Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Shows, cruises & motorsport events.
Chickenman
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Location: Coquitlam

Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by Chickenman »

Me thinks that's 171 KPH.... LOL If that's to turn #1 that's danged good. But I'm thinking it's to Turn #7, which is the normal location for the speed traps. That's still damned fast. The fast pony cars should be running in the 165 to 170 KPH range as well. I've clocked 172 Kph to Turn 7 in the Camaro and I'm sure Campbell and Johnny were up there as well. The M3 kills us out of the corners though and probably has the edge mid-corner. Not much competition in SP4 this year... Sad. What happened to Campbell?

I don't get why people have so much problem with Turn 9? It's such an easy corner ( At least I think so. And I'm fast through it. ). I think people must get sucked in and are pushing too hard as the Finish line is very near. Leave their braking too late and under steer off. It's a type 3 corner so you should not be pushing it that hard. 8, 9 and 10 are all Type 3 corners. 5 ( Type 1 ) and 7 ( Type 2 ) are the REALLY important corners.
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gooned
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Location: Langley

Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by gooned »

Ummm, yeah km, right :roll:

Campbell had no start issues, he mentioned previous fire and wiring harness...which didn't sound like much fun to sort out :?
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by bertvorgon »

Morning World,

I agree with Richard, after watching one Miata come in too hot, Turn 9, and just plain panicked and under steered right into the concrete...it was NOT going to buff out. Others did the same, left the turn in too late and that would screw them up for the snap to the right.

5 & 7 are the important ones as that is where you NEED to carry speed to fight gravity. On my best year in 1997 I hit 170'ish in 5th gear, as I left my car in 4th gear for turn 5 & 6 and held my breath through 7.

I see the Coke is closed this morning both ways 25 KM south of Merritt due to an accident, that will really screw up travel traffic for the day, be a night mare as traffic bunches up as everyone heads home from the Interior.

that reminds me of the year we got caught coming back and spent 5 hours in the rest area. Damn!

Lots of mechanical issues this year too, Bill Frizzel had a stub axle flange fail, lucky it did not grenade totally. Campbell's starting issue killed it for the weekend I see also.
"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
Chickenman
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Joined: 06 Sep 2010 15:10
Location: Coquitlam

Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by Chickenman »

Looking at the time, I see that my old Blue Camaro could have taken 1st place in SP4 this year. Someone really needs to buy it off Mark Saunders as it's just going to waste in his hands.
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by bertvorgon »

Carpe Diem

I know that may seem like a bit of a cliché these days, but, as the years have gone by I have lost a lot of friends and acquaintances. Things can change in one heart beat, so I have tried to make it a mission to “seize the day” when an opportunity is presented to oneself. It’s not gotten any easier to get up when most are sleeping, but, the reward of a wonderful day with good friends and the spectacular drive we had, make all that effort worthwhile!

I rolled out of my daughter’s garage at exactly 4:00 AM, pushing the car down the lane before I fired it, then quickly went to the end of the block to let the oil warm up. A week ago I gambled and put in some Philips Extreme Vision H4 bulbs into my car, sceptical if they would actually be any good. I had cancelled my headlight project as our dollar is so low right now I did not want to take the big exchange hit. I am very happy with those bulbs, brighter and whiter light.

The drive out to meet Jamie, Greg (66Duece on the Realm) and Jason took no time at all, 16th had zero traffic on it. Greg is a new member to our group and was on time, so he has been given the seal of approval! Welcome Greg. He also brought his daughter along, Anna, to enjoy the day. I did have one issue here for whatever bizarre reason, my car would not start. The guys gave me a quick push and it fired right up, but, it left me worrying all day. I had no other problems but I am going to pull the battery and get a load check done on it.

After a quick stop for fuel, coffee and I put my BP9ES plugs in, it was off up the long climb to the top of the Coke. We all basically screwed the throttle stops to 4,000 RPM and left it there. The road was very good, no pea gravel but there were some wicked pot holes to watch out for and some of the ruts sure pitched the cars around. I almost hit a big hole on one of the concrete bridges coming back, pure luck as it appeared very suddenly.

