ICC Rd 7 Mt Cotton Hillclimb

Words by Shane Murphy, Pics by Shane and Jen Murphy.

The intensity of the competition program resulted in the CAMS Club Challenge and Round 7 of the 2018 Interclub Challenge being combined into one action-packed event, or so it seemed.

Eleven teams chipped in to be part of the show with a field of fifty cars entered all ready to rumble, oh, and of course, hopefully share in the spoils.

The aptly named Lotus Club 1 consisted of Phil Hart (Elise), Jon Young (Seven), Captain Dick Reynolds (Seven) and Shane Murphy (Seven).

To the amazement of the whole team except Phil, we blew 0.000 on the breathalyser, our only physical impairment at the outset was Phil’s back which he pulled earlier in the week, lifting groceries out of the GT3.

The rules around scoring points generally revolve around teams competing against the track record for the class of competition, so we were a little behind the eight ball, but you have to be in it to win it, correct!

Daryl and his sidekick Mal made up the support crew, Jen Murphy performed tyre scrubbing, biscuit supply and general time scoring and video duties.

The registration (paperwork) process was very efficient and with scrutineering completed and CAMS regalia applied we were ready to race. Six runs were planned but Pauline Graham figured that if we did not stop for lunch we could squeeze in at least two extra runs, bringing the promise of eight runs, which seemed entirely logical.

Early times proved inconclusive as the track was slippery and cold. However as the day progressed our times improved to the point that we began to get a sniff of the points in the ICC point score.

Phil had an early day when his Elise started spewing oil of unidentified origin. He must have blown a seal in the rear end (did someone mention a mechanic and a penguin), so a trip home courtesy of Daryl and Mal to collect a trailer proved a nuisance. However Phil had done his work and had set a smooth and impressive time earlier in the day so we were good from the scoreboard perspective.

No officials yelled at Dick and I clipped the armco after the finish line on the way to setting a personal best. The world was at peace.

The usual to-ing and fro-ing with tyre pressures yielded some success with an overall team performance right up at the pointy end.

To get the day into context we need to compare the personal best times for the team with the day’s performance.

This was Phil’s first run at Mt Cotton in his Elise, so his early run was in fact his personal best.

As expected we did not bother the CAMS Challenge score board, however our gritty team performance did little to harm our Interclub point score.

The Yellow Terra’s (HSCCQ) won the day with an impressive 101.4 %. Lotus Club 1 rambled in at 113.5 %, credibly finishing 8th out of a field of 11. You will of course notice that Phil and I were under the final percentage.

The one last event is the HSCCQ Khanacross at Willowbank, an arena in which we do OK. See you there.

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