POLISH MOUNTAIN - POST EVENT

Tom Styczynski · Post by **Tom Styczynski** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 7:53 pm

I had a great time at the Polish Mountain Hillclimb. I want to thank the organizers who were able to convince the state/county government to allow the use of public roads. I thought the course was in excellent condition and challenging.

I also want to thank the course workers who put up with Saturday's heat and the Flintstone Volunteer Fire Department who were alert enough to provide water for the drivers waiting for incidents to clear.

The escort return to the paddock was handled very well and safely. Running in 4th gear in the cool breeze was refreshing.

I talked to several local home owners. With the cars in their front yards they were having as much fun as the drivers.

The July/August 2007 Washington DC Region SCCA - STRAIGHTPIPE contained a timely article on the 29 May 1955, First Annual Breakneck Hill Climb sponsored by the Washington DC Region SCCA and the Flintstone Volunteer Fire Department. With this bit of history was this weekend's event the SECOND INAUGURAL running of the hillclimb?

jerdeitzel · Post by **jerdeitzel** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:35 pm

Well i would have to agree with the first post. This event was very well done! I'd like to thank again all the clubs and people who put on the event. I realize how hard it must have been to get this all together.

The course itself was quite a blast to drive. I thought that it was very decieving in a few spots. Nothing overly dangerous just decieving. As usuall we had very tight class in SM for the event. It was a blast to battle the Mustangs for most of the weekend. I was glad it rained after Mark put his car into the gaurd rail. I really didn't have any desire to battle after that happend to a friend. It is always sad to see the battle scars of the cars that didn't make it up. I'm just glad everyone was alright. Oh and that R32 made a heck of a time gain on sunday to put the heat on Dan in the other mustang. Nice driving!

One other thing. I'm really find hillclimbing to be a wonderful sport with a bunch of really, really nice people. Thanks all for being so receptive to the new comers! You guys make us feel very welcome.

On to Duryea. I'll see alot of you guys there. After a very expensive clutch install this week.

dlascoskie · Post by **dlascoskie** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:04 am

Bravo to all involved in the planning, promoting and execution of the event. You all deserve a standing O. It was very well run and a lot of fun to be a part of. Thank you for your hard work.
The course is silky smooth and super fast and begs you to go faster and corner harder and get on the gas earlier...........which makes it a uniquely challenging course. It's pretty straight forward as to what's coming up, but the awesome banking in the corners makes you ask yourself, "Can I pull this off?" What a great course. Loved every minute of driving it.
The locals were great, and treated us like big time racers. And supplying water to drivers..............what a great concept! And who could forget Mr. Mister, who cooled us off on a crazy hot day.And like my brother Mike was saying, "Can you imagine what was going through the minds of drivers on route 68 as they passed by, seeing all our race cars rip down route 144?" Priceless.
All in all, it was an awesome event, with plenty of parking/camping, a great party Friday night, and a great group of people hosting the event. Thanks again for all the hard work.

Cumberland Racer · Post by **Cumberland Racer** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 8:04 am

One of our NRA guys in the three-driver Honda has posted
his in-car video on YouTube. It can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buJS8CgEg2E

Story and pix coming later today to http://www.polishmtnhillclimb.com

Dave

Tom Styczynski · Post by **Tom Styczynski** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:13 pm

Thanks for the video. I will be looking for the photos and story.

Cumberland Racer · Post by **Cumberland Racer** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:36 pm

Running a little behind on the story and pix...sorry guys, because we know it's always fun to read about events right after they happen. Darned paying work got in the way today at the web site factory. Will have them on-line tomorrow AM.

svann · Post by **svann** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:04 pm

A truely great first hillclimb from the National Road crew. I never had a doubt it would be fine. Congrats to all the new record holders and especially Morg's win in Special 2. See ya'll in 2008. Also thanks to the folks of Flintstone for making us feel so welcome.

griffinbilt · Post by **griffinbilt** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 8:15 pm

altogether the event was absolutely awesome. sunday by far was the day that helped shape my opinion. as expected the typical delays associated with new events occured on saturday. it's a damn shame the shirts sold out before i got one. mike acnas and company are my hero's... somehow he got a politician in his pocket...can we say blackmail?? i thought the announcer was the best one i've ever heard at a hillclimb. the p.a. system was more then adequate. the heat sucked balls, the coffee was good, the line for food sucked though..on saturday the fire people i talked to had a grill go down on them; hence the wait for burgers. and oh yes...how many people on the hill at one point or another missed a gear?? i missed a couple gears coming up at the turn 9 area where it banks left. i overheard a couple other people mention they missed gears too. i think because it's so fast coming into that particular turn then downshifting while breaking messes with the synchro's. i also couldn't make up my mind if i should drop to 3rd while still in a straight line the down shift into 2nd and mash through, or leave in 3rd. i had a really good time commiting vehicular felonies on a public road and not being arrested when i pull into my driveway by the awaiting authorities. that's what make it so fun

Mel Horn · Post by **Mel Horn** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:42 pm

griffinbilt wrote: i thought the announcer was the best one i've ever heard at a hillclimb. the p.a. system was more then adequate.

Ryan, Ryan, Ryan...
I remember when we had radio coverage at some hillclimbs!

The announcer apparently does some SCR autocrosses, although someone might have briefed her on our classes.
Didn't know Don McLaughlin's R5 ran in Historic P...
Great video. I actually went up on the back of Matt G's 4-wheeler, although MUCH slower...

