The Giants Despair 2023 Hillclimb was held July 8-9 2023, and was the fourth event in the eight event PHA Championship Series.
While the weather left much to be desired on Sunday (more on that later), the conditions were good on Saturday, and 8 class records were set. There were 98 entries.
Ron Moreck took FTD with a 40.167 in his Koenigsegg FTF that he runs in Special 2 (S2). His time was also an S2 class record.
Mark Aubele was second overall with a 42.045 in his 2003 Ford Mustang that he runs in Super Production Over (SPO).
Third overall with a 42.542 was Bill Feist in his 2008 Stohr F1000 that he runs in Formula S (FS). He also set an FS class record!
The other 6 class records set at Giants were Max Valerio in ITB, Karl Ricker in GTX, Michael Hunter in INEX Spec, Brandon Usloski in Formula 500, Andrew Vitek in Historic 2, and Michael Company in Club Ford.
Congratulations to all of the new class record holders, and especially to Ron Moreck for his FTD!
The event ran without any major hitches on Saturday, and 3 runs were offered. For a 98 entry field , this means the event ran very smoothly.
But on Sunday, after the first set of runs for both groups 1 and 2, the rain came in, and did not relent all day. Normally we run in the rain, but rain was so heavy that the start line itself was underwater.
When the rain didn’t stop for several hours, and more downpours forecasted, the event was called. I’m still surprised that no one got stuck in the lower pit area!
You can see more photos here: