Older Australian hillclimbs
#101
Posted 30 May 2003 - 03:59
Clive Gibson has allowed me to scan a pile of his photos... here's on that might be of interest in this thread...
It's George Reed in his Ford V8-powered Monoskate at Leura Hillclimb. No idea of the date...
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#102
Posted 30 May 2003 - 10:00
Ray, the Leura Course is not on my list. I take it that this event took place therefore after 1950?Originally posted by Ray Bell
...It's George Reed in his Ford V8-powered Monoskate at Leura Hillclimb...
#103
Posted 30 May 2003 - 10:27
I am in the middle of scanning a pile of photographs, mostly from the pre-war period, and I thought this would fit in here nicely.
But now I consult John's magnificent book and see that the mirrors on the car identify the time as being after October 1950. I trust your poor old heart can stand these shocks!
Just to show I'm not totally callous, and that my heart is in the right place, I'll post a photo here that is from the pre-war period and it's on the hillclimb at Bathurst. It isn't, however, during a hillclimb, but rather during the 1939 150-mile race held on October 2.
You can't really see how steep this is until you study the photograph... in it Kevin Salmons has stopped with problems in the McIntyre Hudson 8, while Charlie Whatmore passes by and doesn't even offer his riding mechanic as assistance for the striken Hudson driver. The MG in the background is probably John Nind's TB, though there's an outside chance it's handicap winner John Sherwood's car.
And lest some say, "That's not the hillclimb, that was run up the Esses!" well... the hillclimbs at Bathurst have been run up both ends of the mountain section of the circuit.
#104
Posted 09 December 2003 - 08:13
Originally posted by Catalina Park
Could Razorback have been the "Old Razorback" that was used in countless rallys and navigation trials? When did the old road get bypassed by the newer one? (I don't mean the M5!)
Well, it's certainly not the highway we used in the fifties and sixties... here's a description (source: AMS, December 15, 1947) :
Seven tenths of a mile long, the start is on a slightly uphill striaght, which continues for about 200 yards to a long left hand sweep, this leads into a sharp right hand bend and almost immediately into a left hand hairpin between high banks, after which there is almost a quarter of a mile of uphill straight. At the end of this there is a tight right hand bend during which the road rounds theend of a spur and almost doubles back on itself into another uphill striaght of about half a mile, halfway up which the finish is situated. At present the surface is worn metal with gutters and stones (most of which were fixed to a great extent by the road gang), but with a few loads of gravel and a grader a great improvement would be effected, while a tar surface would make climbs very fast.
Now, I can't pick the location of this road at the moment, but it surely wasn't any part of the highway as it wasn't tarred. And it sure sounds like a busy bit of road with two relatively long straights in the seven tenths of a mile... and all those corners.
That area is in the Wollondilly Shire if anybody wants to make enquiries...
#105
Posted 09 December 2003 - 08:22
Originally posted by Hans Etzrodt
.....1933, 20/08 Franston V.....
Just to put you in the picture...
Ken McKinney in the lightweighted Ausin 7 that he had hoped to beat the supercharged car with...
#106
Posted 09 December 2003 - 08:28
Take a look at the latest Sydways street directory and you will see Old Razorback road on maps 385 and 405.
But then again I could be wrong!
#107
Posted 09 December 2003 - 09:29
Your post isn't clear on this, and I don't have that street directory.
#108
Posted 21 October 2004 - 11:30
Talking to a hillclimb fella tonight and he remembers competing on the old road. It was real "scary" very windy and made all the more difficult by the leaves and sap deposited on the course by the overhanging gums. He remembers a huge lose where someone backed it off the course and later died (1970's???)
#109
Posted 19 June 2005 - 09:21
"The Silverdale Hillclimb was run by the Robinsons and they closed the track back in the early nineties. After a lot of heavy rain a part of the track washed away & they didn't repair it. The Robinsons donated all the equipment & safety fences etc to the Lithgow car club which is building a hillclimb at the back of Portland."
Has the Portland Hillclimb been built??
#110
Posted 19 June 2005 - 09:46
I think it was Robsons not Robinsons that had Silverdale.
#111
Posted 19 June 2005 - 09:47
He was with Cecil Dodd in a Rover 75... entered by Automotive Technical Service of Rockdale, listed as Technical Manager for that business, which was a publishing house. Reginald Rivett was the third member of the crew.
Jim and Paddy are in Tasmania now.
#112
Posted 19 June 2005 - 09:55
#113
Posted 19 June 2005 - 10:29
#114
Posted 19 June 2005 - 10:37
Originally posted by Catalina Park
No. I am not sure what happened to it.
I think it was Robsons not Robinsons that had Silverdale.
thanks for that Morrie....BTW I have a good little Bullanti article for you....might scan it...
#115
Posted 19 June 2005 - 11:17
This is getting further from old Aussie hillclimbs all the time. Rawlo's still at Grose Vale.
