HILL CLIMB - June 7th 2009

[djaggs]

JAMEER FOR PRIME MINISTER !!!!!!

[saltydog]

I am all for it, there must be other venues that might have better run off areas and better road surface, who say lady young? Nizam that is your next challenge

meanwhile hold this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJsHlugRls4

[MG Man]

runoff? Ryan, check out Shelsley Walsh.........oldest track in the world...track record is 23 seconds or thereabouts.....100 years long
http://www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk/

[link]

[djaggs]

This is what we aiming for.......

http://www.brayspeed.co.uk/assets/hillclimb.wmv

http://www.brayspeed.co.uk/assets/The%20Gurston%20Trailer.wmv


Nice vid there MG, damn that was fast.

[djaggs]

Notice the close proximity to the trees here.....but lots of barriers.

[AutoSport]

Sunday 7th June 09 . Cazabon Bamboo. The Hill Climb Event
Article by: Tanko Baboolal Acting Competition Chairman

TTASA’s Advance Driving School and Hill Climb Event turned out to be quite a success. The day’s event started with the driving school. New drivers, Bari and Javed Mustapha had their hands filled with tutoring from Tanko Baboolal and Clive Sudgen. Mayank Ramlakhan was third rookie.

The Hill Climb was the main event of the day’s proceedings. It consisted of two main categories, 4-wheel and 2-wheel drive. In the all wheel category, John Penti Powell was awesome. He set the fastest time up the hill with a magnificent time of 1.27.92 seconds. He had the rest of the competition driving their lungs out. Unfortunately John had a small mishap with his right rear wheel and spectated for the rest of the day.

Mister excitement, Ainsley Lochan entered the battle and excited the crowd with his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Wagon who emerged as the winner of the all wheel drive event. Second place was the adventurous Robert Cadiz who really had Ainsley on his “P’s” and “Q’s”. Finishing third was Jodi Ali in his Evo 7.

All Wheel Times
John Powell – 1.27.92 – Suburu Impreza STI Black
Ainsley Lochan – 1.28.11 – Evo Wagon Smoke Blue
Robert Cadiz – 1.28.59 – Evo 7 Orange
Jodi Ali – 1.28.63 – Evo 7 Yellow

Big Surprise Big Surprise
Young and talented driver Mayank Ramlakhan drove his way to victory in the 2- wheel category in an amazing time of 1.32.80 in his super 3rd Gen RX7 beating some of the four wheel drive EVO times. Second was Simmons Gerald having fun in his Toyota Corolla. Third was past president, Jameer Ali who had the world of fun in an Oswald Stoute sponsored 2nd Gen Mazda RX7.

For those of you who did not show up, you missed something in the life of Motorsport; the thrill of drivers like John Powell, Ainsley Lochan, Robert Cadiz, Jodi Ali and Professor Clive Sudgen. TTASA would like to thank the other drivers for their participation in this event, especially Laurence Sinanan .

[rcadiz]

Just a note on safety which was probably a little overlooked for this event now that it is finished. In defense of the event planners i don;t think they realized how quick the drivers would have actually completed the course and obviously how fast the cars were actually traveling.

Marshals - Marshals need to be placed all along that course (or any other) in line of sight with one another. If a car runs into trouble there is no way of telling whether he/she is safely off or maybe has restarted and then poses a risk to an oncoming ambulance or Course Steward. Listening out for an exhaust/engine noise is not the best option here. There were flags present but with no marshals to hold them - well self explanatory.

Tires/Barriers/Chicanes/Caution tape in key areas - The 90R at the lookout area needs to be looked at carefully. Either a chicane before the corner to slow your approach or a few rows of tires to stop an unwanted lesson in scuba diving with a race car. Lets face it - if a car goes over - it is instant death. In this event the placement of the cones forced you to the outside of the corner when they probably should have been placed to keep you on the inside. It may be wise to put some caution tape on a few of the corners / trees to warn competitors further up where the road tightens and the risk of damage if you run off increases.

