Project Rookie

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linc44
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Project Rookie

Post by linc44 »

So I've decided to chronicle my experiences as a rookie in the NEHA hillclimb series. What follows is my attempt to show some car prep, basic NEHA rules and procedures, and most importantly, lessons learned from the driver's seat. I apologize if this is poorly written, but I'm not writer or even try to be. I just want to give a newbie perspective of NEHA to help anyone who may be interested, and to give the forum regulars something that might be interesting to read.

My story begins like this:

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My 2009 Honda Civic LX coupe has been my daily driver and weekend autocrosser since I picked it up brand new with 9 miles on it. It is a replacement for my 1995 Subaru Impreza 1.8 FWD sedan that decided it wanted to put the rear struts in the back seat instead of under the car and tore through the rusty top mounts. The Civic has served me well (minus the HORRIBLE economy tires that are absolutely awful in the snow) and I thought that I was ready to step up from parking lots and empty airfields, to try my hand at some time trial events (still not ready for wheel to wheel yet, but maybe someday).

I first looked into track days at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Lime Rock Park, and while doing so I found the Hillclimb tab on the SCCNH website. My first impression was "Hey, this looks like the roads I drive on a daily basis and wish I could race on!" and so I decided to look into it further. (In hindsight, this was a terrible reason to try it, but hey, we all start somewhere right?)

Seeing as I knew absolutely nothing about hillclimb, I figured it would be a good idea to go attend one first and see what it's like before I strapped myself in and promptly drove off a cliff or into a tree (while not an incredibly common event, it DOES happen more than at an autocross event!)

That first hillclimb was Ascutney 1 the weekend of May 20th-22nd, 2011. I drove the 3+ hours from work in Kittery, Maine to Ascutney knowing no one and with only a reply about sharing a campsite with a forum member named "sachilles". I pulled into the campsite and found that I had arrived before the mysterious sachilles so I wandered over to registration to take a look at the cars I'd seen when I drove in. To my surprise the cars were not at all what I had expected. The first cars I saw were Don's Eclipse GSX and Walter Clark's VW hatchback. Full cages, race prepped, and far more specialized than my bone stock Honda with a lame DOT 4 point harness. I was intimidated and worried.

I found out that I had no reason to be. After walking around tech and talking with a few very friendly people, I figured it was time to set up my tent, so I walked back to the campsite. There I met my site-mates Seth Achilles (ahhh, so THAT'S what sachilles stands for!) and his brother-in-law Scott (aka Bucky). They were more than welcoming, and were a blast to spend the weekend with. I cannot thank them enough. I also met Steve and his wife Julie, who were also amazing and really weloming of a stranger with no idea what was going on like me. Thanks also.

All in all, Ascutney 1 was a great weekend. I worked the grid on Saturday and check 4 on Sunday, all the while meeting amazing and helpful people. I learned that while autocrossing will help teach car control, I was in no way prepared to tackle a hillclimb, particularly with my daily driver Civic.

Lesson Learned #1: Go work an event BEFORE thinking your the next Colin McCrae and that your car is the fastest thing on the hill. You will learn a lot and get the feel for how the events are run, meaning you can focus on those driving skills you thought you had.

After smartening up and realizing I needed a "disposable car" as Seth put it, I scoured Craigslist for the weeks between Ascutney 1 and Burke. Just 4 days before Burke, I picked up my car. A 1994 Infiniti G20 with 220,000 miles.

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It was sitting in the woods behind a house in Old Orchard Beach, ME. That probably should have been a sign of bad things, but the car ran great, was a one owner car since being leased in 1994, with full service history from the Infiniti dealership, and for the modest sum of $500, I had a hillclimb car!

Prior to Burke, I replaced the rear brakes (the calipers had siezed), changed the oil, flushed the coolant and replaced it with water, and mounted a fire extinguisher to the center console.

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Friday rolled around and I left work at noon time in case something happened on the 200+ mile trip in my unproven car. I'm glad I did.

