Hershey Hillclimb Report
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Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 368
From: Westminster, MD
[attachment=38022:attachment]2006 Hershey Hillclimb Report
The Hershey Hillclimb was a blast! I took it slow at first and worked my times down to a very fast 51.390 second run on Sunday afternoon and backed it up with a 51.862 proving that a 51 second run was within my reach and not a fluke.
I was faster than all but one Formula car and one Production car. Ken Taggert in his Formula Super Vee took FTD with a 47.499, and Merlin Miller took 2nd with a 49.253 blast in his Sunbeam Tiger. My time put me in 3rd overall and 1st in class – not too bad for a hillclimb rookie!
There was more time to be taken off my run, but the risk was just too great. The paved road is just 13ft wide with trees on each side (some at the edge of the pavement) and winds .7 miles and up 200 ft to the old Hershey Hotel. I drove comfortably and not over my head. I took advantage of all the touring runs on Sat and Sun. while the others sat in their cars just to get more seat time and I think it paid off. I was able to learn a few more reference points on the Sun morning touring runs that I use for braking markers and turn in / apex points. The biggest pucker factor was the “straight” up the hill, where the speed is magnified by the trees flashing by and the sunlight and shadows flickering as you pass by.
After a weekend of racing up the hill over 100mph (yes, I was well into 4th gear on the “straight”) without injury, I ended up falling off the trailer’s tongue while trying to take the canopy down. I landed on my left ankle and rolled it over. I’m lucky I didn’t break it, but it is just a sprain and I should be OK for walking around Carlisle.
Just call me Grace…
I meet some other Nopistons people at the event, but I can't rember their names. I do remmeber that one is in school for mech eng and we talked for quite some time about some of his projects.
Anyhow, just thought I'd make a post at least once a year
The Hershey Hillclimb was a blast! I took it slow at first and worked my times down to a very fast 51.390 second run on Sunday afternoon and backed it up with a 51.862 proving that a 51 second run was within my reach and not a fluke.
I was faster than all but one Formula car and one Production car. Ken Taggert in his Formula Super Vee took FTD with a 47.499, and Merlin Miller took 2nd with a 49.253 blast in his Sunbeam Tiger. My time put me in 3rd overall and 1st in class – not too bad for a hillclimb rookie!
There was more time to be taken off my run, but the risk was just too great. The paved road is just 13ft wide with trees on each side (some at the edge of the pavement) and winds .7 miles and up 200 ft to the old Hershey Hotel. I drove comfortably and not over my head. I took advantage of all the touring runs on Sat and Sun. while the others sat in their cars just to get more seat time and I think it paid off. I was able to learn a few more reference points on the Sun morning touring runs that I use for braking markers and turn in / apex points. The biggest pucker factor was the “straight” up the hill, where the speed is magnified by the trees flashing by and the sunlight and shadows flickering as you pass by.
After a weekend of racing up the hill over 100mph (yes, I was well into 4th gear on the “straight”) without injury, I ended up falling off the trailer’s tongue while trying to take the canopy down. I landed on my left ankle and rolled it over. I’m lucky I didn’t break it, but it is just a sprain and I should be OK for walking around Carlisle.
Just call me Grace…
I meet some other Nopistons people at the event, but I can't rember their names. I do remmeber that one is in school for mech eng and we talked for quite some time about some of his projects.
Anyhow, just thought I'd make a post at least once a year
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 368
From: Westminster, MD
Originally Posted by HeffSpooled' post='818279' date='May 9 2006, 07:17 PM
That's great. Good show.
So the guys getting down to the 47s, are their cars that much faster, or are they taking a lot more risks?
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers
The one guy that got a 47 is running a open wheel car that weighs about 700 lbs less and has almost the same power. Pluss he actually has a areo package that works. He does take more risk and went off into a hay bale that damaged the front wing on his car later that day.
His car can be seen on this poster. It is the black and yellow open wheel formula car on the lower right.
http://www.svvscc.org/pages/events/Hillcli...poster%2006.jpg
It is like running a Stock Car against a F-1 car.
Brian
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