Lots of preparation for the 2021 Mt. Washington hillclimb (formally known as the Subaru Mt. Washington hillclimb presented by Yokohama Tire); aka “Climb to the Clouds”.
https://mt-washington.com/climb-to-the-clouds
Let’s talk about the spacers. I returned the ECS Tuning spacers as they stated they would only work with OEM Volkswagen rims.
I found the spacers I needed at Venum Wheel (
www.venumwheel.com) at the right price.
I ordered 5x100 bolt pattern, 10mm, 57.1 bore, black spacers.
A few days before the Burke hillclimb they arrived.
Wonderful!
It was quite obvious that they weren’t black. Okay, I can live with that.
But they also aren’t 10mm. I really needed 9mm, so going 12mm was more than I wanted/needed. I called Venum and we had a conversation… the easiest way for me to get the 10mm spacers in time for Burke (4 days away) was to pay for another set and return the 12mm.
I decided to hold onto the 12mm until I had the 10mm in my hand as Burke was the only event prior to Mt. Washington that I would be able to drive on the new tires.
Good thing… FedEx screwed me (which is very rare… it is usually UPS with a “weather event” on a sunny day). Out for delivery the day before I had to leave for the event and then (poof!) won’t be at my house until the next day.
The chrome looked good on the front. I wanted black to match the rims.
On the back, we have some issues.
I was hand tightening the new Gorilla nuts and something didn’t feel right like I was stripping the nut. Oh-oh. Took it all apart and found that the stock VW hub pushed off the machined lip of the spacer.
I ended up running 12mm front and 4mm (what used to be on the front) rear spacers. I wanted a square car, but would settle for a slightly skinnier rear.
Oh… Venum also told me to return the chrome spacers that pushed off the machined lip because they were obviously defective.
When I got home from Burke the 10mm spacers had arrived. I tried them on the rear and they didn’t fit either… with or without the dust cap.
The gap on the rear.
I noticed at Club Motorsport, Ascutney, and Burke that the car didn’t seem to have the power it should. It was a little more obvious at Burke as I normally get into 5th gear prior to checkpoint 1 and downshift into 4th to make it over the jump. I never got into 5th.
I figured the engine or turbo were getting old and the power just wasn’t there anymore.
Let’s start with troubleshooting. Pressure test, check timing, look at the turbo, perhaps a compression/leak down test (though I did these tests earlier this year).
Guess what? It seems a hole that I can put my index finger through kinda robs the power from the engine.
Wrench for dramatic effect.
The car is ready for the 2021 Mt. Washington hillclimb including the door sticker to commemorate the event.
Another set of ‘take off’ tires from Vermont SportsCar. This time Cooper Rain tires.
I picked up some 1/16” vinyl coated wire rope/cable, crimps, and tool to make tethers for the cameras on the car.
Welcome to the 2021 Mt. Washington hillclimb!
Car with the newly acquired (thanks to the Mt Washington Auto Road) “This VW climbed Mt. Washington” bumper sticker.
Friday practice. The only point of the entire weekend that I was ahead of Travis Pastrana. We practiced the top half of the mountain from 8am-noon. Picture is us waiting below the mid-point to head up for our run.
Cool picture of the collection of cars after Saturday’s practice of the bottom of the hill. Parked above mid-point on the hill where we finished.
Sunday timed runs of the whole hill. Cog railway train in the background.
I was able to secure 2nd place in class between two BMWs, both with good drivers. Happy with the results, but I did struggle with the lack of low end power that took forever to get out of the corners. Really impacts my times at the Burke hillclimb.
I hope to resolve that issue over the winter so that the car is more fun to drive on tight courses. We will see.
And those poor rain tires. I drove them during both Friday and Saturday practice. It was dry and hot on Friday. Overcooked them a bit. I expect this look on track where you always pick up track rubber, not so much on a paved mountain road. Could be wrong (been known to happen).
Pictures of some of the cars at the event.
Rabbit… bah! They should have named it something else. “Rabbit” to me is a small car from the 1970-1980s.
Datsun 510
Sierra Car (normally aspirated)
Corrado
Capri
AMX
Cool car at the event. Car was raced by John Buffum (search the internet for his rally racing career in the US… very accomplished driver) a long time ago. Passed through many hands until the current owner acquired the car and brought it to Mt. Washington.
My neighbors, the Sierra Car.. um, cars. The black is turbo and was 2nd overall at the event.
Speaking of John Buffum… he is up on the golf cart for the driver’s meeting telling us to not do anything stupid and have fun.
Helicopter from the event that was following the fast cars. I saw him over me at one point… must have been birdwatching or just returning to base.
The Unimog that shows up every year to help with communication on the hill. Pretty cool.
What I think was the coolest tow rig at the event.
We got lucky with the weather. B-E-A-Uuuu-tiful on Sunday. Very foggy on Saturday afternoon. Could not see more than 30 feet +/-.
That wrapped up the Mt. Washington hillclimb.
Perhaps I will have the Scirocco ready for the next one.
And different video cameras… I was so frustrated trying to get the GoPro to work. Problems connecting on my old Iphone 10 XR and my new Iphone 12 Pro.
I will post the video later tonight. World’s slowest DSL internet connection requires overnight uploading of videos.
One more event this year… Mt. Ascutney hillclimb in September. My favorite course in the series in Vermont.
Steve
