I’m still way behind on updating this blog in a timely manner, with Duryea Hillclimb behind us and Shenandoah (at Summit Point) coming up next weekend, but this blog got mentioned in the SCCA Up to Speed newsletter, so I guess I’d better get my act together!
For anyone just reading this blog, I have an 86 and an 87 VW Scirocco, and have been hillclimbing since 2005 (the 87 is still street legal and is my “backup” car). My only other racing experience prior to hillclimbing is autocrossing. I am not a fast driver most of the time, but I still have a lot of fun flinging my car around the turns. For me, a huge part of the PHA hillclimb experience is the chance to hang out with rest of the PHA “family” — the other drivers, workers and crew members — and that is what keeps me coming back.
Anyway, onto Polish Mountain Hillclimb 2021, which was held Aug 7-8. This event is run by the newly formed Western Maryland chapter of WDCR region, and WDCR’s Straightpipe August Newsletter had an excellent write-up on the history of this event.
The Western Maryland Chapter arranged to get the course repaved in 2020. When the course was repaved, they also corrected some of the issues with the entrance / exit to the pit area. Unfortunately, this event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID, so this year was our first opportunity to run on the brand new pavement. If you are curious, there are pictures of the new pavement on the The Courses area of the PHA website.
I think it’s safe to say that the new pavement made a difference, as there were 13 class records set. In 3 classes, the old class record was beaten by the first 2 drivers in class. I know that I found that the road was not only smoother, but a bit wider in some places.
Bryan Fritzler took FTD in his 1973 Tui BH3 that he runs in the PHA supplemental class Special 1 (S1) with a 52.292.
Photo credit Bob Helton
Dan Foley in his 2008 Mitsubishi Evo X came in 2nd overall with a 54.028, beating Ron Moreck in his Norton by just 0.235 seconds.
Photo credits Former Instants
Of the cars that ended up in the top 10 cars at this event, only 4 are purpose-built race cars. The rest are “door slammers” and started out as production cars.
Mike Robinson wrote a great wrap up of the event on the unofficial PHA facebook page, and here are some highlights:
I included some random pictures below, but here are a few sites to visit if you want to see more photos:
Former Instants
Photoz By Bob (Bob Helton)
As far as my car goes, I somehow slid off the pavement on my first run, despite my normal “taking it easy” plan that goes for every event for the first run of the day. I thought I was going to make it, but I spun around and just kissed the guardrail with the rear quarter panel.
All fixable temporarily with duct tape, and thanks to my competitors in GT3 for the help in changing tires – the rears were corded on that run which I’m going to blame for the spin!
It’s the end of the era tire wise for me, as I’m finally having to move to Hoosier A7s. The bias ply cantilevered slicks are no longer available from Hoosier now (at least not in a soft enough compound for hillcimbs), and I was stretching them out as long as possible. Anyway, my times were still really off even after I put A7s on, so it is clear that the driver still needs a bunch of work…
Here are a few random photos from the event, mostly from the 2 sites listed above.