The trip went surprisingly well and I made it all the way from Maine to Exit 5 in Lydnonville off of Highway 91 without any problems. But after taking a right off the offramp, you come to a set of railroad tracks. Now in hindsight it would appear that these are no ordinary railroad tracks, but in fact metal-hungry demon tracks that promptly sheared my after-cat section of exhaust right off it's flange, complete with a trail of sparks from dragging the center section and the sound of an Infiniti G20 with a straight pipe exhaust. Not the best sound I have to say. I immediately turned right into the first auto shop I came across, which happened to be Greg's Automotive in Lyndonville.

It turns out that Greg owns two circle track cars in addition to his auto garage, and upon hearing my lame story about railroad tracks and that I was headed to Burke for a race, got right to work cutting out the broken flange and welding a length of piping in its place. Not the best fix, but for $45 I was back on the road with a much quieter exhaust with a deep "race spec" exhaust note (Greg's words). Thanks to Greg's Automotive in Lyndonville, VT for the quick fix late on a Friday afternoon.

I should note that on this trip (and the Ascutney one as well) I was travelling solo, as my friends and guys I normally autocross with want nothing to do with hillclimb and the possibility of getting a scratch on their pretty "race cars." I apologize for the lack of photos from the trips but between driving and helping to rebuild my exhaust, I was preoccupied, sorry. More pics on the way later if you keep reading (a little teaser while you read at work).

Five and a half hours after I began my trip I finally rolled into the campground at Burke. Registration, learning my rookie class would be held on Saturday morning, unloading the car, and setting up camp complete, I headed for tech. Now I had gone through what I thought would be required to pass tech, but I was still worried that I had missed something. Despite Steve's insistance that Walter check my car for a "Sneaky Pete" hidden NOS system since no one would actually try to show up to a hillclimb with a completely stock car, turns out the only thing I needed to add was a terminal cover to my battery! (See engine bay photo above for my MacGyver'ed duct tape terminal cover, its the red one)


Pictures of camp:
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Saturday morning came quickly and I was up early for my rookie drive-up with Sherman. I, along with 5 others, piled into a WRX Wagon and proceeded to get the history of the mountain, helpful hints, strong warnings, previous problems, how to find the line, AND the weather report, all in one round trip up and down the hill. Thank you Sherman for your wonderful insight and willingness to answer our newbie questions, it was much appreciated.

Lesson Learned #2: There will ALWAYS be someone who knows more than you do. Asking questions, being attentive, and listening to what others have to say will help you more than think. Whether it be from a 20 season hillcimb veteran or another rookie, absorbing as much information as possible can only benefit you later.

Rookie drive-up finished, up next was the drivers meeting, with more tips and warnings, along with the rundown of the rules. Following the meeting I wandered back to the campsite to get the car ready for the day. I quickly learned I had a pretty glaring problem.

The car wouldn't start.

Enter the Dent Sport Garage guys. Despite checking every connection ten times over and trying to start the car many times, it just plain wouldn't. Whether is was kindness or just getting tired of hearing my starter cranking over and over, Nick, Kevin, Phil, and Matt all came over to try and give me a jump. After a few failed attempts with both Nick's M3 and Kevin's STI, they, along with Phil, had to head out for Group A's fam run, leaving Matt to endure my mounting frustration and ratty old car.

We proceeded to pull and clean the spark plugs, ensure the fuel pump was running, recheck all the plug wires and distributor, disable the security system, and try many other methods with no luck. During one of the attempts Matt found this:

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This dangling wire (the white one, with red sheathing) just so happens to be attached to the cam angle sensor connector. A jiggle of the wire while I turned her over again and she fired right up! THANK YOU MATT!! Note to self: get that wire permanently reconnected soon.

After Matt saved the day the weekend went amazingly. First I need to thank Matt, Nick, Kevin, and Phil for helping me out, inviting me to dinner, and making for an awesome weekend, you guys are great. Everyone I've met during the two hillclimbs I've attended so far has been incredibly welcoming and friendly, it's greatly appreciated.

