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Hi there race fans, like the title suggests I decided to post up my adventures this soon-to-be past year attempting to run in all of the Northwest Hillclimb Association's hillclimb series, in my S2000. I was going to ask for a general consensus as to how much written detail I should go into, but then I decided, screw it I'm just going to write to inform and entertain, besides you wouldn't be reading if you weren't interested. Hey something else to read on the off-season right? Mods feel free to move this if you don't think it belongs here. Northwest Hillclimb Association
The NHA's logo says "Great Races in Beautiful Places" and I wholeheartedly agree, a lot of the details of my posts will be about how beautiful the West can be. The series is made up of 7 hillclimbs in the Northwest ranging from CA, OR, ID and WA. In case you don't know, a hillclimb event (think Pike's Peak) is like a time trial point to point race where the cars are sent up the hill one at a time (sort of) and race against the clock for fastest time in your class or for top time which is King of the Hill or Queen if you are a female competitor. The NHA has it's own rule set and uses 4 systems of vehicle classification, etc... check out their website for all the details here My Racing Experience
Not much. I've only been auto-xing for three years. I did buy my S2000 brand new in '03 (with an OEM hardtop) and never thought I would auto-x it because I thought I might get lost in the cones and I didn't want to hit anything with my pristine car, and track days were out because, again I didn't want to wreck. I drove my S sometimes to work at 4am, top down (I'm originally from upstate NY) and all over the East coast on road trips with my wife before we had kids, and even after my son was born. Despite all of this I kept the mileage quite low on my S2000. Fast forward to 2011 and I put the S in storage and moved to CA. In May of '12 I flew back east and drove back across country, top down. First time I drove the S to work a guy came up to me and asked if the S2K in the parking lot was mine and told me about an awesome go-kart track in Medford, OR where they held auto-x. I decided to give it a try because he said it was like a mini road course not your typical parking lot event. I also had hit a deer back in '09 and the body shop who fixed my S left it not so pristine and you can only spend so much time driving on the street or searching out tunnels to VTEC through. Sure enough I was hooked after the first event, I could have kicked myself for not doing it earlier. So this is all a disclaimer for my driving skills that you will see in my posted video's, I'm not the greatest but I'm not too shabby, and most importantly I was having the time of my life.
That's my S2000 at the track in Medford, how I equipped it and drove it to the hillclimbs, except for Hoopa, but I'll explain that when I get to it. Set-up/Mods
BFG R1 stock staggered sizes-yeah I found out they do make an auto-x version but I think these actually worked out better
Eibach sways-front soft setting rear un-hooked
Billman Gen-X TCT-just installed this year, mine wasn't that bad but hey lifetime
Mugen oil cap-first mod I bought for my car, some of you old timers might remember the OEM plastic one losing its threads
Comptech rear lower chassis brace-bling I bought in '04, I was going to buy all of their braces then they went out of business
ASM clone 4pt STB-bought off a member here S2X? I don't want to get in on the controversy about it
Axle nut re-torque
MAP sensor with new zip-tie thingy-there was a TSB for that, I did suffer from the symptoms
Chase Race trailer hitch
Custom Tire Tail by Cody
Rally Armor mudflaps-holy shit, R-comps destroy your paint
Samco intake hose
K&N air filter
OEM front lip- crack from raccoon
OEM HT
Custom camera mount-in place of wind screen
Nikon J1- camera I filmed all this excitement with, my wife said she was going to get me a gopro
As you can see I'm pretty much stock, I ran BS my first two auto-x seasons but for the hillclimbs I classed myself in OSPU = OverStreet Prepared Under 2.5 liters. It is a regional class where you can pretty much run anything you want. I could run my STB, which is not stock, slicks, and you are allowed to remove your passenger seat, which I did to carry one of my slicks. I tacked washers on a set of seat bolts so I could tie down the wheel in the passenger side, put one in the trunk with all my gear and two on my tire tail. As you will see from my posts I was quite under prepared for my class but I wanted to adhere to the rules.
Ok, that's it for now, first up: Freezeout Emmett, ID.
Bullwings - yeah pretty risky, can get ugly quickly (as your video shows), many drivers consider it a little crazy
josserman - all kinds of hillclimbs motorcycle, dirt, gravel, rally car stuff, etc. The series I participated in is all paved roads, some two lane some single lane forest roads, some freshly paved others with patches and cracks
I just had a chance to watch the whole video you put up bullwings, thanks. Wow, those Europeans take their hillclimbs pretty seriously. The NHA is pretty 'grassroots' in comparison. Half the fun of doing these hillclimbs was checking out some of the awesome race prepped vehicles and watching them perform while being a corner worker and such.
How did you run all of them without a rollbar? I live by Boise, Idaho. I was wanting to do them, but I do not want to put a roll bar in my CR. I had a bunch of friends run the hillclimb.