The mountains were spectacular in the morning light, snow crowning the peaks, sky blue. We had no need to stop in Merritt, so up to Pennask Summit, 1,728 meters, we went, all the cars running fine. Water and oil pressure all stayed good as the outside temp was cool.

We were right on-time arriving at the hill, 8:30 am and I got right into the car display area. Greg went on to Oyama to check on something and Jamie had to drop of some furniture he brought up.
I had no sooner parked the car that a very smiling face greeted me, Steve from Edmonton. (SteveEdmonton on the Realm). We chatted for a time then Jamie was back and we set up our display and parked the cars like we were at the top of Knox in 1997. I did a bit of a picture homage to the 510’s that have run at Knox, especially those in my time running

After getting some stuff organized it was time to begin our hike to the top, before the heat got even hotter. We were tour guides for Steve, and then Greg when he finally met up with us in Turn 7. We stopped at each corner to watch the first runs of the day. Some of the cars ran clean and others had the usual miss-fire or crappy sounding engine. I never understand how some can go to the hill, with a crummy running car and then spend a weekend working on it in the pits.

We hiked up the backside of Knox on the APEX Trail, a steep climb to the finish line, the day’s temperature starting to get into the high 20’s.

The finish line was its usual beehive of activity; I got to say hi to some old friends and Debbie, who looks after the finish line, who has done that for 26 years.

Bill Frizzel in his Rover V8 powered 240 Z came across the line not sounding too good. We tried to see what was up but it was not till he got trucked to the bottom did he find a stub axel flange had failed.
Down to Turn 9 we went, which ate cars all day, one a Mazda Miata that went in right in front of us…HARD…which was to become the radio call of the day. The tow truck drivers earned their keep this day!

All the while Jamie, Jason and I reminisced about how great we WERE at the hill and had some really good laughs.
Arriving at Turn 7 had some of the fast cars coming up, Wouter Bouman in his Mazda RX7 that had been de-tuned form 916 HP to around 800. That thing is a missile and a crazy handful, as his tires had hardly any heat in them, which was hard to believe. He ended up doing a 1:47:.

Greg and Anna had finally gotten to the hill and huffed it up to meet us here. We then walked down through the trees to Turn 5. The forest was lush there, never seen it that green. I had noted how high the Lake was, with the water bags hoping to stop any flooding as the level rises over the next week with the rapid snow melt.

Turn 5 was very quiet as the cars kept crashing, so the event was held up, ultimately having the final run group well after 4:30. We were on time as far as my schedule was, to have done the hill and be back in the pits by 3 – 3:30. We dropped off the back side of Turn 5, which has a very cool mountain bike trail down to Turn 1. We saw 5 deer hanging out in the shade of one tree.

Jamie and I had agreed to be leaving Knox by 5:00, which would get us back by dusk. We did a lap of the pits to say hi to a few, but, there sure are a lot of new faces, I really felt removed now after 20 years. Campbell had starting issues which cost him the weekend, he did get one run in, fast enough for second place. We went o say hi to Cam Thorkelson, but he was still stuck at the top of the hill, as there had been another crash, with another 8 or 10 cars that still had to run.

Steve had gone to talk to some other Albertans, so he arrived back as Jamie and I were packing up. Thanks for coming and meeting us Steve, that was really fun and we can now put a face to a name! Hope you had a good time.

We hit the Chevron to fill up, with Greg convoying back with us too. Once we cleared Westbank there was hardly any traffic, a nice steady state climb to the summit. My water stayed at 160- 170 and I dropped about 5 PSI on the oil pressure. I snapped a couple of pictures of the new wind farm on the Pennask Ridge.

Climbing out of Merritt had a bit more traffic and other than dodging the odd pothole, was uneventful, the engine parked at 4,000 – 4,400 RPM to Hope.

The bugs hitting my windshield and air dam were HUGE, having to clean the windshield in Hope as Jamie got a splash of fuel. I gambled I would be able to make it back to Richmond on a tank of fuel, which I did, I must be on fumes! I will do some calculations later today. ( 23.66 MPG Up / 25 MPG down) I must say I was fried by the time
I got home at about 10:30, but it was a good tired.