#116
Posted 21 June 2005 - 10:33
Found some info (programs) on www.autopics.com.au
What knowledge, comments are out there?
#117
Posted 25 March 2006 - 08:00
My mate Ted having fun.....
Neat Cooper S
Mini Jem in gulf racing colours...
#118
Posted 01 February 2007 - 08:43
Quote
During the holidays I was out on the mountainbike and found a piece of road that I later discovered is the steepest bit of pavement in Australia…..it is also steeper than that really steep road in NZ (can't recall name - edit Baldwin St Dunedin) It was out Templestowe way and is an old hill climb course that is no longer in use and not accessible to cars. There is a section about 100m long and when I first looked at it I thought that there was no way I was going to be able to ride up it!!! Got about half way on first attempt using granny gear (22/32) but on the second try managed to get all the way to the top. I had the HRM on and I hit 188 as I got to the top. Basically I was out of the saddle for the whole way and almost doing alternate track stands as my speed was about 4km/h or less when I did look down!!!
I got home and looked it up on the web (google Templestowe hill climb) and it turns out that the 100m steep section has a gradient of 40% (ie 1:2.5). Since discovering it I have been back a couple of times (it is only a 30min ride from home) and done 5 intervals up it in a row with a couple of minutes rest inbetween…….it's a good workout and I hit 194 bpm on the last interval the last time I did it!!! Lots of fun but I am not sure that I am game to try it on a roadie yet!!!
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#119
Posted 02 June 2007 - 01:19
There appears to be a race circuit to the south of the main road....in the same town that has a great pie shop, the worlds biggest Potato (spud) and where parts of the movie Babe was filmed.
The lady from tourist center said: They don't do the Hill Climb any more and remembering back it was actually held on Range Road at the Tourist Road end. Hope that this is of some help. Regards
Heather Vickery.
That puts the site closer to Glenquarry on the way to Mittagong from Robertson.
http://www.zoomin.co...y/tourist road/
#121
Posted 02 June 2007 - 07:46
#122
Posted 02 June 2007 - 07:56
#124
Posted 02 June 2007 - 09:57
#125
Posted 02 June 2007 - 10:13
A bit of disused road with lots of hard things to hit.
#126
Posted 02 June 2007 - 11:10
Originally posted by 275 GTB-4
Lake View Hillclimb just out of Queanbeyan.
Talking to a hillclimb fella tonight and he remembers competing on the old road. It was real "scary" very windy and made all the more difficult by the leaves and sap deposited on the course by the overhanging gums. He remembers a huge lose where someone backed it off the course and later died (1970's???)
Believe it was Peter Quayles father-in-law. I think his death was not as a direct result of the accident but a subsequent stroke/blood clot.
Penguin in Tasmania was one of the most dangerous hillclimbs I saw. Houses on the left, barbed wire fence and a drop into the valley on the right, 5th gear all the way.
#127
Posted 02 June 2007 - 12:42
#128
Posted 02 June 2007 - 12:54
That Bowin was quite a good thing on the hills.
#129
Posted 02 June 2007 - 13:10
It was about 1981 he had his crash.
#130
Posted 02 June 2007 - 13:17
#131
Posted 02 June 2007 - 13:18
#132
Posted 02 June 2007 - 13:34
Originally posted by rms
Mike Sullivan, was at Huntley last weekend.
That's right... I was going to say I thought his first name was Mike...
And Huntley is his home climb, isn't it?
#133
Posted 02 June 2007 - 13:49
I am glad to see that Huntley is still going.
#134
Posted 04 January 2009 - 04:57
http://www.coothaclassic.com.au/
They hope to make it an annual event. Around 200 competition places. Entries open soon after Christmas.
#135
Posted 04 January 2009 - 11:56
It's intended, as I understand it, to lead on to bigger and better things.
#136
Posted 17 January 2009 - 03:17
just out of Lilydale VIC, part off a bigger overall "Lakeland" complex that had other family oriented activities?
Was a guy named Jim Abbot (sp?) involved somehow?...... I think he had an ex Alan Hamilton ??? Porsche (906) Spyder ???? that was converted to take an american v8 of some description?? The car moving onto Tom Sulman at some stage??? ....Murray Bingham (sp?) at some stage???....
Channel 10 (Melb) used to do outside broadcasts of motorsport from Lakeland hillclimb???
....ran from the mid 60's thru to the mid 70's.
#137
Posted 17 January 2009 - 03:37
Abbot was a ex UK whom also owned the Le Mans Sunbean Tiger and also ran the motor car show events at the Exhibition buildings.Originally posted by 275 GTB-4
Lakeland Hillclimb thread resurrection...
just out of Lilydale VIC, part off a bigger overall "Lakeland" complex that had other family oriented activities?
Was a guy named Jim Abbot (sp?) involved somehow?...... I think he had an ex Alan Hamilton ??? Porsche (906) Spyder ???? that was converted to take an american v8 of some description?? The car moving onto Tom Sulman at some stage??? ....Murray Bingham (sp?) at some stage???....
