Randal, Bill,Doris,Nathan and I are all signed in and have passed tech.
We will head over to the hill early this morning. Its better than I expected.
Great cars too. Ax dune buggies with 200 hp motors! V8 240 z. Nathan anc I are in the only 914.
Full Version: Hoopa upate
RESULTS? PICS?
Whoa....Hoopa was a trip.....in more ways than one....
Grant and Nathan were flying in the Pirate Ship! I have vids from the worker station we were working of all 5 of us coming up the hill. I also have in-car video from the EPIQ SPEQ and various pics that I'll post later after I download them. Grant hit it on the head when he said you need to have respect for the hill and get comfortable in remembering what your looking at. It felt like a 2:30 AX but instead of seeing a sea of cones you see a sea of TREES! ohmy.gif This is definitely an experience and I highly recommend trying it. There's nothing quite like "catching" the car around turns or catching 4th gear on a tree lined curvy road that has blind turns which you "think" you have committed to memory. Did I mention the telephone poles that you drive by within a few feet at speed?.... tongue.gif
Getting to the Event
=============
This is one hell of a tow for my configuration (1/2 ton 350CID Suburban with a 20 foot enclosed trailer and Lucille's fat ass stuffed in it). The elevation changes are much more severe than towing to Reno or any of the other race tracks we frequent. I ended up burning over 110 gallons of fuel to get there. My gas mileage was 5 MPG to get there and only slightly better going home. It took me over 7 hours to get there and over 9 hours to get back as I lost my trailer brake controller and had to engine brake and take it easy coming out of the mountains (can you say...15MPH!).
The Cars
======
We were at a disadvantage horsepower wise. Competitors had horsepower baby, and lots of it. The reigning "King of the Hill" has an LS1 Vette engine stuffed in a 240Z. Nissan rear end and rear axles and A-Arms. Doris and I got to push it off the course at our worker station when he hopped on the throttle and snapped the A-Arm locating bolt. The number 2 competitor in a cut up '84 vette loaned him his car and he beat the rest of the field in the loaner car.
There was a guy from Salinas in a dune buggy with a type I putting out well over 200HP....just a pan with fiberglass and slicks. He absolutely hauled ass. His acceleration up the hill was unbelievable. Turbos, superchargers, big V8's, miatas, mini-coopers, civics...even a Toyota Corolla. You can only carry so much speed through uphill turns. HP rules the day on the hill.
The Organizers/People
===============
www.rscc.net is where you find these people. It's a laid back bunch. The driver's meeting reminded me of my mom and dad showing me all of their home movies and re-telling their stories from yesteryear, but overall it was fine. I was very impressed with the hill control and organization. Things were organized and pretty easy to understand, and car issues or issues with the local population were handled pretty easily. The organizers were able to get everyone 3 runs on Saturday, including Randal, Doris and myself who were sharing the Boxster. On Sunday, everyone again got 3 runs each EXCEPT ME.....the event organizer said they needed to stop the runs so that they could get back to the hotel and get out results and awards by 5pm. All of us left by 7pm because they still hadn't finished...so who knows. That and the fact that on my fastest run of the weekend (I was well into 4th gear on one spot of the hill) there was a timing error that said my run was 15 minutes long, were really the only two hiccups for the weekend. Moral of story, don't run 3 drivers in a car or don't be the last guy to run the hill!
The Locals
=======
Hoopa is an Indian Reservation. They use the income from the event to help the local senior citizen center and provide scholarship money to the local High School. But some of the locals are less than friendly to outsiders. During the event the hill is opened up for the local population to go up and down the hill. The majority of locals would wave and smile at us station workers as we would wave to them. But several would flip us off and scowl at us as they went by. And Nathan was working at gate control at the bottom of the hill. Doris and I heard him on the radios saying "There is a local on the way up the hill and he is armed".....
The main town area looks like something out of "Outer Limits". A hotel, a credit union, a grocery store, a restaurant, and a casino. That's about it. The buidings are dirty and non-descript but the area itself is beautiful.
