Mt. Philo Summary (2005)

Sports Car Club of Vermont (SCCV)
Website: www.SCCV.org

Philo, October 15 & 16 2005, as presented by SCCV and chaired by Steve and Andy Jones.

First a bit of a recap. In 2004 at Philo, Jimi Heyder in his Olds Calais, running in S3, managed to win his class for the first time in a long while with a 1:13 against Jim Adams. Maros Zelina started the weekend running 1/2 second behind Michael Wilson for 2nd overall, but cut a gentle right-hand turn too much and crashed over a stump.

For 2005, up to this weekend there had been six hillclimbs in the traditional series this year, and all but one have had rain at least one day. First Okemo had a dry Sunday, and second Burke had a dry first half of first run Sunday. So it was obvious that rain would be there for Philo, and there was.

We had 5 runs Saturday and 6 runs Sunday. We stopped at 2:30 Sunday to allow people to dry out. 3 crashes, which I believe is more than the rest of the season. Saturday also stopped relatively early when it was obvious that the rain was not really letting up. There were 31 entrants with 6 double-driver cars: Adrienne Hughes and Roy Hopkins in the BMW M3; Casey Crosby and Paul Tingaud in the SuperChicken; Justin and Nathan Hayes in the grey Rabbit; Shea McClure and Chris Weaver of Alfa Milano fame in Shea's white turbo rabbit; Brian and Kevin Dennis in the Mini Max Dodge 024; and Brian Blow and Jennifer Ricker in the Starion

Saturday was light rain off and on all day. It started out with Maros Zelina leading Michael Wilson by a few tenths. On the second run, Arlo crashed the Subaru STI heavily off of turn 9 just below check 4, and was done (with that car and class) for the weekend, handing the U1 class year-end win to Michael Wilson. At lunchtime, Michael Wilson in the 911 turbo had a 1:15.08 to Maros Zelina's 1:15.05 in the EVO, and Sherman Baumann in the Dwarf had a 1:15.92.

After lunch the rain lightened up for a bit, and then started again, but Maros finished with a 1:14.3 on the 5th and last run with rain coming down, and Paul Tingaud in the SuperChicken also cranked off a 1:15.37. Michael Wilson did not go any faster (Maros has to be almost 2 seconds faster to win King of the Hill). Arlo's first run time of 1:18.29 I think left just those 5 under 1:20 for the day. Brian Dennis was trying hard, and on his 4th or 5th run crashed just below where Arlo had. This was not a good move, not least because Kevin was leading the class for the year, and that gave it to him (unless another car could be found).

Jennifer Ricker and Brian Blow opted to do family things on Saturday and only run Sunday. This may have cost them a bit, since they had not seen the hill under these exact conditions.

The SuperChicken audi quattro driveline tube-frame was briefly named the Bionic Loon, but the SuperChicken had meaning to Paul, so the name was reinstated. One corner worker thought it sounded more like a hampster being molested.

Overnight, Jimi Heyder took David C. Dennis' stock-car tires home and grooved them. These were noticed during the day sunday; it is not clear if they were on the car first thing Sunday morning. This did seem to affect things, but maybe not what you expect.

Sunday dawned with almost-dry pavement and OK-looking skies. But the weather channel weather map showed rain approaching from the north, and soon. Probably another day where the first run would be the best run, although the conditions would be unknown. Pine needles, damp spots etc. and who knew where on a road less than 2 car widths wide. Michael Wilson announced the approaching weather at the drivers meeting, suggesting that all who could should line up with group A to get the driest possible run. Fam run was not waived, because that would allow the drivers to get some idea of the pine needles and the damp spots. Fortunately many of the pine needles went away with the fam run. Unfortunately the driver might not have known that until after the corner speed had been picked.

Most of the traditional group B drivers, like Sherman Baumann and John Reed and Jimi Heyder stayed in group B. Paul Tingaud had his co-driver Casey Crosby in group A, probably in recognition that Paul was more likely to break the car through aggressive driving than Casey.

After the group A timed run, Michael Wilson in the 911 turbo awd had a 1:10.35 and Maros Zelina had a 1:09.75. Maros was leading for the day, but needed better than a 1:08.7 to win king of the hill for the year. Casey Crosby, on his second hillclimb, turned a 1:11.34 in the SuperChicken, showing the potential for Paul Tingaud to possibly take ftd. Maros admitted to driving as hard as he knew how, because he sensed this was it. Michael Wilson was going as fast as possible with some caution at check 4 due to the other incidents, and thinking that for King of the Hill there was a bit of margin. True if Paul was not doing a 1:06.9.

