PA Hillclimb

Thank you Rich Rock, Nelson & Rick K, John the starter and all those who helped make Duryea such a wonderful event.

Thanks Merlin for your most exciting driving -- courtesy of a spin out I got to watch you and most of group 2 negotiate the Pagoda turn. Merlin is positively in a league of his own. I've seen Lotus Cortinas and front wheel drive VWs three-wheel turns but never a front engine, rear wheel drive GT-2 car. Not until last Saturday. Up until then I would have said dirt tracking on asphalt is no way to win a hill climb -- now I'm going to go find a parking lot and practice my power slides.

My following comment is an observation that I offer, hoping someone might have a solution:

Duryea and Pagoda by their very nature involve a lot of delays, mostly due to accidents on the hill. This results in very long stints trapped in the starting lines along pit lane. I, like many run a formula car. It was never meant to idle for long periods nor can it easily be shut off and repeatedly restarted without killing the battery. Several times I made runs on seven or less cylinders because the plugs had fouled during the long wait. Perhaps the last cars to pull to the line should be the formula and other fragile all-out race cars that cannot endure the long idling, etc. Maybe the announcer could call "formula cars to the line" after all the other Gp 2 vehicles have cleared the starter's line? We don't have those problems at Giant's, Polish or Weatherly because we can easily watch the line move and pick our spot in it.

I tried to be the last car in the line Sunday afternoon and darned near got left behind. Only an accident delay got me the time to make the line in time. As it turned out I arrived 3/4 of an hour early.

I don't like trying to get in the line too early as it fouls up the Gp 1 cars coming back down into their pits.

Brgds,

Bob D'Amore

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Very good points Bob. I for one would like to spend the next several Hillclimb planning sessions to address this and other ideas how can accomodate more drivers and get more runs per entry.

One issue that comes up time and time again is "workers". Simply put, we need more people to step up and be involved with the running of these events. Many drivers and crew now come out on set up days and make things go quickly and smoothly. Very much appreciated. But we lack people to act as marshalls or chief of important functions during the event. Instead we have Rich Rock running around trying to fill the gaps. I'm afraid he is burning out. Not good for such a young guy.

My guess is that 50% (excluding corner workers) that are running the event are also drivers. In my own case, having mechanical issues with my race car means I have less time to help out and that goes for many other drivers as well.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Dave Y

Seems to me this topic belongs in either "general discussion" or "hillclimb event" rather than "tech".

Anyhow, thank you Bob for the kind words, and thanks again for making the long trip!

As for a solution to the problem, the first thing that comes to mind is 100 is too many entries. Things would go better with 20 or 25 fewer cars.

Or, maybe we should establish a run order within each group or create 4 or 5 subgroups of ten or so cars and call them to the line when it's time? Either of these would probably require at least one person working the pit road as a marshal.

Rich Rock

mckee wrote:This results in very long stints trapped in the starting lines along pit lane. I, like many run a formula car. It was never meant to idle for long periods nor can it easily be shut off and repeatedly restarted without killing the battery. Several times I made runs on seven or less cylinders because the plugs had fouled during the long wait.

Let's get back to the subject of this thread.

Good point Bob! Although Chuck and I have not been racing the SAAB, we run into the same situation when waiting during long stints on the start line. Hopefully when the orange SAAB returns to the hills this will be resolved and fouled plugs won't be an issue for us. It is even more critical for the SAAB since we run on less cylinders than you do in the little 2-stroker SAAB.

Again, GREAT point!

Rich Rock wrote:Or, maybe we should establish a run order within each group or create 4 or 5 subgroups of ten or so cars and call them to the line when it's time? Either of these would probably require at least one person working the pit road as a marshal.

Rich Rock

If it worked this way in the 60s and 70s, no reason it can't work now and I think is a good solution. It would require 1 dedicated person to work the pits (somewhat of a problem with the pits split in 2 locations) or a good loudspeaker system (which I think you have) with more than one announcement for the group to come to the starting line. Just my $.02