On Saturday I was sitting squarely in dead last with times of 3:59 and 3:56 and the car was running well (although Steve noted that I should probably add a turbo, so one can assume that I was travelling along at a snail's pace compared to everyone else he saw go by his checkpoint, as evidenced by those times too). I cut my day short on Sunday to leave lots of time for the ride home in case I had any more issues, and managed a 3:39. Improvement! I was still in last place by about 28 seconds, but I'd picked up 20 in the process. Which leads to this:

Lesson Learned #3: Times aren't everything. Improvement and fun are. While I was nowhere even close to being quick on either day, I improved my times each run, worked on something new every time, and had a blast! (Seth can attest to this as he stopped to ask how my first run went when we were sitting at the top and I couldn't wipe the huge grin off my face) Slow times and all, hillclimb is just plain fun.

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Action shot courtesy of Steve. Thanks for taking pictures!

So burke has passed and unfortunately I cannot make it to Okemo 1, but I will be back at Okemo 2 in August. Between now and then I have plenty of work to do on the car (and the driver too!).

The car has some pretty serious rust and suspension issues.

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Driver side rear rocker
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Passenger side rear rocker
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Even the shocks and springs are rusted (I'm pretty sure they are the originals from 1994, according to the records I got from the previous owner)
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Inside the rear wheel weels. Definately the worst of all.

I'm going to have to come up with some sort of rust abatement to try and keep it from getting any worse, along with some new shocks and springs I think. Also the front driver side headlight seems to have a mind of it's own and stays on even when the car is off and the key is out. I've replaced the relay and the fuse under the dash, with no effect, so I've got some troubleshooting to do. Finally, TIRES:

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Republic Inavder Sport tires work incredibly well in the rain, but as soon as it was dry, they were instantly greasy, not helped by my poor driving and front wheel drive. On a completely random note, when these tires get hot, they smell like peanuts! Which only makes me want a snack when I get to the top. Republic's are made by Goodyear, but I'm almost certain that they have no business going anywhere near any form of racing, so I'll be working on other options too. Also in the above picture, you can see how bad the rear brakes looked when I first got the car. I replaced the calipers, pads, rotors, and fluid before Burke.

I've been tossing around the idea of stripping the car to save weight but I have no idea if the metal underneath all that Infiniti luxury sound deadening is solid or not, it will move me up to a street prepared class, and if I ever decide to sell this car, it's going to need an interior. We shall see.

Most importantly however, I need more seat time. Yes, the car has issues, but I think the biggest gains can be made from the driver's seat. Confidence, getting comfortable in the car and on the hill, and learning how to attack the course (which is nothing like attacking an autocross course) can all be improved drastically in my case I think. Obviously if you come from some other sort of racing, rallying for instance, you may not have so much room for improvement, but in my case, I'm positive I'm giving up lots of time for silly reasons.

Lesson Learned #4: If you want to know how to do something. Go do it! I could sit here and try to explain how much fun hillclimbing is until my fingers go numb, but you really have to go and try it first, a forum post could never dream of really giving you an idea. This applies to much more than racing. Interested in surfing? Or playing the guitar? Go do it and see if you like it. You'll never really know until you do.

So this concludes Project Rookie Parto Uno. If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or just think I'm an idiot for posting this, feel free to let me know. There is still a lot that I do not know, so I will continue to post up what I learn along the way and hopefully others will find it useful. Thanks to all for being so welcoming to a new guy and thanks for reading,

-Lincoln
sciroccohp
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by sciroccohp »

Nice write up!!
I was going to ask why your honda had a Lincoln plate on the front, it was bothering me all the way to the end. no reason to ask now I got it.
I was actually camped next to you at ascutney with the white scirocco.
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sachilles
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by sachilles »

Nice job Lincoln!
Sachilles
02 Subaru impreza (Donut) #66
W.Vaillancourt
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by W.Vaillancourt »

Very cool right up. And congratulations you are now an addict. :lol:
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Rabbit Farmer
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by Rabbit Farmer »

Action shot courtesy of Steve. Thanks for taking pictures!
You're welcome. Great write-up.