Driving The Hill
==========
Lucille was a trooper with 3 drivers but there's only so much you can do. We put 37 miles on the car in timed runs and burned 12 gallons of gas, that's 3 MPG. We were able to use first through fourth gears. Water temps were higher on a 2 min 30 sec run than I see at Thill in 100 degree weather. We basically used a hybrid setup between an AX and track event. We set the car up pretty loose on the AR bars so that you could pitch the tail of the car and then "catch" it. I set the shocks pretty stiff since we could bottom the nose of the car apexing into an uphill hairpin (yes, it's that steep). All of us (TPR and BPR) found that you needed to go to first gear to launch the car up the hill and keep the revs up, otherwise taking turns in 2nd just bogged you and you were dead. The road surface itself was pretty good (better than Candlestick Park!) and you could 4 wheel drift the car in a number of places. The adrenaline factor does come up when you are drifting and the trees are there and the road drops off...so if anyone is bored of orange cones you may want to give a hillclimb a try.
The Spec Boxster swept the podium for SCCA class ITR. I think Randal will have his name on the official Hoopa Hillclimb shirt as I believe he set a class record. Myself and Doris came in 2nd and 3rd in class. I believe Nathan and Grant finished at the top of their class and may have set a class record as well. Randal studied the course before hand and was able to get comfortable rather quickly. He told me he was going 9/10ths, so he wasn't leaving much on the table and that seems about right as he was a good 7 seconds faster up the hill compared to my posted time. I didn't do my homework and couldn't get myself to much past the 7/10ths level. Watching Grant and Nathan come through our turn station was fun to watch, the car drifting out of the turn towards the edge of the road and them blasting by us with a few feet of where we were standing. Pretty cool!
Overall Impressions
=============
I highly recommend giving this event a try. It's different. It's up to you as to how far you're willing to push your car (and luck!), but the hill is safe and a great time to drive. And the participants are very nice people. The event coordinators as a whole are much nicer, organized and accommodating than most local PCA groups will ever be. The commute in is a bit tougher than usual for trailered cars, but if you're driving your car to the event the scenery is beautiful. The 914Club should invade the place next year. We only had 44 participants out of the max 60. Besides...how many times to you get a whole mountain road to yourself while doing 4 wheel drifts?
Bill P.
Grant and Nathan were flying in the Pirate Ship! I have vids from the worker station we were working of all 5 of us coming up the hill. I also have in-car video from the EPIQ SPEQ and various pics that I'll post later after I download them. Grant hit it on the head when he said you need to have respect for the hill and get comfortable in remembering what your looking at. It felt like a 2:30 AX but instead of seeing a sea of cones you see a sea of TREES! ohmy.gif This is definitely an experience and I highly recommend trying it. There's nothing quite like "catching" the car around turns or catching 4th gear on a tree lined curvy road that has blind turns which you "think" you have committed to memory. Did I mention the telephone poles that you drive by within a few feet at speed?.... tongue.gif
Getting to the Event
=============
This is one hell of a tow for my configuration (1/2 ton 350CID Suburban with a 20 foot enclosed trailer and Lucille's fat ass stuffed in it). The elevation changes are much more severe than towing to Reno or any of the other race tracks we frequent. I ended up burning over 110 gallons of fuel to get there. My gas mileage was 5 MPG to get there and only slightly better going home. It took me over 7 hours to get there and over 9 hours to get back as I lost my trailer brake controller and had to engine brake and take it easy coming out of the mountains (can you say...15MPH!).
The Cars
======
We were at a disadvantage horsepower wise. Competitors had horsepower baby, and lots of it. The reigning "King of the Hill" has an LS1 Vette engine stuffed in a 240Z. Nissan rear end and rear axles and A-Arms. Doris and I got to push it off the course at our worker station when he hopped on the throttle and snapped the A-Arm locating bolt. The number 2 competitor in a cut up '84 vette loaned him his car and he beat the rest of the field in the loaner car.
There was a guy from Salinas in a dune buggy with a type I putting out well over 200HP....just a pan with fiberglass and slicks. He absolutely hauled ass. His acceleration up the hill was unbelievable. Turbos, superchargers, big V8's, miatas, mini-coopers, civics...even a Toyota Corolla. You can only carry so much speed through uphill turns. HP rules the day on the hill.
