Octagon November, 2016

CARRIC ACCOUNTING and
BUSINESS SERVICES/TIGHE CAMS
HILLCLIMB SERIES ROUND 5
by Ace Reporter Photos by Steve Johns
who managed to catch some drivers taking
unconventional - and unintended - lines.
A certain weekend in October usually
means finals for some Winter sports. On
this certain weekend the penultimate round
for the 2016 hillclimb series was held at Mt
Cotton. Again beautiful weather provided a
wonderful weekend which saw only a couple
of plunges into the Queensland Nut barrier
(again saving damage to cars), some slides
plus three new club records which included
a new outright club record.
Again the Regularity challenge witnessed
the lead change over the 7 scoring runs.
Andrew Willesden (MGB) and Greg Tebble
(Locost Clubman Roadster) were spot on
for their estimate of the time it would take
for each to complete their first competition
run and therefore did not lose a point. Both
were followed by David Dumolo (Triumph
TR3A, down 1 point) then Lindsay Derriman
(Toyota Camry with a loss of 5 points) from
Don Webster (MGTD, down 9 points) and
Shaun Rankin on minus 10 points. Second
climb saw David ahead on minus 3 from
Andrew and Greg (both minus 4), Lindsay
(5 points), Shaun (10) then Don (18). Run
three results placed David and Greg in the
lead (both 4 points) just ahead of Lindsay
(still on minus 5), Andrew (6 points), Shaun
(13 points) with Don adding to his total to
now down 34 points. Next run saw Greg
(5 points) from Lindsay (6 points) Andrew
(8 points), David (11) Shaun (20) and Don
(increasing his score to 41).
The lead closed again after run 5 with Greg
and Lindsay both on 6 points, Andrew (down
9), David (minus 19), Shaun (30 points)
with Don on 46 points. On the penultimate
climb Greg was alone on minus 7 points
from Andrew (11), Lindsay (14), David (24),
Shaun (31) and Don (48 points). From the
final result Greg maintained his lead on
minus 9 points with Andrew (down 14),
Lindsay (24 points) both Shaun and David
on 33 points followed by Don with a 48
points loss.
SEDAN CARS
Production and Invited Cars up to 1600
cc went to Daniel Zeimer (Toyota Corolla,
53.85 seconds) with the over 2 litre class
going to Cameron Bolt (Skyline 350GT)
with a 51.27 second time set on his second
run for the weekend to finish ahead of Brad
Stratton (Ford Focus RS turbo, 51.85 set
on his second run on Sunday morning)
then Chris Balhatchet (BMW 325i, 52.57),
David Jackson (Mazda RX-7, 53.71) and
Ray Balhatchet (Nissan Skyline turbo,
55.54). Brad Stratton’s new competition
car, which was bought through the auctions
as a repairable write off, was prepared
in record time (the Focus was so new
the paint may not have dried) and Brad
used his one run on Saturday to test the
performance potential with a cautious run
of 57.65 seconds before setting his best
run on Sunday. The Start Line magazine
(series 02/16 page 16) of the British car
club, Wigton Motor Club, reports the Focus
RS gives 345 bhp from the 2.5 litre turbo
engine, has the acceleration figures of 0 to
62 mph in 4.7 seconds, although a 4WD
handles like a rear wheel drive car and can
allegedly out drift a BMW M2.
Brad Smith took the Improved Production
class under 1600 cc in his Hyundai Excel X3
with a 53.24 seconds run. Brad had won a
heat race during the Circuit Excel Nationals
held at Morgan Park during September,
to qualify for the final however was forced
out of the title race by another driver in one
of those ‘racing incidents’. Karlie Buccini
(Proton Satria GTi) won the 1601 to 2000 cc
class with a 50.78 seconds whilst the large
capacity class went to Ken Graham (Datsun
1600 SSS, 46.06) then Pauline Graham
(Datsun1600 SSS, 46.70) both setting their
best times on Saturday, with Troy McGogan
next in his Mitsubishi Lancer with a best run
of 47.95 seconds.
First class record of the weekend was set in
The Octagon - November 2016 59