As the title says. The final round of the NSW Hillclimb Championship and Tri Club Series is being held at Newcastle's King Edward Park this long weekend.
Sunday 4th October 09 is the NSW hillclimb championship. Starting time 9:00am
Monday 5th October 09 is the Tri Club Challenge. Start time 9:00am.
This is one of the best hillclimbs in the championship. Its got a bit of it for everyone. MG car club run a fantastic event. Great view, great park, play facilities for the kids, car show, food and a bit of motorsport action. And when the actions all finished, walked a couple of 100 mtrs down the road and play at the beach or have a cold beer at the pub.
There are Beetles entered and running both days so if you go, pop up to the pit area and say hi. I will be with Glen Torrens in his wrecking racer and Greg Wards blue bug. Hope to see you there
colin ·
I,m of to Warwick this weekend but good luck to Glen and Greg, have fun and play hard.
Cheers Col
Heath ·
Nathan, Nice promo for a great event
The Durie beetle and Cook open wheeler are competing in both days, Christine and myself are only competing in the Sunday state round. I would imagine this is the same for Glen and Greg as like us haven't competed in any Tri Challenge Events this year
Col, when are you going to have a run around a few corners?
Heath
Craig Torrens ·
Congrats on your Win Heath 😂
bat69 ·
At least some are not to scared to have a go unlike some pussies I know
HappyDaze ·
I'm surprised that this hillclimb is still running, with all the ' fun-police' about, and the venues that are closing down. What a great track it is - I still have vivid memories of belting up the 'footpath', late in the day, with salt-spray on the (perspex) windscreen, sun in my eyes, and not being able to see where the left-hander at the top was! This was about 30 years ago, in my Beetle sports-sedan.
Cheers, Greg,
vassy66T1 ·
I would have to agree from my 2 years of living in Newcastle that this is one of the best hillclimbs in Australia (that I have seen so far). Have a great weekend. Look forward to hearing some results and some pics.
bat69 ·
This event, believe it or not is very well supported by Newcastle City Council and local police. It has always been part of the Mattara Festival which use to be a big festival a decade or so ago. The hillclimb itself has been a part of Newcastle for over 52 years. The local residents are the killer though. Every year it appears to get more restrictive. You have to park your car with the exhaust facing the sea so its not to loud for the local residents. Dumb things like that. I just hope they open it up from right down the bottom like it use to run.
Happy Daze, if you ran here 30 years ago. That would have to have been around the time MGCC ran the Australian hillclimb championship at King Eddie in I think 1978?
HappyDaze ·
I think it was 1979 - a NSW championship round - that I ran there. We started right down the bottom then, hence the salt-spray on the windscreen. Here's hoping that 'King Eddie' as you called it can keep going - I would like to have another run there, next year perhaps?
Cheers, Greg
Craig Torrens ·
starting from down near the beach was the best........then coming into the spectators view at full song in third, then nicely sideways onto the straight, with an entry speed of over 124kph into the "footpath funnel"...I LOVE IT😉
And even more fun in the wet 😂
bat69 ·
Saurdays racing was a blast. Now that the event has already been run I suppose its alright now to tell Greg Ward I used his car....lol.
Greg got delayed in India with work and so very kindly offered me his car to drive. Due to Greg being over seas all year, I have been organising his car and entries for him, so this was Gregs way of saying thankyou.
I must say having not driven a race car in 12 months, I was a little apprehensive and given that it was someone elses car that I had never driven before either. That aside, the W/E's driving has just made me that little more motivated to get mine finished. It is not every day some one lets you race their pride and joy around a race track, so thanks Greg. Having now dirven Gregs car, I have to congratulate the man. It is one very nice street car. It is a beautiful thing to drive on the road. the very fact the lunatic drives it to the event and then races it is just confidence. There were some difference with my old car. My old car was built for the race track and Gregs is a purpose built road car, so the difference between the two is chalk and cheese. The very fact I had to remember to turn off the radio when I started the run was somethign I was not use to. Otherwise the ACDC playing would have given me a little toooooo much enthusiam. Man I had some FUN!
