Hillclimb school in a Golf R
Hillclimbing in a hot hatch? PH goes back to school at Harewood and competes at Shelsley Walsh
Timing strut attached, stickers on; let's hillclimb!
Back to the start
Our chosen hillclimbs offer two extremes of this gentlemanly sport in the form of Shelsley Walsh and Harewood. Shelsley is the oldest working motorsport venue in the world and is very much about power as there are only really two proper corners along its course. Alternatively, Harewood is all about corners and how they flow from one to the next, so getting it right here is down to handling and grip.
This should be something very much in the Golf R's favour thanks to four-wheel drive courtesy of VW's latest fifth-generation Haldex 4Motion system. Throw in 300hp from the 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine and a six-speed manual gearbox, and you have an ideal hillclimb spec.
We could have chosen the quicker DSG-equipped Golf R, but a manual allows the driver full control of gear selection on a hillclimb rather than risk waiting for the car to decide to change down as you enter a corner.
Run what ya brung
There is a reason for the odd wheels...
Our first trial for the Golf R was a 350-mile drive to Shelsley Walsh, which it knocked off in refined style. It even managed decent fuel economy when cruising in Eco mode.
This was soon forgotten with the car warming up for the first practice on Saturday morning. Then it was ESP off, traction control off and into the selectable Race mode. Shelsley has an endearingly shambolic selection process for Saturday practice where it's first come first served for the running order. Being even more shambolic, teammate David and I found ourselves running quite far back in the day. Even so, we managed two practice runs and both showed improvements in times.
Much of my improvement came from getting the Golf R off the line much more cleanly than David. Where he suffered from the engine bogging down and limiting its rev ceiling, I was able to catch the revs before they sank back to the car's preferred default limit after an initial burst of revs.
Impressive start
The result was a best start of 2.33 seconds for the first 64 feet, which is a key marker in hillclimbing as two seconds to 64 feet means the car is pulling 1g of acceleration. To put the Golf R's performance into context, it was only 0.2 seconds slower than Tony Bunker's Nissan GT-R, which was running on super-soft Toyo tyres and the Golf was on standard road rubber.
Diverse line up waiting for the hill
Off the line and up through Kennel and Crossing, the Golf felt composed and quick, with a very slight lift off the throttle required for Crossing. Then it was all about choosing the right braking point into the Bottom S. For once, I got a good line sorted and carried the speed into Top S and on to Main Straight and across the finish line.
Each run was quicker than the last and ended up with a 36.17 second competition run. Not quite into the 35s where I was aiming but a personal best and the Golf R had proved it was quick in a straight line, even if the brakes miss a little sensitivity when slowing.
Yorkshire grit
A couple of weeks later, the Golf R's second test was Harewood, which has 10 corners to Shelsley's two and you only need second and third gears at Harewood where Shelsley has the Golf revving hard in fourth.
64ft time indicator of a good start
From there, your first run is with the instructor to put theory into practice, and there are cones to mark out entry, apex and entry points. At Harewood, there are a lot of late turn-ins, so paying attention pays dividends. After that, it's practice runs in running order, which means about three runs before lunch.
With a bit of nutritional ballast on board, the afternoon offers a quicker turnaround of runs, helped by Harewood being one of the few hillclimbs where you don't have to use the track to return to the paddock. The real difference is the marker cones have been removed, so it's all down to you.
The Golf R began to shine at Harewood in a way it didn't at Shelsley. Four-wheel drive and easy to predict slight understeer made it simple to place the car and use all of the track to its benefit. Even the brakes seemed more progressive and in tune.
Be brave Al, be brave!
All of those corners meant more stirring of the gear lever, but the Golf R has an accurate shift that never refused to slot home, even during the less than sympathetic changes of a committed competition run. By the end of the day, I was a lot hotter than the Golf but was rewarded with top prize for most determined driver of the day.
So, two very different tests for the Volkswagen Golf R and it passed both with flying colours. Perhaps most telling of all is how easily the Golf R slipped from road car into hillclimber and back, fully earning its R for Racing moniker.
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its also worth bearing in mind that the DSG can be overidden to a certain extent by sliding the gear stick to the left (manual position) it also has the benifit of launch control which is quite a bit quicker than the optimum manual launch and it takes no skill to do just the abitlity to press a few buttons
(not selling promise) but there are some stupidly good PCH and BCH deals on these cars at the moment, not that i think VW want you to track them
.How does the Golf compare to the Astra?
Here's another way that nearly 300bhp gets you up the hill at Harewood
http://youtu.be/Ur0iAQM5IJM?t=20s
& Shelsey
http://youtu.be/Uy3DXmjNrPo
Still got my L places on but it's fun learning.
How does the Golf compare to the Astra?
Here's another way that nearly 300bhp gets you up the hill at Harewood
http://youtu.be/Ur0iAQM5IJM?t=20s
& Shelsey
http://youtu.be/Uy3DXmjNrPo
Still got my L places on but it's fun learning.
And if you think there are only 2 corners at Shelsley, I suggest you look at this;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86jOAQwKsIM
In terms of safety requirements in the road going class there is nothing needed for the car - it needs insurance and MOT but nothing else special - yellow tape on battery earth lead, ignition off indication, tow hook and the timing strut. Driver needs overalls, helmet and gloves with appropriate approvals.
Get on the hill and have fun!
A track barely wide enough for the car and small slippery grass run-offs leading straight into some very close and high grass verges\banks. one mistake and you could end up on your roof!
The second footage at Shelsey looks a bit better but the possibility of bork factor is still very high, especially since most will be amateur drivers. I'm not usually one for the nanny-safety brigade but both venues don't look like somewhere I'd want risk my own car\life.
Knowing very little about Hillclimb, can someone clue me in as to the safety aspects\planning at such events or is it really as mad as that footage makes it look? I assume should the worst happen, you wouldn't be insured either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYbocg-u-Xs
Also, when he says 2 corners I assume he meant Crossing and the Esses - I think Stirling Moss once called Crossing one of the most challenging corners in British motorsport due to the apex being late and for the most part concealed behind the inside bank until you are right on top of it. Though that is second hand from other club members so could be apocryphal
Guvernator - on of the advantages of hillclimbing is there isn't someone else to pressure you or to make you do something you can't/aren't comfortable doing. You can drive within yourself and build up to the edge of your personal ability.
A track barely wide enough for the car and small slippery grass run-offs leading straight into some very close and high grass verges\banks. one mistake and you could end up on your roof!
The second footage at Shelsey looks a bit better but the possibility of bork factor is still very high, especially since most will be amateur drivers. I'm not usually one for the nanny-safety brigade but both venues don't look like somewhere I'd want risk my own car\life.
Knowing very little about Hillclimb, can someone clue me in as to the safety aspects\planning at such events or is it really as mad as that footage makes it look? I assume should the worst happen, you wouldn't be insured either.
The hillclimb tracks are marshalled by very competent volunteers who could also marshall at major events.
Yes it is dangerous, as you observed.
The hillclimb tracks are marshalled by very competent volunteers who could also marshall at major events.
Yes it is dangerous, as you observed.
Hat's off to you for going at it in a TVR though. I suspect if I did have a go, I'd want to try it in something a little tamer and easier to repair first :-)
Hat's off to you for going at it in a TVR though. I suspect if I did have a go, I'd want to try it in something a little tamer and easier to repair first :-)
Maybe I just don't try hard enough!
Shame the car is so interminably f
king dull in every other respect!..otherwise, drive one hard and it has the all the best traits of classic hot hatches, AND it will embarrass a lot of 'quick' cars....
Having ridden a road bike to & from events were I raced another bike, the first few miles of the journey home were entertaining.
..otherwise, drive one hard and it has the all the best traits of classic hot hatches, AND it will embarrass a lot of 'quick' cars....
G
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