Racing Venues, What do you think about? Options

[Randal]

There is just something about a hill climb that gets to me.

The first real hill climb I saw was near Great Witley in England; or should I say heard one Saturday morning when I was staying at my friends farm. I went outside in the morning and could swear that I was hearing an F1 running somewhere out in the distance.

When I finally figured out that there must indeed be a racing venue somewhere nearby we took off and went to the opposite side of the valley. Sure enough they were running a proper English hill climb.

Amongst other things they were hill climbing last years F1's.

This was 1973 and you could literally buy last years F1, like so many they had running that day, for a song. Plus there was every other possible European car you could imagine. They were racing up the hillside on this small road, like really tiny, literally flat out. No time to warm the tires. Unbelievable! You could sit on the bank (upside of the road) and have the cars roar by just feet from you. What an experience. We spend the entire day watching.

The entire experience is so hard to describe, but every time I start going up hill I just have to mash the accelerator. The whole experience just stuck.

Next year I'm going to do a few hill climbs in Northern California. There is one up at the Hoopa Indian reservation near Eureka. Also some events up in Oregon.

What I really want to do is to run Pikes Peak some day. Would need something really powerful and some pretty sophisticated electronics to deal with the huge change in elevation.

Now that would be a trip. Something to dream about.

What venue makes your blood boil?