Tigh Cams Hillclimb Round 6 2017

ACE REPORTER'S REPORT OF THE FINAL ROUND OF THE 2017 CARRIC ACCOUNTING and TIGHE CAMS HILLCLIMB SERIES

Final hill climb round for 2017 on 25-26 November where three Class records were broken and the
outright positions for the series and the Top Six Shootout were decided.

REGULARITY
In the Regularity class the driver estimates their time to which they believe they can drive the circuit. They will lose points for recording times either faster or slower than their nominated time. This class can be a good introduction to grass roots motorsport and for new drivers to gain confidence. David Jackson was the leader throughout the round ending with a loss of 12 points in his Mazda RX7 ahead of Lindsay Derriman down 14 points in his Alfa Romeo Milto turbo, Andrew Willesden (VW Golf) losing 16 points, Flavio Paggiaro (loss of 18 points) in his MGB GT V8, Shaun Rankin (MGB GT, down 20 points) followed
by Chrystelle Semple (Ford Falcon, 34 points), Jason McGarry (Caterham R300, 41 points), Don Webster (MGTD, 83 points) with Steve Purdy running his Historic Austin Healey Sprite in the Regularity class to be down 125 points. Chrystelle was competing in her first hill climb event whilst Jason was running the Caterham for the first time using the day to find where the gears were in the 6 speed sequential gearbox.

SEDAN CARS
The Road Registered Sedans Cars up to 1600 ccs went to Harry Doling (Toyota Levin BZR) with a best run of 50.41 seconds whilst a new class record for the 1601 to 2000 ccs class went to Phillip Dalton (Honda Civic, 49.53) with Richard Marken next in his Peugeot 205 GTi with a best run of 56.68 seconds. Phillip put his experience at khanacross events to good effect as he lowered the class record of 49.67 set in 2015 by Liam Levin to the 49.53 second mark. Christopher Balhatchet took the over 2 litre class in his BMW 325i in a 51.33 second time with Ray Balhatchet next in his Nissan Skyline with a 55.05 run. Mark Pryor won the Circuit Excel class with a 51.48 time just 0.36 seconds from Brad Smith (51.84) with Ken McAndrew (54.29), Shane McAndrew (55.02), Euan McAndrew (56.45) 0.02 seconds ahead of Ross McAndrew (56.47) and Gloria McAndrew with a best run of 57.51 seconds.

Ferris Lee took the PRC Rally Cars class with a 51.09 time in his BMW 316ti. Sebastian Black won the All Wheel Drive Forced Induction class in a best run of 46.70 seconds in his
Subaru WRX with John Burrows (Mitsubishi Evo 5) just 0.28 seconds slower with a 46.98 then a 0.82 second gap to Rowan Pyke (Mitsubishi Evo 7, 47.80), Daryl Beattie (Ford Focus RS, 48.09), Philip Pyke (Mitsubishi Evo 6, 49.45), John Stuckey (Subaru WRX, 52.60) with Rhonda Stuckey (Subaru WRX, 53.40).

Daryl Beattie purchased his Ford Focus RS on the Tuesday before Rally Australia, drove down to Coffs Harbour caught up with friends at Michelin tyres who were servicing the WRC cars. Since retiring from the World Motorcycle Championship, where Daryl won three 500 cc Motorcycle Grand Prix, he conducts motorcycle tours to remote and spectacular areas of Australia such as Cape York and the Simpson Desert. Back to Coffs as the conversation included the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb in England. En route home using the more touring type roads Daryl past the MountainView hillclimb in Grafton. Once home a local hillclimb at Mt Cotton was located located and Daryl entered. His times commenced with a 50.88, then 49.26, 49.04, 48.26 on Saturday followed by 48.18, for a best 48.09 on Sunday.

In the Modified Production Sedan Cars up to 2000 ccs Noel Dore (VW Beetle, 53.47) took the class with Karl Reinke (Hyundai Excel, 58.22) and Joanne Reinke (Hyundai Excel, 58.96). As normal Noel placed covers over the carburetor intakes over Saturday night and forgot to take these off before his first run on Sunday morning. Naturally this did not assist his time for he did not finish his first run on Sunday morning. Both Karl and Jo recorded their best times both in the 58 second bracket which is great as the Hyundai was rescued from the wreckers being an abandoned vehicle and acquired through the auctions.

