TIGHE CAMS HILLCLIMB, ROUND 1, 19th & 20th Feb 2011.
The first round of the Series kicked off under very hot conditions, approx 36 degrees heat making conditions slightly uncomfortable for the 88 people that had entered this round.
The weather aside we had 8 runs over the 2 days, plus the top six shootout. One of the highlights was the record breaking runs of Terry Johns, braking the long standing record of Vern Hamilton (44.38 sec.) in the Sports 1300 class, Terry’s finished time was 44.09 sec, well done Terry keep the great driving.
The rotary hillclimb racing car of Darren Duffield the RPV01 was missing this round, Darren is taking a well earned rest this year opting to strip the RPV01 and make some more improvements during this break. Knowing Darren the improvements will make the RPV even more competitive, so keep an eye out when Darren returns in the highly modified RPV01.
It was great to see Phil Harrys running his Mazda 323 Sports Sedan. Phil’s car has a mid mounted Mazda Rotary 13B P/Port engine, this round is Phil’s 2nd Hillclimb in this car and he is still in the sorting out stage, with a lot of things planned for this car he is very keen to get it going faster.
Phil had a few issues over the weekend starting with the gear selection problems, and he found that the clutch was not traveling to the full length that was available. Phil changed the clutch pedal push rod spacers and then most of the issues were resolved. Phil’s best time was on the 2nd last run on Sunday of 51.66 sec.
John Moore in his Hijinx Buggy (12A Turbo) was running constantly over the 2 days with his best time on the 2nd last run on Sunday of 45.59 sec. John also runs this car in the Queensland Off-Road Long Course Series, he is planning to race the first round of this series in Texas Qld. On the 26th & 27th Feb we hope that he goes well in that event, go the rotarys!
The rotary hillclimb racing car (RPV02) of Warwick Hutchinson was running constantly over the 2 days with his best time on the 2nd run on Saturday of 39.89 sec. He tried to better his time on Sunday but could not get any quicker until the final run in the top six shoot-out.
There were 3 Rotary Hillclimb Racing Cars competing in this round of the series, Phil Harrys (Mazda 323 Sports Sedan 13B P/P), John Moore’s (Hijinx Buggy – 12A T) and Warwick Hutchinson’s (RPV02 13B Turbo) their best times are listed below.
The Rotary Hillclimb Racing Cars competing and their best times were –
Phil Harrys (Mazda 323 Sports Sedan 13B P/P) 51.66 – (4th in Class & 44th Outright)
John Moore (Hijinx Buggy 12A Turbo) 45.59 – (3rd in Class & 11th Outright)
Warwick Hutchinson (RPV02 13B Turbo) 39.89 – (1st in Class & 1st Outright)
Top Six Shootout Results were –
1st Warwick Hutchinson (RPV02 13B Turbo) – 39.86
2nd Simon Lake (Suzuki Escargot Mk 2 – 41.66
3rd Paul Van Wijk (BKZ07) – 42.92
4th John Boyce (Kaditcha VW) – 43.59
5th Terry Johns (Esprit Sports 1300) – 44.31
6th Michael Ciccotelli (Gladiator LC500)– 44.46
The next hillclimb event is Round 2 of the Tighe Cams series at Mt Cotton 2nd & 3rd April 2011.
Some of the photos on this entry were supplied by “Steve Johns & Russell Witt – via the MGCCQ website.
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