Speednation · Post by **Speednation** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:22 pm

Connie Fournier had never been to a hillclimb. She and her husband, Gary (the guy who volunteered to direct traffic in and out of the paddock) autox a Corvette C4. They came to know the people from Cumberland since they go to the Cumberland autocrosses, and they asked her to announce. Connie is a great person to get to know, and the more she comes to our events (hopefully as a driver soon), the more she will learn. But she showed lots of guts to even attempt tackling our crazy hillclimb classes. I started her off on Saturday morning, but I had to get ready to race myself. I thought she did great.

Thanks for the kind words, Ryan, I will pass them on to her. As far as announcing, I have been running the hills longer than many, and I have never really heard any attempt to do anything other than to read the bio sheets when the driver was at the starting line. I think that if announcing can make an autocross interesting, imagine what it can do for a hillclimb. I welcome commentary, but more than that, I loved hearing the times as the drivers crossed the finish line. That rarely happens, and if I can help in any way to keep that tradition rolling, just let me know and I will make time to put in shifts at the mic. I even have my own cordless mic which was used at PM. Even Morg got a kick out of the "Campbell wins the class" prank I played on him over the PA system during the last runs Sunday afternoon - Mike

dlascoskie · Post by **dlascoskie** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:39 am

I agree that Connie did a great job on both days, and an even better job at the auction!
Her best line of the weekend???? "You better drive it like you stole it!"

jerdeitzel · Post by **jerdeitzel** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 8:56 am

Here is a video of 2 or my runs if anyone is interested. The first was a 61.3 and the second a 60.3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wVkXGwUMZk

svann · Post by **svann** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:46 am

OK, here's my contribution to the onboard videos from Polish Mountain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD7lOYG3RsM

RX-Midget · Post by **RX-Midget** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:46 am

OK, here is my video as rain started to fall:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7392438082

The "play-by-play" announcing was nice. At times it was a bit loud, but it was nice to be able to hear what was going on.

The entry/exit to the paddock was finally figured out by Sat afternoon, and the return road was very nice and allowed cars to keep running (as long as no one went off).

Great event and I look foward to it next year.

svann · Post by **svann** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:57 pm

One area that might be improved is how to tell which run group is up. Some of the drivers could not always hear the PA and for those of us who aren't use to this system it gets a little confusing. Would it be possible to mark each group with a colored dot or add a small "1" or "2" to the car so we can tell which group is up. I was in group 1 with the vintage and historic group while all the other formula cars ran group 2. Maybe this isn't a big deal to anyone else. Anyone else have a thought on this?

RX-Midget · Post by **RX-Midget** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:09 pm

I also had a problem because I kept seeing 2-driver cars lined up and would think it was my group.

Here's a little twist on Stan's idea. How about 2 flags; one for group 1 and one for group 2. Lets say G1 is Red and G2 is Blue. Raise the correct flag for each group, then everyone can see what group is at the line.

I think Joe Hover had a nice flag pole on his trailer that gave me this idea. I could see the flag from anywhere in the paddock.

edit - One reason that Flintstone may have been harder to keep pace with run groups was that there was no turn around of the entire group and return down the hill which is usually a signal when all the cars come rolling back in the paddock. Flintstone was blessed with a return road that trickled cars in during the entire run group.

Cumberland Racer · Post by **Cumberland Racer** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:52 am

Cool idea about the run group flags...duly noted! With Polish Mountain's unique return set-up, I think we have the potential for nearly continuous running, which in the long run would benefit all entrants with more seat time.

Connie really did do a nice job. She's gotten very comfortable using the Axware announcer's screen which lists previous runs and class leading target times from her work with us in the Cumberland Airport Autocross Series. It really adds to the drama and value of the announcing if finishing times and class standing are part of the announce stream, IMO.

We're already looking at ways to make Polish more worker, spectator and entrant friendly. That's what we do. National Road Autosport is kinda unique in that we are specialists in being the host organization and are, at our core, an event company...the Chris Pooks of the backwoods, perhaps.

Every aspect of operations, hospitality and promotion is fair game in our internal debriefings, all open to improvement and refinement. Anyone who has been to any of the early Cumberland Airport Autocrosses would barely recognize our operation now, but the feel is still user friendly just more streamlined and professional as the year's have gone by.

Polish Mountain is a great course in a pretty place with some physical challenges for workers and spectators. Rest assured we're already on it, guys.

jerdeitzel · Post by **jerdeitzel** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 9:11 am

Nice video's from everyone! I love seeing the different lines from different cars. Keep them coming people.

Ron Mann · Post by **Ron Mann** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:10 am

Had a great time...besides the heat!! Thanks to the EIMC crew(Joe, Paul & Glenn) for letting my bum shade!!

Thought the hill was fun...Flintstone VFD were great hosts. The announcer was good too...was nice to sit back in the shade and listen to what was going on!

in the future...if touring runs are available, and the return track is utilized. I would not return cars to the paddock area...pace them around the track non stop...line tech cars coming out of the paddock and add them to the mix...hot laps like they do at Hershey.

otherwise...from what I saw things started to fall in place by mid day Sat.

jerdeitzel · Post by **jerdeitzel** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:11 pm

Does anyone have pics of the event? I kno i heard there was someone taking them. I just never remembered to stop bye the tent.

PA Hillclimb

POLISH MOUNTAIN - POST EVENT

POLISH MOUNTAIN - POST EVENT

Re: POLISH MOUNTAIN - POST EVENT

Annoncer at the PMH