Huntley Hillclimb

Trevis Jones #13 S.M. Special is definately still with us and talking about building a new car.

Please pass on my best wishes to Spike, long time no see also he may be interested to know that Ken Davies is still with us but these days plays with Model Racing Boats

After I swapped the SM Special for the Milano Zepher the owner of the SM sold it to a guy from Dapto who was going to change it into a Formula 3 car but the Chassie ended up in Shellharbour Tip, what a wast for a car that at it's peak was running in Div 1 at Oran Park.

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What happened to it?

Edited by terry mcgrath, 31 July 2012 - 16:48.

my guess is the picture was taken late 1950's or early 60's

With the interest in these Australian hillclimb venues ie Huntley and the recent topic of Oxley and there where a few other climbs in NSW such as Foleys, Silverdale, Tamworth, Bumble Hill!, South Bowenfuls/Fourty Bends probably also called Lithgow?, Nowra, Annangrove, Bathurst and Newcastle to name a few used in the 1950's and early 60's
My question is which hillclimb venue is this picture of the XK120 taken, I do not believe it is a Qld, SA, WA, Tas or Victorian venue.
Any thoughts?
my guess is the picture was taken late 1950's or early 60's
terry

Edited by terry mcgrath, 27 September 2012 - 01:42.

I found I have a copy of the 29th august 1954 Huntley Hill Climb programme
competitors
AC Cooper XK120
F Johnston Holden 2160
AJ Malloy Riley 2493
RH David Humber 3500
D Pomfrett Chev 3500
there must have been others but I only have copies of 2 pages C Class Production under 1500cc probably should read over 1500 and previous records page
it notes previous records
Racing Cars
under 1500 Wortmeyer MG spl 50.8s
Sports cars
1100cc T Mitchell Singer 70.8s
under 1500cc A Harvey MGTC 50.0s
over 1500c G Pinch BMW 52.9s
over 2000cc B Platts Willys 69.4s
Production closed cars
under 1100cc A Burrows A30 74s
over 2000cc A Molloy Riley 51.9s

Obviously I would be keen to know if anyone knows who AC Cooper was and what the BMW might have been 328?
terry

Terry I have been asking around but as yet have not had any luck, will keep on looking.

I am a life member of Wollongong Sporting Car Club. September 2013 will be the 60th Anniversary of Huntley Hillclimb. I'd like to put together a booklet with stories and photos as well as a database of past results.

If you are able to help me out in this quest, please let me know through this forum or contact me through http://wscc.org.au/contact.php

Thanks
Chris

What is happening about the 60th Birthday of WSCC, nothing is shown on their home page concerning the Birthday, please advise of what is intended.

About 80 people have booked in so far, I understand...

Erol Richardson will be there, Bob Abberfield, Geoff Boyd and John Burrows are among those we know will be there.

103 I think the final total is. Should be a great night.

Going back to Terry's photo of the XK120...

Could it be Murphy's Creek? True, it is unlike the only photo I've seen of the Murphy's Creek climb, but the road could well rise out of the bush.

Where, by the way, was the Annangrove climb?

Going back to Terry's photo of the XK120...

Could it be Murphy's Creek? True, it is unlike the only photo I've seen of the Murphy's Creek climb, but the road could well rise out of the bush.

Where, by the way, was the Annangrove climb?

I have no idea...

I've never heard the Amaroo climb referred to by that name.

Hmmmmm

http://www.street-di...ill-climb-drive

Hi All;

Amaroo Park Hillclimb sometimes was referred to as Annangrove.

Especially by some parts of the media.

It was also the first part of the Amaroo complex to close due to residents making noises.

Something else of interest.

I Googled up "Foleys Hill Climb" and found a U Tube item on it.

A chap in a Bugeye Sprite (nice looking car too.) took a camera up the course.

Still looks basically the same although a few more houses.

As you may know the course was just after the cutting on Mona Vale Road going west after the cemetery.

If you wish to look at it I think that there is now no right turn off Mona Vale Road onto it.

Access would be off Lane Cove Road at the lights.

Cheers.

Roger.

I think Amaroo hill was the first part of the complex to open (I think in the early 60's). So is there a chance it was popularly known as Annangrove till the circuit opened in 67?

I'm not sure whether the hillclimb or the dirt short circuit or the dirt go-kart track was first...

All of them were there the first time I went there at the beginning of '64. I'll check when I get home, but I'm sure the reports on the climb referred to it as the Amaroo Park hillclimb and the name of the place was there before anything at all was built.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to know that Oscar carved out the rough of his 2.5-mile circuit before he did anything else.

We know it is called Huntley Hillclimb but how many people call it Dapto? I think it would have been the same at Annangrove/Amaroo.
Hills often get called by the town instead of the real name. (Lithgow/Forty Bends, Parkes/Golden Bar, etc)

About Amaroo, the SCW from 1959 (?) says the circuit and the hillclimb were ready to be sealed. I don't know which one got the bulldozer first.
I'm sure the hill was running a couple of years before the circuit (well half of it!) was sealed.

Yes, that's right, the hillclimb was running by '63, the circuit not until either '66 or '67. The hillclimb, I'm sure, was in use before I first went out there.

What eventually got sealed of the circuit wasn't even a quarter of the original. If you took the road from Winfield/Stop Corner/ Rothmans or whatever you remember it by, around in front of the pits, then swing right on that service road (as used in the Mileage Marathons) to rejoin it where Leo rolled the odd Valiant and head back towards the point you started, that is the only part of the original 2.5-mile circuit that was ever sealed.