During the start of group B fam or timed runs, the drizzle started again. And Jimi Heyder in the Olds Calais had sensed that maybe one of his tires was not fully inflated. But it was now or never, so he drove up and spun at check 6. So much for doing other people's tires but not his own. The tire had 6 psi in it (I think the right rear). The resulting 12 point turn and 1:39 gave the S4 lead to Rick Young's 1:19 in the damp-but-not-full-wet conditions.

Sherman Baumann was behind this, and got a damp run to a 1:14, not good enough for the class or ftd, but good enough for P1 at the end of the year if Ascutney's do not count. Paul Tingaud broke the transmission in the chicken so the top four finish order was probably set for the day.

Justin Hayes managed a very creditable 5th overall with a 1:16.33 in the Hayes brothers naturally aspirated S3 rabbit, beating wrecker chief Don Taylor's 1:16.99 in the S1 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Arlo Cota returned with the trusty almost-unbreakable Peugeot, but did not beat his brother.

Roy Hopkins, making his sole appearance this year along with Adrienne Hughes in the U3 Ghetto-cruiser M3 on Bridgestone S03s was 9th with a 1:19.00. Rick Young in the S4 Neon was 10th, and Shea McClure in the S2 turbo rabbit was 11th with a 1:19.63.

The weather behaved as predicted. The rain did not stop, although it was not heavy. Jimi Heyder kept at it though, and at the end of the day on the 6th run (still at 2:30 PM) he pulled off a 1:20.00 for second in S4. He had won the class every other weekend, and was first for the year, and the car was in one piece, so he was philosophical. About his spin he said "I drive the way I do so even if I do get in over my head I won't drown."

There were 4 runs before lunch. Michael Wilson gave the ranger a ride in the 911 turbo, doing a 1:16.xx, a second faster than his previous 2 timed runs.

After lunch Robbie Smolinski woke up (he had been working the previous night as a sound man). So all his runs were in the damp. He said afterwards that he did not like rain or mornings, and there was a third thing he mentioned not liking that I forget.

Nathan Hayes was one of several who used the down road as an escape road coming into Stonehenge at check 2, but he decided just a bit late and went off the outside of the down road. The car looked remarkably undamaged, and there appeared to be nothing holding it where it was, so it took longer to extract than the previous 2 cars. It eventually made it to the top with Greg Haley driving, for a time of 50:36. The do not enter sign also seemed OK after reinsertion into the ground.

The last 2 runs after lunch were drying a bit, but 6 seemed enough. So the hill closed a little early, allowing the workers to dry out. John Reed was fastest on his second run (not sure exactly when in the sequence that was). Jimi Heyder was fastest on his last due to his problems on his first, and for some reason Adrienne Hughes was fastest on her 5th and Brian Blow fastest on his 6th. Robby of course had no chance to run in the "dry" so his sort-of-dry last run was his fastest. Everyone else was fastest on their first run, as predicted at the drivers meeting.

So Maros has his first FTD in the New England Hillclimbs.

For the year, Michael Wilson has King of the Hill again in the 911 turbo. Maros was 2nd overall and has U1. Arlo Cota was third overall but wins no particular class. Sherman Baumann is 4th overall in the Dwarf, but only wins his class if the Ascutneys do not count. All this assuming no new and different points calculation is devised.

The trip up to Philo Friday night had been slow due to hydroplaning.

The trip back had 5 unexpected stops. First there was a tree in the road on the down road, fortunately rotten so it could be moved by hand by one person. I forgot about the gate, and it did not unlock easily. 6158 Mt Philo Road is for sale, and I have been looking at that for years, so I had to stop and see it. The Lincoln Gap road was signed as closed, so I stopped in Lincoln to inquire; the storekeepers said it was open. It was, but I drove slowly in case there was a road outage that was not signed. And then at the top of the Roxbury-Warren road there was another piece of land for sale, also needing investigation. This time just recording the phone numbers, since it was dark and raining. But after a bit of hydroplaning on I89 before Bethel, the rest of the trip back was dry. The rainbow on 17 into New Haven and Bristol (VT) was stunning.

Other views of the hillclimb welcome as usual.

Michael Wilson