National hill climb series relaunched
A national hill climb series promoted by the ClubSport Commission received the go-ahead at the June meeting of the MSNZ Executive.
Initially the competition will carry ‘series’ status and it is expected this will be upgraded to a full championship event carrying gold star status once it becomes established.
“We hope to run the first rounds in both islands in the spring and the intention is to have a final on the South Island in April 2011,” Commission chairman David Kirk said. “In future years the finals will alternate between islands.
“The format will involve two qualifying weekends in each island, with one day on tarmac and one on gravel. Competitors will use the same cars to compete on both,” he said.
Two former champions, Andrew Hawkeswood and Marty Roestenburg, have indicated they would be interested in competing once they know the details.
“Hill climbs were hugely popular with the public and we believe they will prove so again.”
In the early years of hill climbing, most events were held on tarmac. The list of winning cars includes single seater Ferrari, Cooper BSA, Begg Ford and March 77B. The growth of rallying and 4WD cars has seen the winners list switch to saloon cars
Hill climbing is one of the oldest continuous events on the New Zealand racing scene with the first national champion in 1957. It continued as a stand alone competition until 1994 when it was combined with motokhana and autocross as part of a ClubSport Championship.