Cage / No cage - We all ran the event without a cage and i think we can all agree that this discussion will have to happen before the next event. It is clear that even the most seasoned and experienced competitors are still at risk of an accident. So let's not go down that road of skilled drivers don't need cages. This type of event is done all over the world and most of the vehicles have cages. You will be hitting over 120km/hr on this particular course and i don;t care who says what an abrupt stop with a tree will damage you or your co-driver. 90% of the course has no run off if you go into a corner too hard or get loose with the dirt and gravel deposited by another competitor previous run, there will be a crash. This is not a Chaguanas special stage where it is closer to a dexterity event style and more forgiving. Its a high speed Hill Climb and much much tighter than B'dos Rally Hill Climb in all honesty. Its doubtful that i would attempt this course again with my road car. I can discipline myself to drive with caution but who are we kidding when competition starts and there are trophies and braggin rights on the line.

Personally i would love to see this event run again and take part but it would be very good to get some dialogue going between the clubs (TTRC / CARS / TTASA) etc. Its not a drag strip and the dangers need to be respected in a big way. Also the last thing we want to do is waste another great opportunity (now with CDA) by perceived poor race management and lack of adequate safety.

[djaggs]

Roll cages for highly modified cars are necessary, but there are categories for production street cars that dont require Roll Cages, if anyone wants to get a copy of the rules for an RAC sanctioned Hillclimb event let me know.

The faster the car the higher the risk.

[rcadiz]

Noted djaggs, but last time i checked each Hill Climb is different. Different conditions, roads, run off areas etc. So each Hill Climb location would have different rules depending on the risk and difficulty levels.

Production street cars are capable of high speeds so lets not go down that road. Trust me i ran the event - and saw a production street car run off and crash. Air bags deployed etc with both driver and co-driver getting a good shake up. Thankfully the impact was only at the back of the car. Had it been at the front the outcome could have been very different.

I am not saying cages should be mandatory for all Hill Climbs, but this particular stage definitely has its challenges and is quite tricky once you pass the first 90R (which accounts for about 1 1/2 km).

I would love to see the opinion of the other drivers.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Is there any way to implement barriers (like the kind used at karting but filled with water) and more tyres and chicanes to make the course safer for cars without cages?

I am a big supporter of safety in the car - a proper roll cage and helmets are a MUST but I mean a cage still wont save you going over a cliff!
Roll cages make for excellent safety but we hope to have events that are not necessarily life threatening!

[dream-carz]

i am of the same opinion as rcadiz, i never rallied before and was very nervous driving this track especially without a navigator (apparently this helps alot). Ainsley told me that he never applied brakes until the end!! alot of blind corners and none of the drivers knew the course.

[wagonrunner]

2008 SCCA time trial rules. from page 38

2009 Rally-America CLub rules from page 39

[saltydog]

Well I would like to say having read all the comments above that myself and by extension CARS would be willing to visit the site with the persons responsible with an aim to assessing the safety concerns.

After this we would be willing to take part. There are many other locations around Trinidad that maybe better suited to these types of events. Let’s get the support and go to the Ministry of sport with a proposal.

I agree with Robbie to a point about the cage, depending on the course and how well you can slow down the dangerous areas, run offs etc. This would rule out most of the motorsport community as the average person does not have a car equipped with a cage sitting in their driveway. However that is no excuse to laps on safety and if the course demands a roll cage the so be it. Once all the safety concerns can be met I would love to assist.

P.S also what about the use of the timing system? Stop watches are not the most accurate and looking at how close the results were we are left open to human error 

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

[wagon r]

....i hear CARS getting a TP generator for the next event...

[Ignorant Ignis]

[Ignorant Ignis]

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ they will have to use TTRC's timing system
the TP generator is to help "massage" the times

just kidding! just kidding!

[ecktt]

That was my first time in any event. Being scared stiff, I pamperd my car threw the course. Having had that experience, I'll agree with dream-carz and rcadiz.