Drivers set to tackle 10th anniversary event

Some years back, a couple of SEAC club members were having a chat about how well the Hill Climb at the Valley Lake, The Legend of the Lake, had been received by the motor sporting fraternity and that the car club could benefit from another smaller event to help keep interest in hill climb competition.

After a lot of thinking these membersfound” an area and did some research with the relevant authorities about road closure and authority to use said roads for competition.

Persevering with said authorities, eventual permission was granted and in early 2015, the first hill climb took place on the roads to the west of Port MacDonnell.

It was a mammoth task, getting the equipment to the area and setting up all the safety barriers to guide the small field of entrants around the two layouts.

Track 1 is quite complex to drive and about 1300 metres in length, a lot of corners and many of them covered in drifting sand, blown in from the beach, to make them slippery as well as being either flat or off camber.

Track 2 is 1700 metres in length and is more open, with a chicane placed appropriately to slow the extremely fast serious competitors’ finishing speeds to ensure the safety of all involved in this motorsport event.

As the next year approached, word had gotten around from the initial event competitors about what an enjoyable outing they had in the two days of competition, resulting in more entries for the second year.

Subsequent years, the event has become quite popular for a hill climb that is enjoyable and can be as complex as the competitor wants to make it with good handling and power, giving the quicker cars high top speeds.

This year, Grant District Council has again approved the running of The Twin Peaks hill climb, that will be the tenth anniversary of this now popular event.

Set up under seasoned director, Paul Height, assisted by Curtis Boyd and Bradley Harry, with Allison Height doing all the huge amount of paperwork, this event is to run on February 8 and 9 at the Port MacDonnell Circuit.

Road access is limited in the leadup to the event with total road closure from 7.30am on Saturday through to completion on Sunday, at approximately 5pm.

All competitor vehicles must be inside the barrier area by 7.30am on both days.

Viewing of this event is free, but access is limited by the vegetation of the area. Park your car safely alongside the road and walk in to the pit area at the lookout next to the council dump access road, where all the 70 competitor vehicles can be seen throughout both days. Food and drink can be purchased from the catering vans at the lookout. If intending to visit the area, please obey the signage provided to guide you through the safe access areas. Competition areas are not able to be accessed by the general public, but action can be seen across each of the tracks from the lookout.

The list of competitors for the 10th anniversary Twin Peaks hill climb is a mix of past and new competitors eager to have a go and set or better a personal best time.

Scoring for the event, divided into seven classed categories, split up by engine size, is done by adding the best time for each track, Saturday, to the best time for each track, Sunday.

This total time then decides who is the quickest over the two days, outright and each class.

Scoring is done this way to ensure a competitor has to put in on both days, not just turn up and set a quick time on 1 run and then park the car until that time is challenged.

It also means that if you break down or have an accident, your 1-day fast time will not get a win. Whilst it is a fairly easy drive, many competitors will end up doing some gardening as they find the limits of adhesion when trying a bit harder to better the last run.

Saturday evening, there will be a dinner at the Victoria Hotel, one of the many sponsors of the event.

All that is needed for this event to be a huge success is a little cooperation from Mother Nature in the week leading up to the event and over the weekend – no rain, a little breeze (always happens at the Bay) and some (not a huge amount) sunshine on Saturday and Sunday, and “lots of helpers” to setup and pack up the huge amount of safety equipment that has to be brought to the venue.

Action gets underway on Saturday at approximately 10am and Sunday, 8.30am, continuing all day.