The balance of the circuit, and probably not exactly as it finished up, was planned as 'eventual extension to three miles'.

I accept that it's possible the Amaroo climb was referred to as 'Annangrove', but I'd like to be somewhat more certain of it. If, however, the reference to 'Annangrove' is from the sixties then it it definitely Amaroo.

We know it is called Huntley Hillclimb but how many people call it Dapto? I think it would have been the same at Annangrove/Amaroo.
Hills often get called by the town instead of the real name. (Lithgow/Forty Bends, Parkes/Golden Bar, etc)

About Amaroo, the SCW from 1959 (?) says the circuit and the hillclimb were ready to be sealed. I don't know which one got the bulldozer first.
I'm sure the hill was running a couple of years before the circuit (well half of it!) was sealed.

Indeed, and I for one appreciate Huntley being chosen over say Wongawilli to the north

Hmmmmm

 

http://www.street-di...ill-climb-drive

I looked at this road on "street view"....it seemed not as steep as the climb at Amaroo Park...wrong road? (as opposed to ring road?)

If you had ever been to Amaroo hillclimb you would have known that nobody would ever build a residential street there...

Moreover, not one bit of the original circuit has been followed by the roads in the subdivision.

I looked at this road on "street view"....it seemed not as steep as the climb at Amaroo Park...wrong road? (as opposed to ring road?)

Hillclimb Drive seems to be the old main entrance road...but I am more interested in where it might have continued on to in the old days....looks close to the old Hillclimb

EDIT: maybe this could be moved away from Huntley?

http://forums.autosp...rk#entry1229815

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 16 September 2013 - 05:35.

Hillclimb Drive seems to be the old main entrance road...but I am more interested in where it might have continued on to in the old days....looks close to the old Hillclimb

Hillclimb drive is not an old road, it was built after the main circuit closed, it is a fair way away from the hillclimb, but it does cross the dirt circuit and the unfinished grand prix circuit.
The hillclimb was further north. The "A" in your map is right in the middle of the dirt circuit. 

Edited by Catalina Park, 18 September 2013 - 10:27.

This is probably the best video of Amaroo, it shows a bit of everything all in one in-car shot with one of my old mates driving.

Edited by Catalina Park, 18 September 2013 - 10:32.

This is probably the best video of Amaroo, it shows a bit of everything all in one in-car shot with one of my old mates driving.

Onya Mike!   Its a very long time since I was visiting regularly....I can remember being at the top of the cliff and heading off to the dirt khana stuff and the Hillclimb a few times, vaguely (like a lot of my memories these days! :-)  Cheers, Mick

[edit: Wayne Bell's flying Hillclimb run is about 2:52 to 3:15....so maybe 30-40 second runs were the norm]

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 19 September 2013 - 06:43.

Mick, here's the Google Earth pic again, but with a little more showing:

It takes no skill at all to compare this to a map of the place as it was. The 'Amaroo Park Drive' goes in next to where Gricey used to have his workshop in Joylyn Road, it then turns and follows a course somewhat similar to, but not the actual path, of the uphill main straight on the circuit.

You can clearly see the line of the course down the back of the houses near Cattai Creek, that was the run through Mazda House, into Honda and then towards the stop corner. The lake in the pic is a dead giveaway.

As Michael said, the Hillclimb Drive is across the dirt short circuit, probably the Go-Kart track too. If you look towards the top of the pic I've posted you see some wiggly stuff above this point, that's about where the hillclimb was, though that wiggly stuff is not the hillclimb.

The entry to the circuit is still all there on Annangrove Road at the bottom of the pic, you see the buildings that adorned that area and they are pretty much all still there.

Maybe it would be better if you referred to people who know more than you before you launch into these things?

Edited by Ray Bell, 20 September 2013 - 12:39.

Bob Abberfield showed me his photos from the night... and a couple from the following day's hillclimb:

Erol talks with a well-known TNF contributor.

A selection of those who turned up.

Peter McLeod addresses the assembled throng.

A selection of photos etc were of great interest. The wheelchair holds Mike Sullivan, a very long-term hillclimb exponent an advocate and well known for having nice cars and preparing them well.
 

Ron Hay's V8 engine, two motorcycle 4-cyl engines mounted on a common crankcase. And it shows its power off the line...

While others do the same:

A bit of the character of the Huntley climb shows in this shot of the cars returning:

Edited by Ray Bell, 22 September 2013 - 21:43.

No trouble, Daniel...

Those cars look something else, don't they?

While scanning about 6,000 old Ektachrome slides from the 60s and 70s I found this old shot from Huntley that someone here might recognise. How ya going Danny?

Dick Simpson

It looks like it was a hell of a lot of fun!

But I can also understand it going to the tip...

It looks like it was a hell of a lot of fun!
 
But I can also understand it going to the tip...

Hi folks.  I am new on this forum, but local to the Huntley hillclimb.  I did go there last a few years ago; I think Peter Gumley was winning everything, but someone may remember Malcolm Oastler bringing the Union-Jag.  Probably around 2007 give or take.

So is there still a future there?  And it looks from the contributors on here that there would be enough memories and photos to justify a book on the history of Huntley.

Any plans?

Chris M.

What carbs are they on the SM? Any internal mods? I hope to be building a 36er for my '56 beetle soonish.

Took a leisurely run up the hill today...she is quite steep  and quite a challenge....sure looks like power is the answer rather than finesse (maybe)...

any plans to re-surface the hotch-potch of bitumen any time soon?