1994 BRG Lightweight Hillclimb Turbo

Good run Jon, you were on the Hillclimb tv at 1hr58min. Completely ignored by the commentator who was dribbling on about how amazing Ford Cosworths are - despite being 3 seconds slower than you!!!
Judging by how you came out of pardon, I guess the diff isn’t in yet? I’ve just fitted void fillers & am really pleased with the results for a cheap+easy job.

Looks another solid weekend, my pal was actually at it sending me updates on any 5's that went up the hill, sadly he missed both your runs. Said your car was a lot more serious than the couple he sent

Harewood Hillclimb 6th and 7th July 2019

My first visit to Harewood. The longest course on the British championship at 1584 yards. The venue is situated to the north of Leeds. 

Initial impressions on arriving to the paddock early on Saturday morning were very positive. The paddock is situated at the top of the hill, and the view from here is stunning, the track laid out beneath you in the valley. The viewing for spectators is superb.



After unpacking the car and going through the usual tasks of fitting the beam breaker, adjusting the dampers, tyre pressures and applying numbers, it was time to walk the course. The onboard videos that I studied prior to the event do the course no justice in terms of gradient. The course looks relatively flat from most onboard cameras, I was particularly surprised how steep the downhill run to the Esses is. It was clear whilst walking the course there was going to be a great deal to learn! The second half of the course rises up and a flat out blast through farm buildings leads to the long left hand corner named farmhouse, after this there's a longish straight leading to the daunting last corner named quarry it was clear that being brave and carrying in speed here would be key to a good time.



Saturday was a Harewood championship club event with the British championship event taking place on Sunday. Harewood seperate the over 2000cc road going class into 2wd and 4wd. There were 15 entries in the class - with M3s 350zs and a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus in the mix. The class record is helped by Kieran O'Brien in his supercharged 350z on a 63.73.

I set a 71.99 in first practice a 67 in practice 2. Timed run one saw a 66 and finally timed run 2 saw me post a 65.82 which I was pretty pleased with. This was good enough for 5th in class and less than 4 tenths away from 3rd. 

Reviewing my onboard footage I could see a fair amount of time left on the table pretty much everywhere! I could see chunks of time particularly under braking for the Esses and carrying more pace into the final corner. Definitely things to work on during Sundays event.

It was good to see some new cars that are local to the Harewood champs that are rarely seen on the Midland hills. One of said cars was the road going up to 2000cc class Toyota Starlet Turbo - boasting a headline power figure beginning with a 4!  Which is frankly crazy for only 1300cc!! The car was beautifully prepared.




As always there was no shortage of stunning metal from Stuttgart




Sundays event saw huge crowds, with the "Fueled Society" car show running alongside the championship event, I thought it was a fantastic idea to help introduce new spectators and potentially competitors to our fabulous sport.




I attacked the course harder on Sunday morning and second practice saw a 64.76 which would be my best of the weekend. It was a bit disappointing to gradually go slower from this point, recording a 64.96 and a 64.99 on the competition runs respectively. Timed 1 I overdrove and Timed 2 saw a bodged gear change out of chippies on the run to Country corner. The second to fifth mis-shift killed the cars momentum - the rest of the run was fairly good albeit a little less neat than the 64.76 practice run. A run that could have been! But that's hillclimb - you have to perform on the runs that count.  The time was good enough to bag second in a class of just 3.  

Onboard runs:




Overall a good weekend - can't wait to get back and have another crack at going quicker. 

Next up is the British Hillclimb round at Wiscombe Park in my home county of Devon at the end of July.

Take home car - the stunning GWR Predator of Jonathan Varley. The ex Graeme Wight Jr machine is now powered by Ford BDG power and was absolutely flying at the Yorkshire Hill.












 

Yes its a shame the national round classes are not bigger at some events. The midland hills always have a good size of field. It would be great if more local regulars entered the national A1 and A2 classes at other events - eg harewood and wiscombe. Im not expecting a big class at all at Wiscombe at the end of July.
Have you done Harewood Howard?

Yeah, I did Harewood in my 1st season in the TVR but yet to in the Mazda. It’s part of our series a couple of times but it’s flipping miles away (even more for you!!) & there are some guys who are local specialists, so I don’t bother.

Good luck tomorrow Jon, careful under the trees when it’s damp! Sunday should be quicker.

Did you manage to get the diff in?