Knox Mountain 2019

Post by **butters68** » 17 May 2019 19:39

all is good, iv'e got my snacks and supplies . ready to let the 3 fiddy growl

Post by **slowerthantime** » 17 May 2019 21:36

If you have time you could also hit World of Wheels in Peachland tomorrow. They have over 500 cars on Main St.

Post by **bertvorgon** » 18 May 2019 03:32

Morning World,

It's 3:28 AM...let the adventure begin! Leaving at 4 sharp.

Went to bed early so this is actually not too bad, just have to get some coffee into me.

Knox will be a whole day for me, leaving at 4:30 to 5 PM, that gets me home around 9'ish. Looks dry here right now, will have to check highway cams in a few minutes.

Post by **butters68** » 18 May 2019 15:44

what a fun day, lots of cool cars to see and watch rip up the hill. it was nice to see the 120k speed limit on the coq, did it all the way there and all the way back.

... i left knox at 1130AM got home at2:50pm.
thanks Keith for letting me tag along.

gooned · Post by **gooned** » 19 May 2019 20:51

This thread is....well you know.

Pics!

Post by **bertvorgon** » 20 May 2019 11:49

Morning World,

Pictures and story coming, I was kinda tired yesterday and just basically vegg'ed out. I will post up later this afternoon. gotta grab some groceries.

James · Post by **James** » 20 May 2019 12:04

Where are your priorities? Really - relaxation and groceries? Before pics? Unacceptable.

Post by **bertvorgon** » 20 May 2019 17:47

Sorry gang, I will do better next year, something about sitting for 4 hours, standing for two, then hiking a total of 4 miles plus a 1,600 foot elevation change, just hit this ole' 69 year old's legs, then 4 hours back at 120 KMH most of the way average, just tuckered me out a hair......

Lots more went on than my story covers, lots of stories from the drivers, things I saw in the 8.5 hours I was there. Just a cool day.

As I say in the story too, the most fun I had was working with Cam on his car, just fun to have the banter we did and I got to trash his lack of aluminum polishing. I'm glad he found the clip that "popped" off his distributor plug, as I groveled in the grass looking for it, as it was my fault. It was fun.

So onto Knox 2019......

Post by **bertvorgon** » 20 May 2019 17:50

I went for coffee and ended up working!

With the car loaded I headed out at 4:00 Am to meet Mike at the Hope Chevron, the day starting dry and almost a clear, starry sky.

The run out was uneventful, more traffic than I would have thought though. Mike’s smiling face greeted me, his copper 350Z starting to glow in the morning light. The Chevron was closed, something we need to check out if we do an early drive that way again.

We agreed to stop at the rest stop at the top of the Coq, then, at the stop in Merrit, so I could make a phone call home. Even in my car I need to drop down into 5th for that final leg to the top, 5th just being a really tall gear. It is still effortless in our cars, that 3.5 litre engine really is a work of art. Our cars glowed in that muted morning light.

Two and bit hours later we were filing up the cars at the Kelowna Chevron, where 94 octane was ONLY 1.619 a litre.
It was really cool in Kelowna, a brisk wind coming off the lake, my temperature gauge on my pack showed 17C. The wind was the bad part, just sucking the heat away. We had a quick coffee in the Chevron, then, popped down Ellis Street to the hillclimb. It was early enough that parking was not an issue.

We were able to walk in the main gate where we found the drivers meeting underway. It brought back memories for me of when you were in the meeting, my mind was going..”WOW….I’m really here..let’s keep it shiny!”

I said hi to a few friends, Bob Boyer being one, his V8 510 making it to the hill, the only 510 there. Campbell Carlyle was there as Steward of the event, his car entering its 2 year of repair after last year’s very bad crash.

As Mike could not hike the hill with me, we wandered the pits, checking out the cars and saying hi to a few of the regulars, of which there are not many left. I noticed a few who had been constants were noticeable by their absence, Roger in his Sunbeam Tiger being one.

As the race was about to begin we headed to the infield, to watch at the starting line. On the way we wished Cam good luck in his Caterham Super 7.

The organizers had brought in a JumboTron screen, with cameras at the start, at Turn 1, and at Turn 3.

As I watched some of the cars leave the line I must admit I thought there were going to be some bad crashes. Having done the hill for 14 times, tire temperature is key. The pavement was cold….tires cold….bad combo. There were some serious horsepower cars there, but, as I watched them try to get the power down and modulate the boost, I thought what a waste. I used to turn my boost DOWN for any given situation where traction was totally required. There is no doubt in my mind they would be even faster if they could actually use what was available. Maybe it’s my Solo base where you could not waste a precious 10th of a second.

Mike had to head back to Vancouver early so we said our goodbyes after the second run group and I headed up to the top of Knox.

It’s still a grind to the top, an 8oo+ foot elevation gain, the trail going up the backside, but, at one point I was just above Turn 4. I could hear the sound of a motor at full high revs, reduced for a second at Turn 3, then full on again. In a micro blink the sound of a whump/thump/crunch, then silence. I knew right away the first major incident of the day just happened. It would be his second run and last of the weekend.

Upon arriving at the finish line I was able to greet some old friends and reminisce about the “good old days”. Cam had made it up safely, his car running very well. There had been another crash so cars were held up from running. As there had been quite an amount of time gone by and the run group not finished and I had my schedule for the day, I hoofed it down to Turn 7 for my lunch. Sure not many spectators again.