Paul Buccini claimed the over 2 litre class with a 48.33 second run in his BMW 135i ahead of Brendan Merrick (Datsun 120Y, 48.74). Grahame Rumballe claimed the Improved Production up to 1600 ccs class on his final climb with a 52.58 second run in his VW Golf from Robin Manning (Mini Clubman, 52.74) and Waco Hamlin (53.18) in his Honda Civic. Saturday evening Robin was ahead with a 53.37 to Grahame’s 55.62 second time. First run (run 5) on Sunday Robin was still ahead (53.37) with Waco next (54.78 seconds) to Grahame’s (55.62).

Run six saw Robin record his best run of the meeting with a 52.74 time whilst Waco ran a 54.75 time. The remainder of the climbs saw Waco run 53.77 to Grahame’s 54.44, then 53.40 (Waco) to 53.94 (Grahame), on the penultimate run Grahame move to second with a 53.05 to Waco’s 53.40 and on the final run Grahame recorded his 52.58 to be 0.16 seconds ahead of Robin with Waco next with his best time of 53.18 seconds.

The 1601 to 2000 ccs class went to Dave Sidery (VW Beetle 50.13) from Greg Cameron in his Hyundai Excel X3

(53.74) then Wayne Ferguson (VW Fastback, 55.16) and Ian Dalgliesh (60.920 in the VW Fastback. Dave Sidery had an intermittent fault in the throttle position sensor (TPS) on Sunday morning thus missing the first two runs. Unable to acquire a replacement unit that morning, Dave dismantled the sensor, rebuilt it and was able to compete on the last four runs on Sunday where he recorded his 50.13 time some 3.31 seconds faster than his best to that point. Ken Graham was the fastest in the over 2 litre class with a 46.09 time in the Datsun 1600 SSS from Pauline Graham 47.16 Datsun 1600 SSS before some concerns with the differential on Saturday. They were followed by Nick Tomkinson BMW 325i with a 49.22 run just ahead from Karlie Buccini in her BMW 130i with a 49.68 second time.

Sports Sedans up to 2000 ccs went to Ross Mackay with a new class record of 44.95 seconds. The record was set by Tyson Cowie in June at 45.17 seconds however taking a more neater line around the first loop instead of the flamboyant style (with both inside wheels up and a touch of opposite lock) we are accustomed to view gave Ross the win in the Mk 1 Escort. Tyson was next with a 45.87 time in his Mk 2 Escort however the selector pin in the gearbox may have broken on his final run as he had no drive out of the hairpin. Gavin Taylor was next in his Volkwagen Golf with a best run of 46.44 seconds followed by Jason Martell (Ford Escort Mk11, 51.34) and Jack Turner one of the Junior age drivers who was competing for his first hillclimb event in the Mitsubishi Mirage recording a best run of 64.59 seconds.

Times recorded by Gavin Taylor were all in the 46 second bracket and all within 0.50 second namely 46.73, 46.94, 46.57, 46.52, 46.68, 46.57, 46.60, 46.65 46.80, and 46.44 seconds. Jason Martell recorded all but two runs in the 51 seconds bracket with runs of 52.98, 51.46, 51.34, 51.58, 51.73, 51.44, 51.69, 51.94, 52.54 and 51.42 seconds. David Malone took the over 2 litre class with a 47.70 second run in his Torana XU1.

FORMULA CARS Class wins went to Jim Heymer in the Formula Vee 1200 (Hornet Formula Vee, 51.62 seconds) and Brian wild in the Superkarts with his PVP in 45.30 seconds. The Formula Libre up to 1300 ccs class went to Michael von Rappard in the Dallara Hayabusa with a 38.21 run from Jim Milliner (OMS 2000M, 41.52), Martin Egglesfield (OMS Hornet, 41.75), Matt Read competing in his Readster MT01 (43.54 seconds), Mitchell Allwood (Energy Firecat, 45.45) and Jeff Daniels ex Brian Kirkby Nulec TLAR vehicle driving a cautious 48.47 second run. Steven Woodbridge was fastest in the 1301 ccs and over class recording a 41.66 run in the Dallara F396 from Stan Pobjoy up from Grafton to run his VW Special S/c with a best run of 44.49 seconds until the safety pressure baffle in blower blew with too much pressure.

SPORTS CARS
Zaid Latif was the quickest in the Production Sports Cars 1601 to 2000 ccs in his Lotus Exige with a 49.47 second run just 0.13 seconds from Michael Ciccotelli in his Lotus Elise with a best run of 49.60 seconds. Next were the MGs of Chris Johns in the Johns Racing Family red MGF (50.26), Peter Andrews (Volcano MGF, 53.38), Andrew Lake (British racing Green MGF, 55.55) with Ian Finglas in his Mazda MX-5 with a best run of 57.47 seconds.

