He showed my friend and me all the apexes and turn-in points, etc. Rich runs a Vixen in PHA. He keeps it in Reading.

It's a fun event.

 

[aeronca65t]

Oh yeah, the town is called <span style="font-style: italic">Reading</span>.

I talked to Rich at the last event...since I brought my similar-looking white MGB street car.

He told me he's run the event for ages.

By the way, the flagger in your picture looks a lot like Robbie Connell (and I know he flags at that event). His Dad's a good friend of mine.

 

[AngliaGT]

Man,I miss some of the hillclimbs.I held the
record at the Lord Ellis Hillclimb in a Fiesta -
the right car at the right time.
I set the record at the Hoopa Hillclimb,that
replaced Lord Ellis,until a guy beat me out in a
Pontiac Grand Am (?).
The Black Otter Hillcimb in Billings,Montana,
reminds of the one in Reading.It's run just a couple
of blocks from downtown.I was in Billings years ago.
but forgot that the hillclimb was held there.Arrghh!

- Doug

PS - I've run Lord Ellis,Keno (Ore.),& Marys Peak (Ore).

 

[texas_bugeye]

I did the black otter trail hill climb with a cortina back in 80? The honda crv's were beating alot of cars.Dont think they run it any more. Sure was a lot of fun. As I remember a corvette ended up to deep to late on the brakes and slid off in the gravel and went down the wash behind those ranch track houses. There was enough grass and sage to feed a few cows for days stuck to the front end of it.

 

[AngliaGT]

I'm impressed that you ran a Cortina! Fun cars,but I must
admit - the newer cars are........newer,& go a lot faster.I love
it when drivers show up with British Cars!
I also think you meant Honda CRX (not CRV) - way different.
They have a corner called "TR corner",Not very inspiring for TR
Triumph drivers.

- Doug

 

[Bruce Bowker]

Can one just show up in a car or is a special racing license needed?

 

[aeronca65t]

Bruce:

Technically, the PHA requires you to have their hillclimb license.

I called about that at the Duryea event last year. I have three current wheel-to-wheel racing licenses (VRG, EMRA and NASA), a current race medical and experience at previous hillclimbs (Hershey).

The offical I spoke to said I'd have to come the day before (Friday) and go through a school they were running. I was sort of surprised by this but didn't argue. I would not have been able to come on Friday due to work. He also told me they'd have to check out my car (which had two current logbooks) and this was too complicated to do on Saturday morning.

I respect other clubs rules, so of course, I just came with my street car and spectated that day. While I was there, I ran into several guys I knew (one was an offical of the club) and they all said I could easily have run. They told me that the offical I spoke to is "cranky". One guy pointed out a fellow who showed up that day and had never run a hillclimb or race before...they let him run. Kind of annoying, but what can you do?


Anyway, the technical answer is, yes , you need a hillclimb license and *may* need to get to an event a day early for a school if you wish to run your first event. You might want to check out the ~PHA Forum~ for the most up-to-date info on this:

 

[AngliaGT]

Out here,they require that you at least run
some atocrosses,or you can prove that you have some
experiance.

- Doug

 

[TRMark]

I drove the Black Otter years ago in both my TR4 and early 50's S/R. The road became very rough, one kink on the road became known as tree root, the pavement had become almost a speed bump. We used to get some asphalt patch in a pickup and patch some of the deeper pot holes a week or so before the event. The city would not repair the road as they wanted to see it as a bicycle/walk trail. Legend has it that several TR's rolled on TR Corner. The bottom part of the road is now gone due to intersection construction. I did not help the later years of the event as I thought it should be ended. The pavement had disintegrated to the point of being dangerous.

I started going, running and helping out in the early 80's. I think those years were the most fun. Lots of old Brit and Italian steel, Mustangs, a Ford powered Healey, some very creative specials, early FF & FV and some real earth shaking Vettes, (there is more that a little bit of shattered fiberglass along the road).

I am rebuilding my old S/R, hope to attend a few NHA events next year.

 

[texas_bugeye]

There was a guy who had a corvair powered car with a VW front end yellow thing back then who was pretty darn fast.I heard it is a bike trail now.