Freezeout Hillclimb first began in 1967, presently the course is 1.65 miles in length with a rise in elevation of approximately 600 ft. It is believed, with some degree of certainty, that Freezeout is one of the five longest consecutive run hillclimbs in the U.S.
I had taken Friday through Monday off from work for this event because it was quite the drive from where I live in northern CA. I left early Friday morning because my Google map said it was a 10 hour drive and I wanted to make it there in time for tech. I took 97 out of CA, over the border into OR, through Klamath Falls and along Upper Klamath Lake with cliffs on one side and Mt. McLaughlin and the lake on the other.
After Klamath Falls 97 is pretty flat with pine forests on both sides of the road with a mountain peak popping up here and there for good measure. I stopped in La Pine for lunch at this awesome Mexican Place, Cinco de Mayo, good find because I knew I would be taking this route again for other hillclimbs. Next I turned onto Route 20 out of Bend which quickly turns into high plains desert for about 200 miles until Burns. I almost ran out of gas on this leg of my trip, there were no gas stations on this desolate stretch. I watched the mile markers go by as my odo went past 300 miles, and I only had one bar left, and we all know how deceptive that gauge can be. I pulled into the first gas station just before Burns and only got a couple of gallons because they only had 87 octane.
After filling up in Burns it was easy cruising up route 20 (route 20 runs all the way across the country, it passes by the small town where I grew up in NY)over some passes with spectacular views. Then along the Malheur River with its lush river banks surrounded by hills with jutting cliffs and buttes, looking like a Martian landscape.
I was making good time and thought I would arrive just in time for tech and then I passed the time change marker. Forgot about that little detail, now I would be lucky to get there for the end of tech. I pulled into Emmett to check into my motel, where the parking lot was full of trailers and race cars, then rushed off to a local park for tech. As I pulled in, the event chairman Shea was just packing up his van, but said I could follow him up the hill to be tech'ed and registered. After I did that, which was a good idea because I learned how to get to the event for the next morning, I returned to my motel and started unloading the car and cleared it with the manager so I could use her parking lot for a pit area. I was a little wired and anxious for the next day's festivities and I introduced myself to my neighbors Bret and Buddy. Bret was campaigning his Acura TL in the hillclimb series, they were from the San Diego area and they had beer.
I woke up early Saturday morning to change my wheels over then walk to McDonalds for a quick breakfast back in my room. Aired up my tires then drove the 4 miles or so to the course. At the hill I ran into my friend Cari who is a member of my local club, she said I should take a drive up the hill to check it out before they closed it for competition. I wasn't going to because I thought it was against the rules but she assured me it was ok. So I drove up the hill and not knowing where the finish was I was absent-mindedly doing about 35 in second gear, when this older gent jumps out at me and tells me to slow it down and tells me the speed limit is only 25 on the hill and I could be disqualified for practicing etc. etc. At the drivers meeting I find out this guy is the president of the Bogus Basin Hillclimb Assoc. who is running Freezeout, great, just great.
I am the first one on grid for the morning run group. You have to run with your drivers side window up, and you will notice in almost all of my videos, me trying to get my seat belt to lock. I cannot twist/reach to start my camera if it is locked.
We all got in four runs that morning with no incidents to slow down the pace, after a car passes the mid-point of the course they send the next one.
I started with a 1:58.810 on my first run being a little cautious and my best run was #3 on Sat. which was a 1:51.794. I improved a little each run. The best S2K time at Freezeout from what I can find is 1:45.273 in BS.
The Rest of the Story
This guy was at my motel the night I pulled into town. Nicely prepped Exige.
Sat. afternoon I was working 'Monument Corner' which has a commanding view of most of the course when I saw the Exige go off at 'Air Bump' I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Sunday morning he showed up with a bandaged hand and wanting to know what had happened because he had blacked out on the moment of impact with the berm that got him airborne. Luckily his only injury was a cut on his hand. Quite sobering.
Sunday morning two Canadians showed up with their Shift Jetta, on their way to Pike's Peak International Hillclimb. They were using Freezeout as a testing ground for their recently finished build. One guy was the driver and the other was documenting their campaign. I worked turn 1 with the cameraman, nice guy, you can check out his stuff here. My S makes a little cameo in his video because they pitted next to where I was parked.
The motel manager where I was staying let me pay for a little extra time on Sunday because checkout time was 11am. I needed somewhere to store my equipment and pit, the parking area at the hill was pretty much sand. I got out of Emmett around 6pm that night and got home at like 3am. It was a beautiful drive home with a great sunset on the high desert.
Next up: Cascade Lakes, OR Including some much needed drama!
Last edited by saving4one; 11-15-2020 at 09:41 AM.
11-12-2014, 04:00 PM
2014-16 NHA Season Coverage
