Anyone wanting to know aboout UK-style hillclimbing should have a look
at the current issue of Motoring News (you should be reading it anyway,
of course...), where there is a two-page interview (pp30-31) with
reigning champion David Grace (who is, incidentally, the managing
director of Pontin's).
His car (a Gould Ralt, based on a Ralt RT36 F3 design, with an ex-
Benetton 600bhp DFR engine) does 0-60 in 1.5s, gets to 85mph a second
later, and is doing 100mph a second after that. Because of the
importance of torque, these cars have only four gears - the space is
filled by a double-width first gear (hence 85mph in first!).
The top cars could beat a Formula One car from a standing start, but
they wouldn't get much further with their ultra-soft tyres,
unventilated steel brakes, 3-gallon fuel tank (petrol, though some
cars run on methanol) and no oil cooler. The car only has a 96-inch
wheelbase - because the gearbox is bolted straight onto the engine,
with no big oil tank in the way. No mirrors, either - as Grace says,
"if they start catching you up, you're not going too well"!
--
David.
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll,
really."
(Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh)
