The 2022 Duryea Hillclimb event was held August 20 – 21 in Reading PA. We had only 69 timed entries, and I’m sure the organizers were disappointed by the low entry count for an event that typically fills to its 100 entry limit within the first few hours of registration opening. However, from a driver’s perspective, we got 8 runs each on this 2+ mile course on a dry weekend, and most of us took full advantage of the extra seat time in almost perfect conditions!
Ten novices competed, and six new class records were set, but I’m getting ahead of myself again.
Mark Aubele once again took FTD in his 2003 Ford Mustang (with LS Swap) that he runs in Super Production Over (SPO), continuing his FTD streak – he has taken FTD at all PHA Championship Series events so far this year. Mark’s time was a 106.696, and is also an SPO class record.
Mark was only 1.1628 second off the course record of 105.528, set in 2008 by George Bowland in his BBR Shark, and he has come closest to that record since it was set in 2008. George Bowland ran a 106.923 in 2009 in his BBR Shark, and the next closest to the course record was Bob Gardner in his Stohr WF-1 in 2015 with a 107.262. All of these other cars are open wheel dedicated race cars, which makes Mark’s accomplishment in a “door slammer” even more astounding.
Congratulations to Mark for not only preparing a fast car, but also for being able to drive it.
In second place overall, Dave Cutchins ran a 114.861 in his 2011 Stohr F-1000 (FS).
Mike Robinson came in third overall in a 2004 Chevrolet Corvette, and also took the SSP class record with a 115.802.
Butch (Charles) King placed fourth overall in his 2003 Chevy Blazer with a 117.058.
Eric (Rick) Johnson place fifth overall in his 1979 Ford Mustang, and also set a new SMR class record at 117.314.
Michele Aueble, also running in SMR in her 2012 BMW 134i, beat the previous SMR class record with a 118.343, but it wasn’t enough to take the SMR class for the event. Michele was the fastest female driver, and placed ninth overall. Also, congratulations to Michele for running under 2 minutes for the first time! She is the second woman to run under 2 minutes in the short list of under 2 minute drivers.
Hunter Huffman took the class record in his 1990 Honda Civic that he runs in SMF with a 117.833.
Tom Wuellette took the class record in Touring 3 (T3) in his 2019 VW GTI with a 128.627.
Adam Kimmett took the Rally Naturally Aspirated (RalNA) record in his 1999 Subaru Impreza with a 134.307. Note that Adam was a novice, and drove all the way from VA, and this was his first PHA event.
I was driving my FSP car this past weekend, and forgot that I needed arm restraints as my other car has a window net, so left them in my trailer at the tower. Dave Smith lent me his set so that I could take the first run of the day Saturday. I drove up to the tower to retrieve them during the lunch break, and took advantage of the opportunity on my way down to finally take pictures of our corner workers. They were all eating lunch, so I apologize to anyone I caught with a mouth full!
First of all, for the drivers, here are the turn 1 workers. Since we all mostly exit at turn 2, we don’t get to wave to them (unless we have gone in at turn 1) .
Here’s the gallery:
One of the highlights of the Reading events – Pagoda and Duryea — is the Fire Tower, which is left open for us over the hillclmb weekend. There are 158 steps to the top, but the view is very well worth it, and I try to climb the tower at least once at every Reading event.
At Duryea, the urge to climb the tower didn’t come over me until Saturday night, and Don McLauglin decided to climb the tower with me. The sky wasn’t clear enough to see all the way to Philadelphia (I’ve personally only have seen the Philadelphia skyline once from the tower since 2005), but the view was still pretty amazing, especially as we saw the firework display.
Our evenings were definitely not all about climbing the tower, and there were great conversations to be had everywhere. It was also great to hang out with some of the workers Sat night. I do admit that I will never look at Old Bay the same again, but that’s a story for another time!
As far as my car goes, I ran my backup car this weekend, as the GT3 / silver Scirocco is in the shop for some engine issues. I am really happy with my driving, even if I came in last in FSP. I shaved a half a second from the last time I ran this car at Duryea, and actually beat my time in the GT3 car from last year (although my driving was especially bad last year at Duryea).
I took some pictures at Duryea, but have been mostly stealing them from Patti Murphy and Keith Kennedy for this post. They both took a ton of great pictures, and they can be seen on facebook.
Also, Berks County Weekly wrote an article and included a ton of great pictures:
Don McLauglin took a great set of photos as well:
Wayne Domkowski was working the turn at the Pagoda and was also taking photos. He has posted samples on the PHA Facebook page. Contact Wayne directly on Facebook or by email at bdi.black.diamond.imaging@gmail.com with specific requests to see the pictures he took at this event. You won’t be disappointed.
Some random pictures, mostly by Patti Murphy.
