My Day at Haunted Hills
31 March 2019

Well what a day. Same conditions as my first ever hill climb this time last year - wet track, rain and wind!  As was commented by local members of Gippsland Car Club, "Welcome to our Haunted Hills!"

One word of wisdom to first timers here - grab a garage.  For $50 in these weather conditions, you’ll be thankful you did.  Especially for those who arrive on road tyres and then switch to track tyres.  For my part, swapping out with a well-worn set of A050s is no fun out in the carpark.

So with my well-worn A050s fitted onto my E30 and scrutineering completed, driver briefing is called.  I can still recall one marshall’s closing comment, “If you’re on R-spec tyres you might struggle getting any heat into them, you might do better on your road tyres”.  Hmmm..  Mine have not let go so far, okay, let’s give it a go anyway!

The day started with a Clockwise Figure Eight.  Completing all six runs albeit extremely slow on my first (wet track… will my cold worn A050s, let go?), I improved by 17 seconds.  Pretty happy with that! 

The next session was a Clockwise Loop (starting to feel a little better now - but yes, it’s still raining), I improved by 5.5 seconds. 

The final session was a Clockwise Double Loop (you guessed it, still raining), I improved by 3.5 seconds. 

Now this is where it did get interesting, coming into the final run of the day, believe it or not, a chance for a dry run.  "Okay" I thought, this is going to be my best of the day.  I can put a little more into this one.  Well I did, did it pay off? No!  I lost grip at the bottom of the track, losing the rear of my E30 into the rough.  No drama, straighten up, back on track, grumble and growl at the bad run time - will have to excuse myself about that one!

Once back in the garage and commencing the swap from track back to road, I discovered it was not the track on my final run that let me down… it was in fact my rear A050s - they were completely bald.  I did think this would be the final round for them anyway.  Plan already in place to get over to Traction Tyres.

Despite the conditions it was a good day.  The realisation of the challenge you have set yourself in some pretty poor conditions, yet come out with no more than a few lawn clippings under your guards, leaves you with a real sense of achievement. 

If you have not tried a Hill Climb then give it a go.  It’s nothing like a typical track day, yet it is an experience well worth trying. 

Simon Meens | Member #45
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne