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Huntley Hillclimb


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#101 kombiracer

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Posted 14 January 2014 - 12:51

If you drive a car with less than 100hp the track is plenty smooth enough.

 

Its actually better than what it was in August. There were 2 hefty bumps on the left hand side just before the fork which made it a rather nasty experience for the faster cars. When they do the usual mad rush in June to spend up the roads budget we have asked council to come and spend it on Huntley Hill. How much they have to spend depends on how much pothole causing rain we get in the meantime. There is no firm commitment on if it will get done or how much of it will get done.

 

They must have had a good engineer on hand when they did the current road. Between the start line and the fork is at least 20 years old with no maintenance.



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#102 275 GTB-4

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Posted 14 January 2014 - 21:13

They must have had a good engineer on hand when they did the current road. Between the start line and the fork is at least 20 years old with no maintenance.


Tar ( :blush:) KR, well.... the tar from start to fork must have coke oven slag mixed with it like they did at Silverdale?  :well:

 

Great little hill :up:



#103 DanTra2858

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Posted 15 January 2014 - 11:09

If you have a car with not a great amount of power but good handleing the trick to a good time at Huntley in my day was to start on the left hand side of the track & keep in close while turning through the first corner & continue that line to the Fork then place your left hand front wheel just on the grass verge to give you a better line through the right hander just before the tower, I then found that the remainder of the climb was in the lap of the Gods.

One thing I did find is when you start to get into the low 27 to 26 second bracket the run to the finish line was not a simple drive but a very fast curve to the finish, testing both car & driver.

The main reason for starting from the left & staying on the left is that it is a shorter distance than taking the classic line through the corner thus saving time.

#104 kombiracer

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Posted 15 January 2014 - 11:38

How the fast guys hang on for 18-19 seconds is beyond me. Quickest I went up was 24 I think but that was with some cheating, we did flying starts from the bottom of the pits.

 

There are a lot of people on the championship who dont like Huntley saying it a boring power hill. I guess to an extent that is the case but without respect it will bite you on the backside. There arent too many places on the hill that arent haunted with the ghosts of broken cars. I dont think I have seen anyone crash on the start straight, but pretty much everywhere else between corner 1 and the finish. Coming out of the esses is easily the most common place. Every second event on average we have someone run wide past the tower, right hand wheels in the dirt and then oversteer into the tyre wall on the left. Has that always been the case?

 

As a possible indication of how steep it is, I've had to use the ambulance 4 times and 2 of those were spectators having walked up the hill and had a bit of an issue.


Edited by kombiracer, 15 January 2014 - 11:39.


#105 DanTra2858

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Posted 15 January 2014 - 20:32

Back in the early 1960,s there was a Fiat 1500 powered open wheeler that had a issue approaching the first corner & ended up running off the road & down the bank on the right hand side of the track, I seem to remember it was a wet day, car was damaged but driver was OK.

Also during this period coal trucks were operating all day transporting coal from Huntley Pit to the coal fired electrical plant on the banks of Lake Illawarra, the damage they caused to the hill was allways a problem due to the trucks breaking on running down the hill pushing the road surface into a wave form, this happened more in Summer than in Winter.

The other thing that happened was tracking that occured due to the weight of coal in the trucks, when Huntley Pit closed the road surface was much easier to maintain, between the Fork & the First corner the thickness of the surface was less than 25mm thick in places when the trucks were running.

Now they were the days of a Working Bee, first fix the road surface then if there was time do some mowing, the biggest problem was crumbeling road edges, any comments from other past members of WSCC.

#106 275 GTB-4

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Posted 12 January 2015 - 03:36

terry McGrath posted this on the Oxley's Hill thread...

Posted Today, 03:46

Looking through some of my records I find I have a copy of the Huntley Hill Climb programme for 16th March 1958 event.

The event was run by the Wollongong Sporting Car Club

terry

#107 Paul Hamilton

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Posted 12 January 2015 - 06:23

How the fast guys hang on for 18-19 seconds is beyond me. Quickest I went up was 24 I think but that was with some cheating, we did flying starts from the bottom of the pits.

 

There are a lot of people on the championship who dont like Huntley saying it a boring power hill. I guess to an extent that is the case but without respect it will bite you on the backside. There arent too many places on the hill that arent haunted with the ghosts of broken cars. I dont think I have seen anyone crash on the start straight, but pretty much everywhere else between corner 1 and the finish. Coming out of the esses is easily the most common place. Every second event on average we have someone run wide past the tower, right hand wheels in the dirt and then oversteer into the tyre wall on the left. Has that always been the case?

