Time ‘trials’ at Noosa Hill Climb
Story by Sam Murphy, pics by Shane Murphy & Vyvyan Black.
The Noosa Hill Climb Classic & Sports Car Challenge was run again on 10-11 November 2018 and LCQ was well represented with regular stagers, Dick Reynolds, Jon Young, Vyvyan Black, Zaid Latif and Shane Murphy (President) joined by Patrick Mewing, Paul Carrol, Peter Quinn, Pat Richards and rising young gun and Noosa rookie, Sam Murphy.
The Sunshine Coast turned on great weather for the occasion with a fast, dry track all weekend.
The proceedings kicked off with a street parade and welcome drinks on Friday evening – the social side of the event, an essential part of the fun and an opportunity to compare notes from past years and learn the latest tips and tricks from Dick Reynolds for a fast run on ‘The Hill’.
At the drivers’ briefing on Saturday morning competitors were warned of the introduction of a new Swiss timing system for the weekend and some commissioning issues were expected.
This slowed the progress of the run sheet somewhat, as antennas, wiring looms and sensors were adjusted to pick up cars crossing the finish line.
Disconcerting for all runners was the lack of times after four runs on Saturday with benchmark performance missing to analyse the results relative to prior years, fellow competitors and car setup changes for Sunday.
Luckily, there was plenty of action off track to keep the LCQ racers and WAGs distracted with a spirited discussion held on the social media policy of the Club’s Facebook page and a crisis management centre set up to monitor Jon Young’s temperature gauge as it edged up from ‘miffed’ to ‘peeved’ by the close of Saturday running.
Fortunately, by Sunday evening, results were produced which included a clean sweep by the LCQ – reaching the podium in all classes entered:
• SC to 2ltr: Dick Reynolds, 1st Place, 1:05.57
• SH to 2ltr: Patrick Mewing, 1st Place, 1:05.80, Shane Murphy, 2nd Place, 1:06.10
• SM to 2ltr: Zaid Latif, 3rd Place, 1:04.21
While there were some challenges with the timing system, plenty of fun was had by all and attendance by more LCQ Members from across Australia is recommended.
