MT Cootha Classic Hill-Climb (Australia)
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The Cootha Hill-climb was just awsome,,, great track,,, VERY VERY FAST!!!!!!!!!

I was running 2nd outright for most of saturday, but i didn`t bother to do the last run cause the rain just shit me (& most people) right off,,, but the dam thing dried up in the arvo & so i got knocked back to 5th outright... I was using a new set of American Racer dirt speedway tyres, (only cause i had them & i didn`t want to wreck my Hoosier dirt tyres on the bitumen) but the American Racers were sooooo little & skinny & were actually quite hard ,,, i was literally spinning the wheels all the way up, & all the way down the hill so they were just total crap really

i was also having some rather major issues with the right rear brake locking up for some reason,,,, Not very funny i can tell you,,, going into & through the chicanes with one hand on the wheel & the other winding the bias valve knob back a few turns is pretty dam scary i can tell you especially down the back section,,, down hill & 5th gear at about 100+mph locking the right rear Tyre makes for some rather interesting facial shapes , that`s for sure wish i had a video camera pointing at my eye balls

then Sunday morn came along & the skys were clear so i cranked up the right peddle a bit more & took 5 secs straight off my Saturday time,,, that put me in 3rd outright for most of the morning,,, But yet again i got bumped back to 5th, & then back to 7th as the day progressed,,, 2nd run came along & i still couldn`t get any traction... & was still having dramas with that right rear brake locking problem scaring the be-jesus out of me

so i stuck my 8-inch wide Hoosier dirt speedway tyres (the ones i use at the autocross) on the front for the last run & they were heaps better & i could give it full throttle up the hill,,, MUCH MUCH BETTER-ER ---> but the rear brake locking thing got me again on the first chicane, swung me around & i bumped the fence,,, Busted the radiator a bit, & made it leak so i dropped out

didn`t have another radiator so i pulled out of the top ten shoot-out

So i ended up in 7th outright, just in front of Jim Richards :) ,,,

Just a bit behind 3 of the fastest hill-climb specials in the country,,, Allan McConnell in his 300hp areo packaged rocket ship open wheeler,,,, Darren Duffield & Warwick Hutchinson (Both 340hp turbo charged 13B Rotory open wheelers),,,,

Oops--> correction here Next was Bill Norman (Aka Norman superchargers, son of Eldred) with his 180hp rear drive, rear bike engined , Winged warrior, then the 2x "Rage" 180hp single seater Bike powered Buggys imported from England at $40K a pop & VERY VERY Quick INDEED!!!

so i was pretty choofed with that being my first run there,,, only 2x VERY wet runs ones & 3x dry ones (Correction/edit--> well only 2x dry runs sunday actually,,, the third one didn`t see me past the first turn)

so... with only 130hp,,, Front wheel drive,,, No Areo package at all ,,, & on """Dirt""" tyres I`m stoked !!!!!!!!

next year (if they let me run again) i`ll take some decent proper tarmac slicks

& i`ve just now sorted out the reason for the rear brake locking-up issue,,, the dam right rear wheel cyl locating roll-pin had gone missing & so the wheel cyl was cocking about, flogging around on the backing plate (Probably lost it at the last auto-cross 2 weeks ago)

NO wonder winding the rear bias vale off didn`t seem to do anything

MT Cotton,,, Grafton Mtn View,,, Noosa,,, & Many other hill-climb tracks are in my sights now,,, i don`t expect to win outright anywhere but i`ll give it a dam good shot once i get a bit more feel for this buggy,,, & start setting things up a bit... we really havn`t touched it since it was built apart from zipping up the F/D ratio,,, so there`s plenty of things to play with & sort out yet

i`m pretty sure we surprised the shit out of a pile of people with this thing,,, going on the comments i received all day long seems that most people hadn`t given any thought to a front wheel drive car being anywhere near top ten at a hill-climb,,, especially on Dirt Tyres ,,, so it was a bit of an awakening for lots of people

I`m just a little bit more than tickled at this point
Cheers
Matt

Edited by MadMatt on 31st May, 2010.

www.miniman.com.au

"""LazyGoodForNothingSmartArseKnowItAllBackYardMiniMechanic"""

speachless :) good stuff!!

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.