Steve
Go Fast VW & Audi parts at FastAddiction.com
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honda#72
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by honda#72 »

This story of a hillclimbers begining sounds similar to mine. I had previous autocross and track experience, and learned about hillclimbs and how they were held on the type of roads I used to zip around on as a kid. I didn't have the balls to race my black 2002 Honda S2000, so I took my winter car a 1991 Honda Prelude Si 4 wheel steering. I stretched a connecting rod at my first event (Mt Ascutney). I was down a daily driver, but now had a full blown hillclimb addiction. After that car I ran a 1998 Honda Prelude, and then my current hillclimb car, my 2000 Honda S2000. Like you I have driven the cars to every event, I think I was the only competitor to drive their race car to the 2011 Mt Washington Climb to the Clouds.
A few words of advice:
1: With a car with that mileage, double check your fuel and brake lines, as well as your suspension mounting points, At my first event my 91 Prelude had all new suspension. However, new suspension parts do you no good if they separate from the car. My upper control arm tore out from the rotted body, in the parking lot, luckily not on a run.
2: Don't worry about times, you'll get faster. I was the second slowest at my first event, but that may have been the most fun I ever had. Also, don't get upset, when a "slower" car beats you. You don't know whats under the hood, and the driver may have been hillclimbing since before you were born. I feel learning each mountain has made me faster than any single mod to the car or cars.
3: Safety, both types, besides a solid chasis, brakes, synthetic fluid and tires, don't skip on stuff like seats and harnesses and other equipment, you get what you pay for.
4: If you drive the car to events, be prepared, bring parts you think you will need, because if you bring them you won't need them. Also, ratchet straps are your friend. My buddy and me tore the rear trailing arm out if a Crx at a TSD Rally, and ratchet straped it together and limped her 150 miles home.
5: Don't take to car up the hill if you are not sure it will make it to the top. There is nothing worse than slowing everybody down and loosing runs because your car keeps sputtering and dying halfway up, or even worse, keeps puking slippery fluids on the road. Us Rwd guys don't appreciate it.
6: Involve and try to keep it fun for the girl or wife if there is one. You don't want them resenting you for hillcimbing.
7:Have fun and be safe.
1997 cc + Vtec + 9,200 rpm fuel cut = Fun !
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linc44
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by linc44 »

Thanks so much for the kind words everyone!

Chris: You are exactly right. The plan is to get everything in solid working order before doing any upgrades or anything special. The SR20 motor and easily sourced parts for the Sentra-based platform makes it mighty tempting to go all out up front, but I think it would be smarter (and cheaper) to learn as much as I can with a well running slow car, then step up later to more speed and fully prepped car. But again, as you said, sorting through every system to make sure its functioning properly and safe is the current plan. As for the girlfriend, she unfortunately lives and goes to medical school out in Indiana, but she keeps asking me to take her to an event (autocross or hillclimb) so she can try her hand at it too, although they don't really have any hills in Indiana (too much corn!) so that might be pretty interesting to watch. If a vacation lines up with a NEHA event, you will most certainly see her there too.

Thanks again,

-Lincoln
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by Phillip »

Welcome to the forums lincoln, I was actually wondering where you were this time around, but its good to here we'll see you at Okemo II.

You missed me kissing a ditch and crushing a control arm today on the evo! :lol:


Good story, see you soon,

Phill
-Phill
2005 Evo VIII: Garrett, Cosworth, InjectorDynamics, Vipec, Ralliart, ARP, Injen, ExtremeTurboSystems, Deutschworks, Kognition, OMP, Schroth
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by walterclark »

Nice story and welcome!

Try Eastwood (http://www.eastwood.com/ for stuff to stop your rust (click on the RUST SOLUTIONS tab and other things to get the body and chassis to where you want it. There are probably cheaper solutions around but these guys sell stuff that does what it says, and they are all DIY car guys like most of us hillclimbers.
The older I get the better I was.
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by zerothehero »

Thank you for your cool write up, I have been looking for this kind of info for a while. I live in Ludlow and have been at both Okemo events for the last 3 years watching. I have often thought that this sort of thing would be a blast to do and had envisioned an approach similar to yours. It was great to read your post and see that so far it has been fun and informative for you. Perhaps I might get off the sidelines sometime.
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