They say we are always learning. The Harewood Hillclimb event demonstrated that:
- I learnt that if the event is a two day event it’s best to book the correct day.
- They learnt that it’s Ok to let newbie competitors compete on the wrong day, as long as on that day it rains!
- We learnt that the final corner has a progressively reducing radius and it’s entirely possible to cross the finish line sideways, or in some cases, though not the AMOC speed team, backwards.
Harewood is a great hillclimb location set in the rolling valley close to the iconic Harewood house used for some scenes in Downton Abbey and ITV’s Victoria.
AMOC competitors were Tom Whittaker and Peter House in their highly competitive GT4 Vantages, Tim Price, my fellow new competitor this season, in his V12 Vantage, Tim Stamper in an astonishingly fast Mk I DB2/4, Felix Stamper with his Z4 and myself trailing slowly in my standard DB2/4Mk II.
Walking the track before start of the day it is clear that this hillclimb starts by going downhill! The start line is followed by a short straight, hard braking to a 90 degree right hand turn and downhill stretch bringing you to a right, left, right combination that challenged the 69 year old drum brakes on my DB2/4, then we start up hill, a sharp left immediately after a blind brow, that was exciting the first time!, a 90 degree right, quick jiggle left and then another 90 right, a straight between a Yorkshire stone house wall and Yorkstone barn, quite narrow no trouble for me, I don’t have enough power to get out of shape between the buildings, but care needed for our V12 and GT4 colleagues.
After the buildings a sweeping uphill left and then a long straight using all of my 150 bhp to reach 3rd gear then that long tightening right hand to the finish line, too fast and you spin off, too slow and you lose balance – just right and you cross the finish line beautifully sideways, breathing a sigh of relief as you slow for the paddock.
So how did we all do: I was trailing at 86.74seconds, Felix Stamper (Z4) at 77.36, Tim Stamper (in his rocketship DB2/4) 71.27, Tim Price (standard V12 Vantage) 70.06, Peter House (green GT4) with his best time 66.67 seconds, and Tom Whittaker, the class winner in his white GT4 Vantage 66.58.
With Ian Muir, Tim Stamper’s fellow Riley driver, in Tim’s Db 2/4 at 76.27.
Notably, Peter’s Green GT4 was the cover photo on the Harewood weekend events programme.
Were we all trying hard - Oh yes, Tom and Peter are always so close, and so competitive. It’s astonishing to see how well the 70 year old DB2/4’s performs, just look at the front left tyre (attached image by JCB Photography) as I exit the final corner /crossing the finish line. More photographs and videos can be seen on the Speed Championship page of the Club website.
We all improved in our runs through the day, we all were close to the handicap time set by AMOC HQ, I think we can count that as a successful event.
What else did we learn?
- Tim drove a vintage Riley on Saturday event with great aplomb.
- Peter House changing from wet to dry tyres on Saturday saved him a good few seconds.
- I should fix the petrol gauge - I will then have confidence to compete with less fuel in the tank, the marshals snagged me for fuel spillage from the filler! leading to a stern ticking off and remedied with duct tape over the filler.
The Red Kites, resident at Harewood, gave a wonderful display of flying prowess at lunchtime, there were 10-15 present swooping down to pick up scraps of beefburger and hotdogs, they are selective, appearing to drop the bun parts and kept the meat.
Harewood Hillclimb was organised by BARC Yorkshire Centre, our thanks to them for an efficient and safe day, we were able to fit 2 practice and 3 timed runs in each day.
The AMOC Speed team’s next event is Lydden Hill in Kent. Come and join us there – your standard car, AMOC membership card and a RS interclub licence is all you need, plus approved helmet and race suit and gloves.
I will be there, all the way from Yorkshire, most certainly, driving there and back - DB2/4s are to be driven, and polished occasionally, honorary exception noted for Tim Stamper who just does the driving element!
Video of some of the runs are available:
Peter House in his GT4 Rally Aston Martin:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1095041114
Tim Stamper in his DB 2/4:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1095042238
Tim Price in his V12 Vantage S:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1095042585
Peter Watts