Ian Finglas admitted to competing at the Exhibition Speedway in the ex-Kev Jefferson speedcar. This was powered by a cross flow Repco Holden unit and he later joined the Mulchay Brother stable (Imperial Motors) however did not race in their Offenhauser speedcars. The vehicle he wanted was the Cascio Offenhauser which Bob Tattersall had brought to Australia for a summer season however a used car sales man at Lutwyche Road Windsor, Blair Shepherd, was able to acquire it before Ian. After ceasing to drive speedway.

Ian competed in circuit races in a VK Commodore which had a Harrop engine for about 10 years before a roll over at Queensland Raceway. Ian had driven in the final Speedway revival meeting at the Ekka, drove a couple of cautionary laps before the old skill took over and the smile within the helmet could be seen.

Dean Amos won the over 2 litre class in the Lotus 2 Eleven turbo with a 47.02 time from Michael Larymore (Toyota MR2 s/c, 48.43) David Roberts (Datsun 260Z, 51.28) and Glen Amos in his Lotus 2 Eleven turbo with a best run of 51.51 seconds.

Sports Cars Open went to Jeffrey Graham in his Mazda MX-5 s/c with a 48.69 whilst in the Sports Cars Closed classes Brock Paine took the under 2 litre class with a 51.82 run in his Nissan Silvia 2001 and Ben Littlefield the over 2 litre class in 49.26 seconds in his Nissan Silvia turbo.

In the Clubman Sports cars Brian Pettit won the day with a 45.82 seconds time in his Westfield SE Clubman with Jason McGarry next in his Caterham Super 7 in a best run of 49.41 seconds.

HISTORIC CARS
Class wins went to Barry Smith (Group K, Ford V8 Special flat head, 57.64 seconds), Alan Telfer (Group Q, Lotus 7 - the green one, 56.67 seconds), Greg Tebble (Group R, Van Diemen FF2000 with a new record of 42.91 seconds) and David Dumolo (Group V, Venom Formula Vee, 53.46 seconds).

TOP SIX
This round would provide the winner of the Top Six Shootout for the year. Going into the last round Martin Egglesfield held a slender lead over Michael von Rappard (40 to 38). This round went to Michael von Rappard (38.65) followed by Steve Woodbridge (40.97), Martin Egglesfield (41.29), Jim Milliner (41.74), Greg Tebble (43.17) and Ross Mackay (45.16). With the points allocated (13 for the quickest then 11, 9, 7, 5, 3) this part of the competition was won by Michael von Rappard with 51 points from Martin Egglesfield (49 points), Steve Woodbridge (45), Greg Tebble (28), Dean Amos (13) and David Malone (12 points).

Best MG up to 2000 ccs: Chris Johns
Over 2000 ccs: Flavio Paggiaro
Most Improved: Chrystellee Semple
Fastest Time of Day: Michael von Rappard

Final top places for the year overall:
Greg Tebble (100 points),
Michael von Rappard (92),
Ken Graham (91),
Barry Smith (90),

Christopher Balhatchet (90),
Harry Doling (90), Jeffrey Graham (90)
Mark Pryor (90).

PRESENTATION OF 2017 HILLCLIMB TROPHIES

There was an excellent turnout for the presentation of hillclimb trophies at the MGCCQ Clubrooms on Friday, 8 December with most of the trophy winners in attendance to collect their trophies.

A list of the trophy winners is available here.

Photos were taken by Matt Johnson.

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MGCCQ HILLCLIMB SERIES, ROUND 6, 25 - 26 November, 2017

There was a good turnout of competitors - and spectators - for the final round of the 2017 Hillclimb series held at Mt Cotton.

The competitors provided good competition for the spectators. Major winner for the weekend was Michael von Rappard who won his class, took out Fastest Time of Day and also won the Top Six with every run being a sub 40s run, the fastest being 38.21.

The series which was clearly won by Greg Tebble who stamped his authority on it by adding one more record breaking run to his total with a 42.91 run. The intense competition in the Sports Sedans up to 2000cc class continued with the battle between Tyson Cowie and Ross Mackay resulting in Ross Mackay coming out on top and regaining the record from Tyson with a stunning 44.95 run.

Photographs from Steve Johns from Saturday are shown below. Photos by Peter Buchanan can be viewed on his Facebook page.

Photos taken by Craig Hutchinson can be viewed on his Facebook page.

Ian Colley has his photos from the last round of the hillclimb series ready for viewing. The link to his Blog is

http://www.iancolleyphotography.com.au/blog and this has links to his photos and his videos. It also has the digital download offer.

Click here for trophy presentation photos.

Click here for OPR
Click here for Split Times