Channel 10 (Melb) used to do outside broadcasts of motorsport from Lakeland hillclimb???
....ran from the mid 60's thru to the mid 70's.
#138
Posted 17 January 2009 - 17:39
It was a hillclimb car originally, I think there's a bit on this forum about it... search using 'Bergspyder' and I feel sure you'll find it.
Jim Abbott also fitted an Olds V8 to an ex-Mildren Brabham for hillclimbs.
#139
Posted 29 July 2009 - 10:43
And what of the 1933 (?) event in which Ken McKinney ran his very stripped Austin 7?
"The developers of the industrial estate asked the car club to run a hillclimb there to publicise their estate," he told me. And so he entered to win the 750cc class. But on learning that the supercharged Austin 7 (Clarrie May?) was entered he was despondent... but agreed to let his mechanic (Cyril Dickason? Jack McCutcheon? Truly, I'd have to look up the names of the players, it might have even been Dickason in the supercharged A7) lightweight the car.
It finished up as a chassis and running gear, with an alloy seat out of a Tiger Moth as all that stood between the world and Ken as he drove it.
They forgot, however, to pick up the magneto that Joseph Lucas had agreed to lend them for the weekend, and while the supercharged car was faster (only just!) in the first two runs, Ken felt he had its measure in the third...
"I got a good start, I think I must have ran it right out in first gear, it was really flying, then just a hundred yards from the finish line it went brrrrrrrr...!!"
The points had stuck open!
Anyway, the point is that this was a one-off hillclimb at Frankston. I don't know who the outright contenders were, nor do I think the 94-yo McKinney would.
Is that the event on 20th August in John's list? Probably... who can get at the papers for that Monday?
I have found the results here, down near the bottom:
http://ndpbeta.nla.g...kston hillclimb
with Fred Bray winning the "Championship of Victoria" in the 5 litre Ballot.
It may not have been a one off though, as there is this article (down at the bottom again) from October 1930, but I can find no results:
http://ndpbeta.nla.g.....ub" frankston
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#140
Posted 29 July 2009 - 12:13
Now I realise it might have been Jack Sidebottom who suggested the severe lightening of the car. I've posted the photo of it somewhere.
#141
Posted 09 September 2011 - 12:17
Edited by 275 GTB-4, 09 September 2011 - 22:23.
#142
Posted 10 September 2011 - 03:25
I guess it would have run up the hill near where the freeway crosses over Greenhills Road these days.1961 Berrima NSW...Greenhils Road??
#143
Posted 10 September 2011 - 06:22
I guess it would have run up the hill near where the freeway crosses over Greenhills Road these days.
Plausibly Mountain Man! must check it out next time I'm up that way....(and Razorback and....)
#144
Posted 10 September 2011 - 06:29
I grew up 10 minutes from here in my prime years of driving and needless to say could be found there on the occasional night at 1am or so as with others such as my schoolmate Graham Wise, 4 times Victorian Rally Champion who lived closer than me ;)
Couple of videos here to get a feel for it ..
A little more info here ..
http://www.ausbushcr...hill_climb.html
#145
Posted 20 September 2011 - 07:07
eg
Racing Cars under 2000cc
Ron Woodbridge Lynx Ford
Brian Lear Cooper Peugeot
Brian Jones Lotus 20B Ford
Roy Goodman Goodman GD3
Brian Walker Walker Renault
Bill Stoddart Cooper Renault
Ken Hambly Lotus 20
Richard Cornell Amatol Mk4
Robert Phillips Cooper Vincent
Max Davies Renmax "R"
Neil Edwards Renault
M Coulter Reno
John Lovell Meka Triumph
Dennis Davis Tammell Triumph
Peter Wentworth Edwards Ornel tiumph
Glyn Ballantyne Venom
Lawson Ballantyne Vagrant
.... and, in the over 2000cc Racing Car Class, opposed to Murray Bingham's Bingham Cobra and Barrie Garner's Bowin Holden, was Dale Harvey in the Harbrid Holden
#146
Posted 21 September 2011 - 22:01
#147
Posted 21 September 2011 - 22:32
Fastest time of Day at the first Greensborough Hillclimb went to Ern Seeliger in Itala Ford V8 Special, which finished only fourth in the second, Ted Gray's Alfa Ford V8 winning that one. I am not certain which of these two events was on June 24 1945. The Chamberlain book is a little obscure on this too, but does supply a list of fastest times.
#148
Posted 22 September 2011 - 05:52
Edited by David McKinney, 22 September 2011 - 05:53.
#149
Posted 22 September 2011 - 06:10
....A couple of weeks later, my enthusiasm still high, I decided to ride down the hill on my push-bike.... Result...much of the skin removed from my body and dental issues that still plague me today...
#150
Posted 22 September 2011 - 12:19
Also, what road was the hillclimb held on?
Cheers,
Matthew.