HRCC Winter Noosa Hillclimb 2016

By Shane Murphy. Photos by Shane and Jenny Murphy.

Lotus Club members were entered in three classes.

In the pre-1980 Sports Cars Shane was pitted against Red McCray in his 1979 3 litre Porsche 911 and Trevor Bassett in his 2 litre 1974 Alfa Romeo. In the pre-2000 Sports Cars up to 1,600 cc’s, Jon Young in his Caterham took on a 1990 Ford Capri; a 1989 Mazda MX-5 and a 1996 PRB Clubman.

In the 2000 to current Sports Cars class, Zaid in his Exige mixed it up with Peter Quinn in his Elise, Pat Richards in his Elise and Stefan Donka in his Elise, a very Lotus class.

Pat gets the big effort award for traveling down from Mackay to compete.

Forecast wet mornings proved correct on both Saturday and Sunday, challenging all 140 cars on the slippery 1,500 metre hill, running water and eucalyptus resin on the track hampered times for the experienced and frightened the hell out of the novices, the author included.

Whilst early morning rain dampened early times, both days eventually warmed and as the track dried we saw times generally tumble as the day rolled on.

Zaid and I were the newbies, being first timers at the event. Dick was kind enough to phone me at 10.30 pm on Friday night to offer tips on how to get to the top as fast as possible, of course not having seen the course or even contemplated what turn 10 even looked like it was a little bewildering, but you have to love his enthusiasm.

The track was tricky as mentioned above and over the weekend an MX-5 wiped out his boot, an RX-7 tore of his front end and a Clubman side-swiped a bank and removed his front drivers side suspension. Always a tidy reminder of how unforgiving a slippery track can be.

For team Lotus though I am happy to report that we suffered no trouble and no mishaps, the Green Machine went like a rocket ship after the great work in the hands of Greg Bray and we all celebrated at the prize giving with cool drink and a laugh at our good fortune and amazing driving skills.

In the final wrap up, Shane came third in class, Jon won his class with Zaid took out the Gold, Peter the Silver and Pat taking Bronze. Not a bad effort from the crew.

Once bitten they say, we have booked our accommodation for November and cannot wait to have a crack in the dry, it’s an event worth trying.