I had a really fun time this trip, met some new people, had some great laughs and drove the 510 for 800 KM and got a good hike in.

Thanks for coming everyone..we. SEIZED THE DAY!
Keith Law
May 22, 2017

Today, at 4:00 AM an accident happened on the Highway, 25 Km south of Merritt, with the highway closed in BOTH directions, and as of my writing this, 10:00 am, still closed, as the truck fire was deemed a dangerous goods fire to boot. This will be a nightmare for weekend traffic. I gave Campbell a call at 7;30 and gave him a heads up to head back the Hope/Princeton. Sure glad we missed that mess.
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"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

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"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

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"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

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"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

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"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

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Anna, Greg, Jamie, Jason, Steve, TURN 5
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Last edited by bertvorgon on 22 May 2017 11:13, edited 1 time in total.
"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

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"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
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bertvorgon
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by bertvorgon »

The Coquihalla is still closed, not supposed to open till midnight, wonder what the traffic mayhem is like?
"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

Keith Law
1973 2 Door Slalom/hill climb/road race / canyon carver /Giant Killer 510
1971 Vintage 13' BOLER trailer
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gooned
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by gooned »

Glad I wandered home yesterday afternoon, drove through Manning and other than catching a pair of slow moving Hog's for 14km of shoulda been nice corners had an awesome tour through there. There were some long 70kmh sections where they are prepping for pavement so with a ton of volume I just imagine the tickets being printed...
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SteveEdmonton
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by SteveEdmonton »

Just in case you haven't already read enough-- and seen enough pictures-- here's a quick "PS" on top of everyone else's accounts.

If you live within reasonable range of Kelowna BC and haven't been to Knox, you ought to consider putting it on your bucket list to do so. This was my first time there, as others have noted, and it was awesome. I'm not a racer but have enjoyed being a spectator at road courses both famous (Laguna Seca, Mosport) and local (Mission). This hillclimb business is totally different, with a huge variety of cars running one-at-a-time. And the setting is simply unbelievable, with the city spread out like a carpet beneath you, Okanagan Lake stretching out like a ribbon both north and south of the mountain, and a snow-capped range far off to the south. The Apex trail we hiked up is steep but totally manageable, and a really nice way to spend the day (traipsing up and back).
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The May long weekend also features a series of sailboat races. From the top of the mountain we could see everything.

Bear in mind of course that I'm from Edmonton, where our most stunning natural feature is a nice but hardly spectacular river valley. No lakes, no mountains, none of that. So yeah, naturally Knox is pretty impressive!

Anyway, the racing was great too. As Keith and others have said, the talent varies just as much as the machinery does. Some guys run street cars on a shoestring; some trailer in sports racers and purpose-built specials.
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An engineering prof from UBC runs this silly-fast, highly modded M3.
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Fred Del Pero from Edmonton has run this Alfa "forever," and been collected from all sorts of ditches & scrapes along the way.
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Just one of many shunts, this one at Turn One on Sunday afternoon-- lockup and straight into the tire wall.

Best part of the weekend for me was meeting up with Keith, Jamie, Jason, Greg-- and Jim K from Calgary too. I heard there were other Datsun folks around from Edmonton but sadly missed a chance to connect with them while I was up on the hill. But getting to know even the 5 of you guys was really tremendous. The stories were entertaining, the laughter was great, and I even picked up a bunch of "tech tips" and how-to's that should help move my project along. An event to remember, for sure.
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Keith, Jamie, Jason!
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'71 4-door
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zKars
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Re: Knox Mountain Cruise 2017

Post by zKars »

From the Alberta troupe, we also wanted to say thanks to everyone who made our little excursion a memorable experience. Consider that day seized indeed. Got to do more of this for sure while the gettin's good.

Knox is special for me in a couple of ways. It and I share birthdays, so it's easy to remember how old I am when they announce what year this one is. it's also the first 'serious' trip with my not-quite-bride as co-pilot back in 83, and more recently (last 10 years) the best reason to get several Datsun driving nut-jobs out of town and on the road to enjoy the fruits of our labor and meet old friends at least once a year.

60 and counting! Not done yet.
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