Loton Hill Climb: August

First ever hillclimb event for me and again another test event for the Lancia, still no work done, due to lack of time more than anything, thought the misfire was fuel surge at Anglesey, wrong, it was worse here, but gave us a chance to learn the event at a steady pace.

There was a really friendly bunch of people at this event, especially the other people in our class, yes there were other people in our class! Just a 500bhp Audi Quatro Sport, oh and a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth. We were quite excited to see the Audi Quattro, videos of which Gareth had been watching on YouTube to get to grips with the track before coming. Lots more spectators too to add to the excitement.

The hill climb is a bit different to the sprint, here again you go on your own on the track and it is based on timings but it is just a linear track. This means after you’ve gone you have to wait about 15 mins at the top with the other competitors to then all come back down in a kind of car parade.

The car still wasn’t firing on all cylinders but a narrower and slower track meant that the cornering was a bit better. A slow first practice to begin with 75 seconds on the clock, but Gareth chipped it down to below 73 seconds by the end of the day.

We ended the day 5^th out of five, but again a really useful day for us. We weren’t that far off the next competitor’s times, so for a first event we felt it was pretty positive.