The Organizers/People
===============
www.rscc.net is where you find these people. It's a laid back bunch. The driver's meeting reminded me of my mom and dad showing me all of their home movies and re-telling their stories from yesteryear, but overall it was fine. I was very impressed with the hill control and organization. Things were organized and pretty easy to understand, and car issues or issues with the local population were handled pretty easily. The organizers were able to get everyone 3 runs on Saturday, including Randal, Doris and myself who were sharing the Boxster. On Sunday, everyone again got 3 runs each EXCEPT ME.....the event organizer said they needed to stop the runs so that they could get back to the hotel and get out results and awards by 5pm. All of us left by 7pm because they still hadn't finished...so who knows. That and the fact that on my fastest run of the weekend (I was well into 4th gear on one spot of the hill) there was a timing error that said my run was 15 minutes long, were really the only two hiccups for the weekend. Moral of story, don't run 3 drivers in a car or don't be the last guy to run the hill!
The Locals
=======
Hoopa is an Indian Reservation. They use the income from the event to help the local senior citizen center and provide scholarship money to the local High School. But some of the locals are less than friendly to outsiders. During the event the hill is opened up for the local population to go up and down the hill. The majority of locals would wave and smile at us station workers as we would wave to them. But several would flip us off and scowl at us as they went by. And Nathan was working at gate control at the bottom of the hill. Doris and I heard him on the radios saying "There is a local on the way up the hill and he is armed".....
The main town area looks like something out of "Outer Limits". A hotel, a credit union, a grocery store, a restaurant, and a casino. That's about it. The buidings are dirty and non-descript but the area itself is beautiful.
Driving The Hill
==========
Lucille was a trooper with 3 drivers but there's only so much you can do. We put 37 miles on the car in timed runs and burned 12 gallons of gas, that's 3 MPG. We were able to use first through fourth gears. Water temps were higher on a 2 min 30 sec run than I see at Thill in 100 degree weather. We basically used a hybrid setup between an AX and track event. We set the car up pretty loose on the AR bars so that you could pitch the tail of the car and then "catch" it. I set the shocks pretty stiff since we could bottom the nose of the car apexing into an uphill hairpin (yes, it's that steep). All of us (TPR and BPR) found that you needed to go to first gear to launch the car up the hill and keep the revs up, otherwise taking turns in 2nd just bogged you and you were dead. The road surface itself was pretty good (better than Candlestick Park!) and you could 4 wheel drift the car in a number of places. The adrenaline factor does come up when you are drifting and the trees are there and the road drops off...so if anyone is bored of orange cones you may want to give a hillclimb a try.
The Spec Boxster swept the podium for SCCA class ITR. I think Randal will have his name on the official Hoopa Hillclimb shirt as I believe he set a class record. Myself and Doris came in 2nd and 3rd in class. I believe Nathan and Grant finished at the top of their class and may have set a class record as well. Randal studied the course before hand and was able to get comfortable rather quickly. He told me he was going 9/10ths, so he wasn't leaving much on the table and that seems about right as he was a good 7 seconds faster up the hill compared to my posted time. I didn't do my homework and couldn't get myself to much past the 7/10ths level. Watching Grant and Nathan come through our turn station was fun to watch, the car drifting out of the turn towards the edge of the road and them blasting by us with a few feet of where we were standing. Pretty cool!
Overall Impressions
=============
I highly recommend giving this event a try. It's different. It's up to you as to how far you're willing to push your car (and luck!), but the hill is safe and a great time to drive. And the participants are very nice people. The event coordinators as a whole are much nicer, organized and accommodating than most local PCA groups will ever be. The commute in is a bit tougher than usual for trailered cars, but if you're driving your car to the event the scenery is beautiful. The 914Club should invade the place next year. We only had 44 participants out of the max 60. Besides...how many times to you get a whole mountain road to yourself while doing 4 wheel drifts?
Bill P.
