Giants despair Hillclimb recap
With this Hillclimb right around the corner, we still had a good amount of prep work that needed to be done. For one, we had the new DBA rotors to install as well as install our SPA fire suppression system and change the oil. All in all, we were able to get everything done with limited time, accept for the fire suppression system. We planned things accordingly and got the trailer and car with good time to spare. Then got on the road. For the first time we were able to get there on a Friday with sun still in the sky, as we typically arrive late Friday nights due to things not going the way we wanted them to. We arrived, unloaded the trailer, and set the car up. I made sure everything was torqued down and retired for the evening.
DAY 1:
Day one was pretty straight forward; got etched and then had the drivers meeting at 8am. We took our tour up the mountain with Mike Robinson and Jason Fraley to survey the mountain and understand the do’s and dont’s, since this was our first time here. I must add, watching footage of this hill, the videos do it no justice and it was pretty intimidating. Once we got back down to the mounting we had our touring run in our cars. We are strapped in and ready to race, but it’s just a nice drive up the mountain, so you could get to feel it out in your own car. Once we started runs, I will say there was some trepidation as well as nervousness going up this mountain. There is a section called devil’s elbow and it’s a really tricky turn. If it’s hit wrong you will end up flipped over in the crowd, so that was in the back of my mind. The few first runs I took it easy and just wanted to figure out my lines and where I would hit it from. As the day progressed, so did our times. We did fairly well by the end of the day. We ended the day 1st in our class and 46 out of 94 cars overall, with a 52.6. However, I knew there was more time out there, I just had to stop being chicken about going into turn one at the devils elbow.
DAY 2:
With day one behind us, we would say I got some of those nerves out of the way. The first run of the day was rather cool, which meant turbo bars would have a blast, plus there was tons of grip. We went up at average speed, still eyeing our particular lines. Someone told us where all the time could be picked up. Still sitting at 52.6, it was time to turn things up. So, we went over and got some sound advice from my friend, Mark, and proceeded up the hill. That run we knocked off a whole 2 seconds off. Our time after trying to scrap off tenths, I was simply amazed in the time gain from a simple keep your foot to the floor, hahaha. With that time gain, we dropped down to 50.6, which still kept a us first in class. But, bumped us all the way up to 37th overall out of 94 cars. As we continued to work on improving our time; because I knew we had a 49 in the car, things got hairy. One care over heated and blew its motor up. Although cars were able to run, I still considered it a bit sketchy as oil on course wasn’t the most ideal situation. Even though, it was cleaned up, the weekend was at this point over. So, we stayed with our time and place and that was the weekend for us. All in all, we were told this was a power hill and it truly was. The next time we come we will be ready. It truly was an an amazing event and I can’t wait for the next one.
