Thinking About Doing a Hillclimb - Got Any Advice?

I've never done a hillclimb event before, but its been on my bucket list for years.  SCCA has announced an event in May in Kentucky.  Kentucky Hillclimb  I think I can talk swmbo in to making the journey with me if we take a couple days to explore in Nashville before the event and combine it with some "vacation" activities.  I've done several Champcar races, HPDE and been doing autocross and rallycross for years.  The safety requirements are pretty clear - looks like I'd need arm restrains and a fire extinguisher, but otherwise, my LS1 E36 meets the criteria. 

Do you guys have any advice for a hillclimb newbie, or tips for the Nashville or Pine Mountain, KY areas?

Flagged a bunch of hillclimbs.

You have a cage and firesuit?  (just checking)

Crashes can be BAD. Trees, boulders, creekbeds...  all are going to eff up a car a lot worse than a tirewall and you wont even have the runoff room to bleed off speed before hitting. Temper your aggressiveness, I've seen a good number of cars written off, but luckily never a bad injury. 

Changing weather conditions have more teeth, one thing to massively observe is that even morning dew can make the painted lines on the road as slick as ice. I could slip my foot on it walking and I did observe a crash that I believe was caused by it. (we did radio in to control to warn drivers). 

My car has a 4 point roll bar - which is all that's needed for the safety level 2 requirements.  I do have a firesuit.  The hillclimb environment is certainly more treacherous than a race track, and I'd intend to drive with a fair safety margin.  My main goal would be to get the car and myself home safely and being competitive would be a secondary goal.   I feel like hillclimb is a very cool and unique form of motorsport that I'd really like to experience.

My club will not allow first year members to drive the hill climbs.

They want you to have some documented seat time before taking a shot at the hills.

In reply to bentwrench :

They seem to be pretty inviting to newcomers.  From the website,"Drivers do not have to have HillClimb experience to participate and coaching will be required for those who have never done a HillClimb before"

Lof8 - Andy said:

My car has a 4 point roll bar - which is all that's needed for the safety level 2 requirements. 

Just a note: Some of their announcements weren't clear about the required safety equipment.  Safety Level 2 is required for cars that fit into the Solo Street Prepared category or their Street Unlimited category.  Everything else is Level 3 and needs a full cage, etc.  I have no idea where your car fits but wanted to be sure you had checked on that before you show up.

You might want to find contact informaiton for their tech steward and correspond with them...  I was looking at doing some stuf with PHA at Summit Point and know the tech chief and was going to have a talk with him a few months before the event (then covid cancelled my ability to do the event)

Don't run off the road

Some non SCCA  hill climb clubs have  classes for unprepared cars.

Hillclimb roads tend to have dips and bumps and things like that which you won't ever see on a race track or autocross lot and can upset the car to the point that you can go off into the trees if you hit them wrong.  The 'instructors' will try to point those out but since no one has run that hill before, they may not have recognized all of those 'features.'  So, take it slowly at first and work your way up on speed.  

In reply to Kubotai :

Thanks.  I will look to talk with a tech person to confirm.

Years ago, before I had any motorsports experience other than autocross, I mentioned wanting to try a hillclimb to one of my close friends who was a successful club racer.

My reasoning was simple -- compared to club racing, hillclimb was more approachable for newbs, the prerequisite car prep was low. The barriers to entry were lower.  

My friend talked me out of it based on his concerns for safety.  With retrospect, after 15 years of doing hpde and w2w racing, he was absolutely right.  

I wouldn't do a hillclimb without a fully prepped car with a fantastic cage and a high-capacity fire suppression system.  It's inherently dangerous.  There isn't run-off, the course isn't designed with motorsports safety in mind.  If there is an accident, there are challenges getting first aid (hill climbs are usually out in the uh...hills.)  Think of it as WRC in terms of what kind of safety prep is necessary.  

I don't mean to dissuade you from trying it, but rather recommending that you ignore the minimum requirements for safety prep.   

Edit:  You mentioned Champcar -- can you use that car?  

Have you been to one yet? If not, try and volunteer at a hill climb, see what they do, and see if you deem it worth the risk. Ls1 powered anything is already risky. 

Unfortunately, I'm down in Florida, the land of no hills and definitely no hill climbs, lol.  Ideally, I'd be able to go check one out before entering, but the logisitcs just aren't there for me to do that.  I have watched hours of hillclimb videos on youtube.  "ESPN, the coverage is excellent" (Days of Thunder).  I co-own the miata Champcar with 4 other guys.  I could probably talk them into letting me use it, but honestly, I feel safer in the BMW with the enclosed roof.  I'm aware that there is higher risk at a hillclimb than at the track, but I'm not deterred by that.  I'm pretty good at dialing in the level of aggression to fall within the level of risk. 

