Anyone going to the Knox Mtn hillclimb 21-22 May 2016?

[bertvorgon]

My Scariest event was my own fault...I violated my own rule of never compromising on tires. Raising a young family of course left the disposable funds at the low at times.

So the one year I decide to pass on getting new race slicks, almost bit me.

As I left the start line, I thought WOW, car is making good power, as it slipped the tires very easily. As I exited Turn 1, it just seemed like I had no grip......same with Turn 3......then, as I rocked up through Turn 5 and shifted into 5th and the boost peaked as I hit Turn 6, I did an almighty slide when the rear broke loose, sending me towards the death zone of gravel below the embankment, then it did a big tail wag when I corrected. That was something my car never did, having a very grippy and predictable rear end. That freaked me out so I was off pace for Turn 7 which was likely a good thing. At this point I thought my posi had packed it in.

When I got down to the pits I jacked the car up....and there....were tires down to the cords and beyond.....Holy Crudmucker, was I lucky. I had to run that weekend on my street tires, which was a lesson in frustration as Jamie Mitchell was my main competitor and promptly blew me into the weeds.

I went through what little rubber was left between the tire warm up and Turn 5. Those qualifying slicks had very little thickness on them at the best of times. Stupid that I did not really pay attention to that! After that I would put a few bucks in an envelope every payday, for my season’s race tires. Lucky I did not really loose the car on that high speed sweeper, which would have been around 90 MPH.

[SteveEdmonton]

What a great event. Keith, thanks so much for reporting all this and sharing the pics. The idea of a "510 reunion" next year is super-- I hope people buy in.

[bertvorgon]

I just did some fuel calculations on my G35 for the trip. I got virtually 27 MPG up and, 30 MPG on the way back! I attribute that to the fact that I treated the car to some Chevron 94 for the long climbs on the way back, so maybe it let the ignition have more advance under load, compared to the 91. either way I cruised at 130 most of the time.

[Byron510]

Eh Keith. A 510 Reunion next year sounds like a great plan. It's been years since I have been up to Knox, I'd surely be in to that.

And I guess we will be meeting up soon to collect some bits, thanks for the pick up. I'll first clear me account with Richie.

Byron