Rob Roy Hillclimb Melbourne Australia video

[dgym]

Here's a short video of me going up Rob Roy. please excuse the swearing at the end, was trying to get under 28 seconds and I got 28.05. So Close!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vW2VlAuEI

[l10tus]

Oooooh !

I like that !

Were you really only in 1st. And 2nd. Gear?

What gearbox / transmission are you using ?

The car seemed high geared?

Regards,

Phil.

[dgym]

Hi Phil,
yes only first and second.
I'm assuming the gearbox and diff are original but I've never looked. -I don't know if the gearbox would be the close or semi close?
Perhaps I should jack it up and count the revolutions.
-Jim

[rgh0]

Jim

A nice run!
getting under 30 seconds used to be a good time. The best I have done is 27 secs in my only time I competed there about 20 years ago soon after it reopened after being closed for many years. Looks like the surface is much better than when I ran all those years ago.

cheers
Rohan

[dgym]

Thanks Rohan,
The winner of the class was at 25.30 ish in a zephyr race car.
I'm definitely improving since my early days, and slowly getting the guts up to do a proper track day.
I did beat an mx5 by a quite a bit so that was satisfying.

[Elan 1600]

Nice tidy drive there. You could improve your starting technique by using more revs before you bring the clutch up and then feathering in the clutch through the biting point. Try to keep the revs above 4000 as you come off the line. (Your's drop to about 1500 at their lowest) This will keep the engine in the power band, and should get you under 28s.

Good luck

[dgym]

Cheers thanks I'll give that a go!

[AndrewP]

DGYM

Great vid, the echidna is a nice touch!

[Elan 1600]

This is the way to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuZz2SZt0eo

[rgh0]

How hard you start depends if you have to drive the car home or if you have a trailer

I use 4500 rpm and then floor the throttle and lift the clutch over about a 1 second period. With sticky 175/60 x 13 tyres and a LSD, a 3.77 diff , close ratio gear box and high torque race engine this gives me the quickest launch off the line. The Elan is relatively easy to launch compared to most car and i can generally get a jump on cars on the line or two in front of me on the grid when I get it just right

Exactly what happens in this 1 second period is hard to measure as I do it by feel, but essentially the revs stay at 4500 rpm and over that period of 1 sec I go to fully open throttle and the clutch fully in and the car moving without wheel spin, fron then on the car accelerates without clutch slip through the gears.

When I had a more conventional road based car that i was driving to the track or hill climb I would do a similar process but just a little more gentle - i.e big capacity but sprint spec engine, 155/80x 13 road tyres tyres, semi close gear box, conventional diff -- I would launch at around 3000 to 3500 rpm. I had a couple of donut failures and a diff output shaft failure when launching like this and converted to Cvs due to that back in the 80's.

cheers
Rohan

[dgym]

Just wanted to revive this thread to say I took all your advice on board and knocked half a second off with a much better start. Ended up coming a legitimate 3rd in class behind a couple of race prepped cars. 27.51 was my best time.
so cheers guys! thanks for the help!

[davidholroyd]

Hi Roy,

go racing ....

we have 100 mins of fun in a day, not 30 odd seconds .....

your car is bulit to race ....

63elan

[englishmaninwales]

Just wanted to revive this thread to say I took all your advice on board and knocked half a second off with a much better start. Ended up coming a legitimate 3rd in class behind a couple of race prepped cars. 27.51 was my best time.
so cheers guys! thanks for the help!

Well done for a significant improvement. The start is the most important part of the hillclimb, in my view. The circuit racers can make it up later on! Also it's difficult to practice, as you need cold tyres, as you will have on the day. Plus so many other variables; engine, gearing, tyres etc.

FWIW here is one of my starts at Loton Park, an old one from 2012; 220BHP, 2.66 1st gear, 4.1 diff with LSD and super soft tyres (old class 1B, now 1C). 4500 rpm and getting the power in over the first 1 sec with minimal wheel spin, to give a 64ft time of 2.2 secs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9TfMaU8sL8

Malcolm