 

As a possible indication of how steep it is, I've had to use the ambulance 4 times and 2 of those were spectators having walked up the hill and had a bit of an issue.

 

I have not been to Huntley Hill for many years and I have no idea how the track surface would now compare to those days but, while it has always placed a premium on power, you do need to know just how and when to use the right foot.  It was certainly never boring for me and I agree that, when the pace is on, any sort of error up towards the top could most definitely bite very hard!!  

 

During the early eighties my best time with the March 77B was 22.58 and when I ran the Elfin 600 there in historic form (treaded tyres etc.) in around 1990 my best was in the mid 24's.  That kept my attention very well focused and, if the quick guys are now down to 18/19 seconds, I am sure that it will be keeping them hanging on very tight indeed!!

 

Hills like Huntley where the road is wide enough to offer a greater choice of line usually provide more rewards for the competitors with the most considered approach than do the more common 'point and squirt up the garden path' type of venue which really never interested me much at all.



#108 GMACKIE

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Posted 12 January 2015 - 06:48

My Beetle managed 26.72 in 1979, and the 'Fork' was taken flat-out.... That was until one day, when I helped Ron Hay out of his up-turned Hay Honda, at the 'Fork'.

 

Ron was OK, but while we were waiting for the track to be cleared, I foolishly looked over the edge, thinking "I wouldn't like to go over there". I don't think I ever went as quick after that. :rolleyes:



#109 DanTra2858

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Posted 12 January 2015 - 08:55

Have run at Huntley in many diffent types of cars over the years, quickest was the Rotary Cortina Sports Sedan with a best of 26.05.

One thing that I do remeber is that the fork was taken in third gear back to second for the esses then back to third for the finish.

Flat out through the fork in third which converted to a speed over 100 mph about the same speed coming over the top of the dogleg before breaking for BP at Oran Park, from the esses to the finish was a ride of a lifetime with the car dancing all over the road or felt like it, first time ever that I felt concerned about going scrub, not nice.

So there you go when I tried to better my time chasing Rod Darling in his Datsun Rotary powered Sports Sedan I spun in the esses clipping the Armco in front of the Control Tower thus ending that day, I was chasing a 25.?? whatever run, the day of my best at Huntley.

#110 kombiracer

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Posted 14 January 2015 - 09:20

First event for 2015 coming up on Feb 1.



#111 planeimages

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Posted 18 March 2016 - 00:41

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?

Scan-130903-0023.jpg

Dick Simpson

Did Spike build a second SM VW? Photos I have seen show him in a more conventionally laid-out car with wishbone suspension front and rear with wings . One of the hots taken at the start at Huntley circa 1969-70 (my Nota Vee is in the background) show  what appears to be the SM with its rear wing on stalks. Also did Warren Brown own the Sceptre and was this the former Ron Woodbrdge Rover V8-engined car? :cat:



#112 DanTra2858

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Posted 18 March 2016 - 04:34

Yes Spike did build a second SM VW using VW front suspension then a third using wishbone, then a forth, fifth a dragcar then more cars including his latest Hill Climb car which apparently he has based on current F1 designs.

As for the Septer I can not cofirm your question.

Will try & find a photo of Spikes Second car.

#113 kombiracer

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Posted 18 March 2016 - 09:27

Spike's daughter is planning on writing a book about him in a year or so.



#114 baz

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Posted 18 March 2016 - 11:05

If I knew how to post photos I could show you Spikes latest weapon and photos of the drag car and car number four which at the moment is buried in a container with all my other "shed stuff ".



#115 DanTra2858

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 02:49

Spike_Jones_SMV.jpg

 

Number 2 SM Special built 1968/69 of Spike Jones at Amaroo Hill Climb (photograper unknown)



#116 lyntonh

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 05:45

Spike_Jones_SMV.jpg

 

Number 2 SM Special built 1968/69 of Spike Jones at Amaroo Hill Climb (photograper unknown)

It's me again....my children end up all over the place!!!



#117 DanTra2858

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 07:27

Well thank you Lynton you have answered a question for planeimages.

Edited by DanTra2858, 30 March 2016 - 07:28.


#118 DanTra2858

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 07:29

Lynton do you have any more of the SM SPECIALS of Spike Jones?

#119 DanTra2858

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Posted 31 March 2016 - 11:00

Latest_car.jpg

 

Spike Jones latest Hill Climb car, Supercharged much modified VW/Porsch motor, more details to come.



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#120 lyntonh

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Posted 31 March 2016 - 11:59

Lynton do you have any more of the SM SPECIALS of Spike Jones?

Sorry, Daniel.....this unintentionally blurry one is the only shot I have.