As I sat there under a tree it started to rain lightly and was still very cool. The next run group finally finished, so I got to see some cars head up the straight, most lifting the throttle for Turn 7, where to be fast you must get through there with full throttle. Easier said than done, you approach a blind, uphill corner, where you must be able to visualize the arc you will carry to the outside, after cresting the corner, setting up to get the car square on the tires, to be able to use full braking going into Turn 8. All this at potentially over 100 MPH in the faster cars. I had to dig VERY DEEP to do this in 1997 and rely on my wonderful suspension.

I waited till Cam came up again before I left Turn 7, his car pulling hard up the straight. He ultimately did a 2:01:489, a very, very good time!

I quickly hiked down to Turn 6 and watched a few cars there, again marveling at how steep the hill actually is. Again a good drive through here is paramount as the more speed you carry the faster you will be up the straight.

As I was watching the clock for my schedule and I must admit I had a bit of the “been here, done that” feeling, I just cross-countried it off the steep downhill backside from Turn 5 back to the pits.

Approaching Cam in the pits, looking for a coffee that had been promised, I saw he had the cover off the engine and a fistful of wrenches. Dropping my pack I asked what was up. Seems he was having clutch problems and was trying to adjust the clutch arm. The Caterham uses a cable clutch, cables are just a pain in my opinion. I have fought them in many cars over the years and of course 20 years of mountain biking. I suggested it has likely stretched. Noticing there was an aluminum cover over the pedal “box” area I asked Cam if he had ever checked that. Turns out no, so we removed the cover. WOW…good thing, as the cable had frayed and virtually was ready to finish snapping the last of the wire. Fortunately Cam had a spare, so we had the new one in, in 15 minutes or so. Right away Cam could feel the difference, we set it and he left for his 3rd run of the day. As of writing I’m not sure if he had to re-adjust or not. He did get all his runs in so the clutch itself must have been ok.

I never did get my coffee……..

Wouter in his 900 HP 3 rotor RX 7 turned a 1:47:214, his closest rival trying to catch him put if off the hill and into a tire wall.

The V8 powered MGB-GT that is always quick broke a ball joint JUST as it crossed the finish line! A beyond scary event for if that had happened anywhere else it would have been disastrous. The run out at the finish line had enough room for him to collect it. A handful of other cars bought some concrete and went home in various stages of destruction. The GT-1 Camaro that competes with Andy at Mission Raceway had a transmission fail, so only got one run in, waste of a weekend.

Just as a point of reference, the outright hill record is still owned by John Haftner…1:37:065…insanely fast.

Bob Boyer’s 510 looked and sounded fast, but, I only see a 2:14:299 on the results. Even with the bigger tires he was traction limited, even smoking the tires going up to Turn 1, as he does not have an LSD yet. He has ordered one from OS GIKEN. Impressive but not fast YET. Bob also had an issue with the cold tires, then, an alternator belt failed and when they tried to just run on the OPTIMA battery, it too failed, the car dying on the start line. It was only 2 years old. They are NOT made like they used to be. With a new battery and belt in, the next runs went ok and next year he should be much faster. He wisely did not do a first run on Sunday, waiting for some heat in the pavement. He mounted the wing on for Sunday and sent me some pictures which I have attached. He dyno’d the motor at 296 rwhp, a really realistic number for power to weight in a 510. Bob’s smart and took the car home shiny.

The RX-8 of Carter and Chuck in SP3 class is potentially a write off from a bad crash on Sunday.

That basically had this year’s Knox a bad one for crashes, and as the NASCAR guy said one year....”They all got tore up real good!”

The 2 minute barrier is still that, out of 62 entrants, only a handful cracked that, so I still feel good about my 1:59:543….and I drove my car there and back!. Cam’s time was one of the faster ones and I suspect he could crack that 2 minute barrier on a good day no problem.

I bid my farewell to Knox and rolled out at my 4:30 leave time, the day having gotten a bit brighter and I actually got some sun as I started the long climb to the Pennask Summit, where I stopped to clean my front windshield. There was NO traffic, a wonderful cruise at 130 KMH most of the way. As I always scan for wildlife I was treated to a herd of deer, a black bear sow with 2 very new brown cubs, wandering along the river. I had seen 1 black bear and 2 deer on the way up.

At one point I got passed by a truck pulling a trailer with a new Camaro on it, he was doing 140. I just let him get way ahead then wicked it up to 140 for awhile, passing him on the climb out of Merritt, where the hill killed is speed.

For the whole trip I only saw one big speed trap just outside of Hope, where they hide behind a huge hedgerow, catching people east bound. Really sucks as the speed limits have been dropped by 10KMH, so if people have been used to piling along there, look out.

My car ran flawlessly, getting 27.94 MPG up and 31.73 MPG back, covering 730KM (453 miles)

One last thing, not to disappoint Cam, as he said I would likely write about it, as the shockingly un-polished aluminum in the engine bay! Not up to the Bert Vorgon standard, so, if he will have me next year, I’m going to volunteer to be pit crew and aluminum polisher. The most fun I had for the day was giving Cam a help with his car!

I arrived home at 8:30 on the button, the 4 hour trip including the stop at Pennask and a quick burger in Hope. That there are the accidents that happen on the Coq, they are NOT caused by the highway, but by poor drivers, both not paying attention, or, NOT driving to the weather conditions. Simple as that!!!!

Till next year,

Keith Law, May 20, 2019.