Giants Despair Hillclimb 2024 was held July 13-14, 2024 in Laurel Run, PA. It was the fourth event in the seven event 2024 PHA Championship Series.
We had 104 timed entries at this event, which is a record so far this season. The weather was unsettled for most of the weekend, but despite a rain shower here and there, the course remained mostly dry. Six course records were set.
The battle for FTD was insane — I’m borrowing the following from Mike Robinson’s write up on this even.
But before I do, I wanted to mention that the Mike Robinson and Jason Fraley, chiefs of Novice Instruction, decided to try something new this weekend. Novices were told to be on site by 6 PM Friday night, and the normal course instruction was done then. Saturday morning, touring runs for novices were done before the drivers meeting, and first car off was a lot sooner than usual. It worked so well that it seems like something to try for the next events this season.
Giants Despair excerpt from Mike Robinson’s FB post:
Battle for FTD was much more exciting!
It was a four way battle between Heikki Rinta-Koski, Ron Moreck, Justin Reed and Mark Aubele.
At any point it felt like anyone of them could have pulled it off.
Even better was the fact they were all in the same class (S2)!
The outcome was decided by just barely a tick over a second.
A 39.6 to a 40.7 between the four of them.
Heikki got the win (with a 39.695) with Ron in 2nd (with a 40.054) followed by Justin (with a 40.384) and then Mark (with a 40.709).
Just outstanding. Congratulations to Heikki. This was also his first time there as well as Justin’s!
Bill Feist rounded out the top 5 with a 41.847.
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I need to show you this picture of Rich in Jason’s car. He looks quite comfortable! Also take note of the color of his T-Shirt as you will be seeing a lot more of it soon…
There are a ton of other stories that deserve mention, but I’m so far behind on these posts that I will need to direct you to the photos:
Eric Santiago: https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/01d20e56d9724b7fafa9a4afb9d676d4
Brian Murray — on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/152196601489387/user/9312567
Don McLaughlin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcdallion/albums/72177720318794377
And to this video from Tim Lewis:
As far as how I did… Well, let’s just say that I met my goals of having fun and taking all runs offered, and I was very happy with the event. I’m pretty far off my fast time, and that is OK. Eric somehow still makes my car look fast, so thank you Eric!
Of course, a hillclimb would not be complete without a campfire and the camaraderie of our fellow drivers, crew and workers, and Giants was no exception .
Photo Credits Grace HuntzingerI finally got to see the mural painted on the Giants Despair Hillclimb Association’s equipment trailer. It is really amazing, and I wish I took the time to take a better picture.