bat69 ·
It was great days racing. The Durie Beetle and the Campbells beetles were flying. Geez they have got their cars cranking and they all drove very very well. I better start getting some driving lessons. All three drivers (cook, campbell and durie) went under the existing Imp Pro record, getting their cars in the 39 sec bracked. Im not to sure who ended up winning the class but Heath was in front of Ben by a bees dick before the last run. Christine was cranking to, although she smacked a gutter on one of her runs and bent a rim. Im not to sure where she ended up. I got gregs road car down to the 41's. I think the biggest supprise for me was Glen Torrens in his wrecking racer and Cookies daughters driving their open wheeler. Glen did a flat 45 which is outstanding considering it has no diff, standard box and $hit 6 years old 70 series road tyres. The mans a lunatic and the girls were mixing it with the outright boys in their vw powered open wheeler. Outstanding effort
Congratulations to every one on a great day of motorsport.
colin ·
Heath,
2010, can,t come quick enough.
Cheers Col
Heath ·
What an excellent day of motorsport
Ben and I were split by 0.01sec on the first run, just 0.4 off the old record. This went on all day till I finally managed to bet him by 0.02sec on the last run, shaving 0.7 of a second off the record with a time of 39.72. I think it was a day of personel bests, Christine equalled the old record and came away with a third, Cooky got a high 40 second run and correct me if i'm wrong Nathan but isn't that mid 41of yours also a Personel Best. Glen had a grin from ear to ear that I'm sure he hasn't been able to wipe off yet. His car sounded much sweeter than the last time I saw it.
Cooky has put a lot of work into the open wheeler, including a eye catching black and pink paint job. The engine has had a couple of refinements but the big gains have been made in the suspension. Amy says for the first time ends up where you point it not where it feels like going. Both girls being an ex go cart racers, are used to something thats very presise in it's handling. On that basis i can't understand why racing a beetle frustrates the crap out of them 😂 I'm not sure of Amy or Tracy's times but I do know Amy won the class.
Col
Are you going to compete in the state series next year? I was planning on completing in all or at least the majority of state rounds next year.
Congrats to Greg Ward who is the new NSW U2 Improved Production State Champion. Is this the first time Greg has won it?????
Heath
Craig Torrens ·
Craig Torrens wrote:Congrats on your Win Heath 😂
He He.......geez how did i guess that ??!!
Congrats again Heath !
bat69 ·
Heath wrote:correct me if i'm wrong Nathan but isn't that mid 41of yours also a Personel Best.
No I have previous gone faster in my own car. The very fact I was a .5 second off my personal best driving someone elses car just made the days racing that little more enjoyable.
Heath wrote:Congrats to Greg Ward who is the new NSW U2 Improved Production State Champion. Is this the first time Greg has won it????? Heath
No he has done it before. I believe there a couple of times. One time in and around the ninties when Jeff Unwin was still running his weapon and again in 2001.
I must say congratulations to Greg on his U2L Imp Pro NSW Hillclimb Championship win. Greg also picked up 2nd in the QLD Hillclimb championship too. The fact he did it in a car he drove to the track makes the acheivement that more remarkable.
VWCOOL ·
yeah it was great fun event. Wow, running up The Pinch for the first time ever is an eye-opener!! Heath, congrats on the day and thanks for the compliment, a few weeks ago I installed a 'proper' engine in my car, it's the Pobjoy-built 'base' Kadron-fed 1916cc engine from my blue Oval Cal-looker, not the $100 junka engine I had before!
colin ·
Heath,
You bet i am can,t wait.
Look forward to great racing and even better tall stories around a camp fire or with a beer.
Cheers Col
danny m ·
Heath it sounds like I'll have to drag the escort down and crank on the rear camber and have a go if you guys have cracked the 39's!
Hey who's going to the AHCC in a couple of weeks?
Someone from victoria has been trying to get my diff ruled illegal, funny thing CAMS told him to go and read his rule book
Danny
bat69 ·
danny m wrote:Hey who's going to the AHCC in a couple of weeks?
Danny
Greg Ward is going down. I was going down with him but unfortunately I now have work commitments in Sydney the Monday after and I wont be able to get back in time. Sometimes work suxs.
danny m wrote:Someone from victoria has been trying to get my diff ruled illegal, funny thing CAMS told him to go and read his rule book
Whats wrong with a 4 link.
Brian ·
any pics or video???
hellbugged ·
bat69 wrote:No he has done it before. I believe there a couple of times. One time in and around the ninties when Jeff Unwin was still running his weapon
No not while the hellbug was still running
bat69 ·
hellbugged wrote:
bat69 wrote:No he has done it before. I believe there a couple of times. One time in and around the ninties when Jeff Unwin was still running his weapon
No not while the hellbug was still running
Hi Damo, I may be wrong about the beating Jeff thing. No malice intended. Maybe if Greg was in the country long enough I could ask him. I just remember reading an article in MGCC 50th Mattara Hillclimb Event booklet which wrote about every event at KEP over the last 50 years and reading about Greg beating Jeff to the group 2E club car class in a particular year (I don’t know the year off the to top my head). I thought it was for the championship but it could have been just for that event. I will have to dig up the booklet. I do know for sure Greg did win the championship back in 2001. 👍
Damo when are we going to see a Jesus type resurrection of the hell bug? Or even the notch back at a few event. The more of the peoples car VWs sticking to 4wd and big $ late model cars the better
bat69 ·
Brian wrote:any pics ???
A few picks for you from the MGCC web site. A few non VWS but interesting all the same.
bat69 wrote:No he has done it before. I believe there a couple of times. One time in and around the ninties when Jeff Unwin was still running his weapon
No not while the hellbug was still running
Hi Damo, I may be wrong about the beating Jeff thing. No malice intended. Maybe if Greg was in the country long enough I could ask him. I just remember reading an article in MGCC 50th Mattara Hillclimb Event booklet which wrote about every event at KEP over the last 50 years and reading about Greg beating Jeff to the group 2E club car class in a particular year (I don’t know the year off the to top my head). I thought it was for the championship but it could have been just for that event. I will have to dig up the booklet. I do know for sure Greg did win the championship back in 2001. 👍
Damo when are we going to see a Jesus type resurrection of the hell bug? Or even the notch back at a few event. The more of the peoples car VWs sticking to 4wd and big $ late model cars the better
congrats to Greg i should add too.....great driver and package!
yeah i understand there was no malice in it....
yes notch is again ready, i may have to bite the bullet and $$$ for a decent tow vehicle
hellbug........running gear,motor and box sitting waiting.....i'm getting bored lately and itching to pull the engine down for a rebuild..........had enough of going 1/8 mile at a time....... time to concentrate on going fast then turning some corners 2010 😂. i hope there are more people than just me realising how many events are on offer for circuit racing as opposed to the limited chances of running drags
definately at VW nationals supersprint (you should be too!) and VW spectacular 2010 again too!.......should make Grafton and kempsey and i for sure aim to get Jeff to Bathurst for a run before his interest is completely gone....
stopped in on Stan for quick chat last weekend.....even took him for a run in my beetle which i think he enjoyed....some much needed improvements on the open wheeler look promising!
welby ·
I've got a few pics on my website if anyone is interested.
danny m wrote:Hey who's going to the AHCC in a couple of weeks?
Danny
Greg Ward is going down. I was going down with him but unfortunately I now have work commitments in Sydney the Monday after and I wont be able to get back in time. Sometimes work suxs.
danny m wrote:Someone from victoria has been trying to get my diff ruled illegal, funny thing CAMS told him to go and read his rule book
Whats wrong with a 4 link.
I haven't got a 4 link as we're not allowed to go through the loor remember so I've been down the 2 link route and all it's got now is a pair of leaf springs and the floor mounted watts link.
The bit they've been complaining about is the cambered hubs as I've been running 3 degrees on the rear and a quite a few of the circuit guys all run them so it'll be interesting at Gippsland and anyway the book says diffs are FREE!
Danny
PS the escort is registered and I'm hoping to drive it to Mt Cotton on thursday for some testing afte the accident
bat69 ·
danny m wrote:PS the escort is registered and I'm hoping to drive it to Mt Cotton on thursday for some testing afte the accident
Yes but can you drive it all the way to VIC, race it and then drive it hom??? lol.
There is nothing wrong with your rear end or adjustable hubs. Its fine under imp pro regs.
How ever, if you do have adjustable camber on the rear in an axel car where there is more then 1/2 deg variation from standard (which 3deg is) then is must recorded in your log book and approaved by cams. If thats all done then there nothing they can winge about.