Ross climbs the haunted Hill

Ross Nicol

GT40s Supporter
Sorry for that journalistic headline but if I have your attention please enjoy the read. I could have gone to Winton Raceway last weekend and raced against a mixture of cars but I decided instead it would be more interesting to compete at the 'Haunted Hills hillclimb' run by the 'Marque sports car assoc' at Morewell. This is a new track built by the coal mining company to replace the old one which had a rich coal deposit underneath it, and they needed that coal for the power stations. This was a one day meeting on Sunday and required a very early start to travel 2 hours for a 7:30am arrival. To take you back to Saturday- I have been trying to get onto cleaning the 40's engine bay for a week but alas saturday dawned and the cleaning had not even started. I decided to employ the services of a local detailer on sat arfternoon. I had been hesitant to use water for cleaning in case the electrics suffered but after covering all the sensitive areas with plastic, off Jason went with the high pressure water jet. Well the result was great and with all parts of the engine bay now gleaming, I couldn't keep my proud eyes off it. Back to Sunday morning and I arrived at Haunted Hills to find a long line of cars from the closed gate back down the road and so I joined the conga line.This is highly unusual for me as I'm not known for my punctuality.This was 7:30am and the gatekeeper did not arrive to open up until 8pm. With this late start the organizers were under pressure and I joined in to help scrutineer all the cars before putting the 40 through for others to check. After a driver briefing we were allowed an hour to do sighting laps of the track. The clerk of course warned of some blind and tight corners and of course his warning was found to be on target. I would have to describe driving this tight little track, as terrifying. The start leads down the hill (which is really a quarry) and then with tight turns, 2 blind crests and fast downhill sections that trick you into thinking you may be able to hold that speed for the next corner but then realize otherwise.Toward the end the track does rise back up the hill but with 2 more sharp corners the speed is kept down.
My first timed run was 68sec and I had no idea whether it was competitive or not. My next 2 runs were 61.05sec and 61.06sec. It was about this time that I found I was going quite well and had fastest time.Then a Lotus Elise turned in a 59.36sec time and I thought mmmnn time to get serious.I changed the tyres and fitted the slicks. This proved to be a good decision as I got my time down to 59.56sec and I thought with 1 more run I could take back the FTD from that pesky Lotus.Well they ganged up on me because another Elise decided to have an off track excursion and dumped oil all over the track.This caused a premature end to the days proceedings, a bit deflated I packed up and headed home. Of course the GT40 is not really suited to a tight twisty circuit like this, but as the results show I did quite well. Both Andrew East and Bob Lancaster who normally run their RF40s at the MSCA sprint meetings had left their V8's at home in favour of their Lotus seven replicas.They may have gone better in their 40s. Hope these pics give you some Idea of the layout of the place.
 

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Wow! - nice one Ross!

Coming from a hill-climb / sprint background in the UK - we can only dream of such a climb - or generally such weather too (read very GREEN with envy!)

Seriously though, it sounds like you had a great time and never mind the twisties, the steeper the climb the better the 40s fair IMHO - there ain't no substitute for cubic inches...:thumbsup:

ps - experience has shown over here that a line of big engined GTs attracts a much larger audience than twice as many 'buzzy Elise's' - however much fun they may be..
 

Pete McCluskey.

Lifetime Supporter
Another great report Ross, thanks. I'm sure you were a journalist in another life.
When I was a kid we had a dairy farm at Taralgon which is not too far from Yallourn/ Morewell.
That tight downhill off camber corner in the first pic must have tested the size of the cahoona's?
 
WOW - now that looks like some great driving.... I wish they did more stuff like that here in the States. That looks like a fish eye or wide angle lens but still.... must have been fun.
 
Nice Write-up Ross - I'm not sure that track would be my first choice for running the GT40, now, let me at it in the 250 shifter kart though - THAT would be a ball!!

Dave
 

Ross Nicol

GT40s Supporter
More pics. Please note the clean engine bay on my car as seen from the rear shot. Soooooo nice.
Ross
 

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Malcolm

Supporter
Hi Ross

Sounds like a great event. Did you get out of 2nd gear? At least after the start you are not going up and down the box looking at that Elise video which gives you much more time for steering input.

A 40 may be tight on that track but I would be quite happy to run my car up that course. Compared to Prestcott Hill Climb, this is wide and open! With those other cars, if you came 3rd (is that right?) then it shows how well your 40 handles. Any car can point and shoot but twisty stuff is the real test for handling.

Totally go with your comments on clean engine bay! When you use a car, it gets grimey. Nice when it is all clean again.
 

Ron Earp

Admin
Hey Ross,

Fantastic pictures of that climb and I love the name. If you had some nice black clouds around it'd be perfect.

Nice car shots too. I think a course like that would be well-suited to the Elise/Exige and not so much a GT40 as you mentioned. Those hill climbs are a bit of a one-off deal - no room for mistakes and you don't get a lot of practice unless the hill you're climbing for the day happens to be your driveway or on your way to work!

Nice job!
 

Ross Nicol

GT40s Supporter
All 2nd gear Malc. I counted 72 cars entered and only 2 of us broke 1minute.The guy in the Elise 59.36sec and me 59.56sec. I don't think I would be behind him on a circuit like Sandown or Phillip Island.

Ross :helmet:
 
Some of those tire walls look LARGE and a tad more unforgiving than usual...or maybe you guys have really small cars down under? Is this track used for racing or just lapping? Looks narrow.
 

Malcolm

Supporter
Mesa

Don't come and drive UK stuff as you really wouldn't like it if you think those tyre walls look large and unforgiving! :). When Ron drove my 40 at Donnington, one of the UK premier tracks, I remember him saying how close he thought the tyre walls were. The reason? He could read the advertising banners hung on them! Having now driven VIR a few times I see what he means!
 
Pity Coronet Peak Hillclimb is below the radar these days Ross, you could have sent your car over early and had a go, no tyre walls, just Rock Faces on one side and Hang Glider Runways on the other:) oh, and you get to use 3rd & 4th gear.
 
Hi Guys,
Photos below of what us lesser GT40 mortals drove instead of our 40's mine is the silver car with Bob L behind me lined up at the starting line, still good fun. Great track, a tad scary with some sections you cannot see the track in front of you. I was really looking forward to a final run when the lotus had an off and the day finished. I know Ross was wanting to claim those 2\10ths back to get FTD particularly after changing off his wets and onto full slicks for his last run.

This is only the third event at this new track and judging by the response from those running it will be a popular hill climb.
Andrew
 

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