The Last Mile

The (last) Mt Alma Mile Hillclimb.

Traditionally we have had limited access to hillclimb venues in South Australia with the only permanent facility at Collingrove in the Barossa and in recent years a few once a year events on public roads at Mt Gambier, Willunga and Mt Alma.

Mt Alma is located near the south coast close to the holiday township of Victor Harbor and has a 10 year long history run by the Southern Districts Car Club on a closed public road for 1.6km, or a mile in the old language. But that history comes to an end in 2019 as the local landholders can't support the event into the future meaning there is nowhere to locate the pit / paddock and no access for spectators so unfortunately this will be the last hurrah.

I was lucky enough to run in the very first event and perhaps made the trip another four times over the years so when I heard that this might be the last event I made sure to get my entry in early as the event was a sell out and no doubt some people missed out. I have run both the Datsun and the Elfin here before but the Datsun has seen a few upgrades since the last visit so I was keen to see what difference the mods had made.

Mt Alma Mile is perhaps the fastest Hillclimb in SA with relatively few corners and one chicane in its length so some of the top cars are well over 200kmh at the finish and this attracts some very fast entries including the monster Mackrell 260z, Weeks Lamborghini and a large mix of Japanese 2wd and 4wd rockets and drift spec cars all pushing the limits (and sometimes over them).  The flying finish of the run is a high speed corner over crest that seems to catch someone out every year and this year did see a rollover here as well as a few smaller incidents along the way.

Before the event I was trying to dig up some previous year's results as a benchmark but my last run in 2016 had no results published and the time before that was 2013 but at least I had something.  A quick upgrade history check suggested that the runs in 2013 were before a series of changes to the car including triple carbs, 16" wheels and coil-over strut mods so there was a fair chance I should be a margin quicker, looks like I need to beat a 53.28 sec pass.

The SDCC run their hillclimbs a little differently to the other clubs where they classify the time cumulatively for the outright result rather than just recognise the single quickest run of the weekend, this means every run counts and one mistake can see you drop out of the results completely.  It also means you can’t afford to start slowly but need to hit the ground running with only one practice run before competition starts.

The event is far enough away from Adelaide that a lot of the crews stay overnight at the nearby townships which helps inject some cash in to the local economy and it's great to see support for the local businesses and helps justify the slight inconvenience of closing a public road for a couple of days. We stayed at the local resort and made sure to buy our fuel and food locally too.

The weak link in the 240z is really the axels so I'm loathe to be brutal on the start line preferring a road car start to a big clutch drop and smoke show so I lined up for the first run with no burnout and a gentle start.  But alas, there is no grip and even a gentle start sees so much wheelspin that for a second I think I've broken the diff.  Still, it gets better and I start to remember which way the track goes and make the run up without actually hitting anything. But it's going to need a burnout before each run to get some heat in the tyres.

Next run is better but there is still too much wheelspin on the start.  Run three I just walk the car off the line and it's better but I make a miss shift and then overcook the chicane trying to limit the time loss and am lucky to avoid the bollards and subsequent time penalty.

At the end of the first day we have three runs down and my best is 51.32 which puts me 66th outright and 12th in class but I suspect there is another second in there somewhere.

Sunday opens with a light shower but thankfully the track is dry for all my runs and there seems to be a bit more grip today.  Technique changes a little with a more aggressive start and pushing the limits at turns 1 and 2 to maintain the momentum for the long haul up the hill.  This all pays off and by the last run I've managed a 50.22 to hold 12th in class and 53rd outright.  Very happy even though I could almost smell a 49 second pass.

The tradition at Mt Alma is to end the event with a knockout style shootout for the fastest 2WD and 4WD cars to determine the winner and this year they added a top 12 Classic cars shootout as well. I managed to qualify for this shootout and ended up with equal 8th after the run.  Again, very happy but no trophies…

So what now for Hillclimbs in SA?  There are a few other bits of road that could be turned into a weekend racetrack but every year this gets harder to achieve through council and resident concerns so it might be a while before we see another new event but Wickhams Hill is not that far away and already makes a good rally stage…..