Did two. One went very well, the second I put a car on it's roof and ended it's life. So here's my input.

Have all the safety gear. ALL THE SAFETY GEAR. An LS-BMW will be FAST and should it go wrong, it can be very bad indeed. If you and your car is ready, you will just walk away and laugh and try not to cry at the carnage of your car.

Listen to the instructors. Noobs get some coaching and it is important. LISTEN. PAY ATTENTION. Do whatever you have to do to commit it to memory and follow it when your excitement and adrenaline is at 120%. Talk to other racers and get their input too, leave your ego 1000 miles away and be a sponge for advice on what to do your first time. Ask questions. Take notes if you must.

Build speed. Going too fast to quickly will just lead to overcooking corners and making mistakes. Find your markers, know your speed, and build up incrementally.

Compared to autocross, this is a bit more serious so take it more seriously. Stay focused, concentrate, and you will be fine.

Compared to autocross, this is way more exciting and fun. Enjoy and lose your cool after your first run, you've earned it.

I don't want to scare you away, my issue was easily avoided had I not forgotten the warnings I was given about my position on the road. I loved every minute of it, even working the rest of the weekend after my car was toast. I will have another car and will tackle that hill again.

And since you have done rally remember to do just like in Rally and adjust your pace based on the ever-changing track conditions, and track tempo. That's the hard one sometimes. You get into a spot where you can go 8/10, but then come up to a section that requires you to go about 2/10, and people forget to adjust for that. 

They are major fun to do, but it is still the only motorsports event that made me nervous on every run.  Do not skimp on safety, and most definitely I would not do it without a full cage.  Some people do without issue, but a couple of years after I ran my last one, a guy did die in the event my region put on.  I remember towards the top of the hill there was a switchback with a bump after a long full throttle run, and my car was moving over about a lane, foot still flat to the floor.  I would definitely do another one, but you want the best safety gear you can get.  

Yep, hill climbing events are not for the ill-prepared. I've raced MotoX, and did a lot of high speed on and off road MC riding (back when I was very much younger and dumber). Saw bad things that I will not mention in detail here. However, some of hairiest riding I ever did/saw was some very serious (non-competitive at the time) motorcycle hill climbing at the Holister CA venue. Losing control from about 3/4s of the way up, or higher, could easily result in a totaled machine and/or serious injuries. I got away with it then, but I would not run MC HC today due my age. BTW, those that flag and, with MCs, spot hill climb events are braver than brave imo.

Do it. Pretend you're not racing the first few times. Have a great time and learn the lay of the land (the people and the events). Best advice I ever got is the following "You can't be fast until you know the hill in your lizard brain." 

It has proven to be correct so many times! If you can't drive the hill blindfolded, don't drive like you're racing. 

Hillclimbers are... different. In a good way!

DaveEstey said:

Do it. Pretend you're not racing the first few times. Have a great time and learn the lay of the land (the people and the events). Best advice I ever got is the following "You can't be fast until you know the hill in your lizard brain." 

It has proven to be correct so many times! If you can't drive the hill blindfolded, don't drive like you're racing. 

Hillclimbers are... different. In a good way!

Thanks!  That's exactly what I plan to do. Take it easy until I KNOW the hill. Course is only 2 miles, so I think it's pretty feasible. 

A hill climb is essentially a tarmac rally stage.

I only ever did them with low powered cars so my exposure was fairly minimal. I'd say 90% of the crashes we saw were all cars with a high hp/weight ratio.

Remember, it's just you in a car going up a hill. You won't set any records, and even if you do, nobody will be impressed. The trophies are usually lame anyway. Make lots of noise but take it easy.

There are spectators. They increase the probability you will do something moronic. It's just the way we're wired. Fight that urge.

It's fun, but cost/seat time ratio in my experience is pretty poor. I went to HPDE type stuff and never went back.

Rabbit Farmer (iirc) on here had a huge build and event thread on here. It was fun to follow along

Don't pull a Richard Hammond.

Subscribed for interest.  I like the looks of hillclimb as well, but I think I need a bit more experience under my belt.

Yes you won't see a drop off like devil's playground, but there will be trees that can enter the passenger compartment. I wouldn't consider it in something with north of 250hp or wider than 225 tires without an FIA cage and halo seats. 

On your practice runs,note the corners that need special attention, then post them on your steering wheel.

  Any good hill climb will have the corners marked.

Also there should be many familiarization (FAM) runs before a time attempt.

 This helps cut down on the problems.