Thanks for the writeup Bill. It sounds like everyone had a good time. It must be a really tight course to have to drop into 1st. I love hillclimbs but Hoopa is a long haul for me. Maybe some day.
Here's a few pics from Hoopa....
This is the view of the Trinity River from our hotel balcony:
Bill P.
This is the view of the Trinity River from our hotel balcony:
Bill P.
Grant getting ready for tech....
checking the keel on the Pirate ship....
Lotus....
240Z painted by owner in his garage. The car was awesome....
BPR passes tech....
And proceeds to eat lunch....
At Joe's Deli, one of (3) restaurants in town...
At Joe's Deli, one of (3) restaurants in town...
Lining up in the pits....
Randal and I talking over strategy...."is that a left or right after the first big tree?"... 
Adding some gas before the driver's meeting....
Tina...the Hoopa Hillclimb Boss...she drives a mean Spec Miata....
Bill P., Randal and Nathan listening to the head timer speak....
The TPR boyz (Grant and Nathan)....
B510 on canti's....it was quick!
worker crew getting dropped off up the hill...
and now the fun! MGB on the way up the hill past our turn station!
Home made tube frame car with supercharged rotary engine....
Honda Civic....
The Pirate ship looking for gold...
and Lucille the EPIQ SPEQ in pursuit....
My teammate Randal Barrick...can you tell he's happy to be there?...
artsy fartsy shot with Hoopa in the background....
And now for some video...
These are vids from the corner station we were working:
1. 240Z with a Corvette LS1 400HP motor and undercarriage. He is the current champion....
King of the Hill
2. 200HP Type I Dune Buggy. This guy was crazy fast!
Fuchin Fast VW
3. Doris in the EPIQ SPEQ Boxster
Doris in the Boxster
4. Randal in the EPIQ SPEQ Boxster
Randal in the Boxster
5. Bill giving it a go in the Boxster
Bill in the Boxster
These are vids from the corner station we were working:
1. 240Z with a Corvette LS1 400HP motor and undercarriage. He is the current champion....
King of the Hill
2. 200HP Type I Dune Buggy. This guy was crazy fast!
Fuchin Fast VW
3. Doris in the EPIQ SPEQ Boxster
Doris in the Boxster
4. Randal in the EPIQ SPEQ Boxster
Randal in the Boxster
5. Bill giving it a go in the Boxster
Bill in the Boxster
And last but not least, an in-car video of Randal behind the wheel. Take a ride with him up the mountain!
In-car video with Randal
In-car video with Randal
Soooo, cool!
I'm pissed I had to miss it.
I'm pissed I had to miss it.
Very cool Bill! I was video challenged due to being only person on my checkpoint. Did you get any of the 914 going past your checkpoint?
What a nice area - great weather, redwoods, cool river. Looks pretty sweet.
The in-car video was the best by far.
Great driving Randal!
The in-car video was the best by far.
Great driving Randal!
Anyone know how to shrink a big Quicktime .mov file? I have an in car video, but its 275 MB and Windows movie maker wont load .mov file types for editing.
QUOTE(grantsfo @ Jul 31 2007, 11:11 AM) 
Anyone know how to shrink a big Quicktime .mov file? I have an in car video, but its 275 MB and Windows movie maker wont load .mov file types for editing.
Hi Grant,
Let me check my video editing software and I'll see if it can do QT's. If needed you could ftp the file onto my server. I'll let you know later tonight....
Bill P.
QT Pro - it i an apple format.
Take your thumb drive with you and goto an apple store and say het I want a demo of video editing.
Or you could send it to me, and I can shrink it down for you.
Take your thumb drive with you and goto an apple store and say het I want a demo of video editing.
Or you could send it to me, and I can shrink it down for you.
I was able to find a QT compression tool. Here is the TPR 914-6 headed up the hill with me at the Helm. Nathan was even faster, but we didnt get a full vid of his run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj-hE-e0oO4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj-hE-e0oO4
Wow, corner markers, brake zone cones, awnings for the corner workers, you guys had it way too nice. Looks like a lot of fun except for all those trees. Nice run Grant.
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