Hill Climbing, how do I start?

[eggchaser1987]

I have been along to watch a hill climb a while ago when I had my kit car. Unfortunately that had to go as a redundancy happened.

I have now got a secure, well as secure as you can be, job that is just a little way up the road and parents are moving closer (old man fancies it as well) and I wouldn't mind trying it.

Car wise nothing fancy that will win anything to start with, I was thinking Citroen Saxo vtr/vts. Stripping it out to start with and keep it on the road.

I have a helmet that is up to the standard but that's about it.

So do I need a racing licence
Overalls, I assume fire resistant ones (I have nomex (sp?) ones from work
safety equipment in the car
etc
etc

Thanks all for the advice

[eggchaser1987]

Sorry, wrong place. Can mods please put it in the motorsport section.

[rallycross]

Low weight is what you need something like my Ax Gt hill climber is not much more than 700 kg, 120 bhp so gets off the line quickly.
A Saxo or a 106 is a good idea as cheap and parts easily available (2nd hand) but 900 + kg.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leefradley/772898774...


usefull forum here

http://www.uphillracers.com/forum.php

Edited by rallycross on Saturday 10th January 15:06

Edited by rallycross on Saturday 10th January 15:07

[t400ble]

At the bottom?

Sorry. Had to be done

[Boosted LS1]

At the bottom and don't forget good wellies and an ordnance survey map. Alcohol really does make the day fun ;-)

[Slidingpillar]

These days there are Hill Climb schools. Best advice is to do a course and your questions should be mostly answered.

[eggchaser1987]

rallycross said:

Low weight is what you need something like my Ax Gt hill climber

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=hillclimb+a...

That looks very cool. The lightness I thaught to start with just stripping out the interior leaving the dash.

I will have a look into the schools and see if any are.local.
Thanks for.that.

[Crockefeller]

Not sure if this helps?

http://www.prescott-hillclimb.com/driversschool.as...

[Benbay001]

Do you need a race licence for hill climbs?

[carl_w]

http://hillclimbandsprint.co.uk -- I'd take a look at the rules and decide what class you want to be in before you start stripping bits of dashboard out.

[Strawman]

Benbay001 said:

Do you need a race licence for hill climbs?

Yes

said:

As a beginner you will need a "non-race National B" licence; this currently costs £33. In most instances you will require no medical, just your doctor’s name and address and then a passport photo of yourself. The license last for 1 year from January 1st to December 31st, so don’t apply for you license at the end of the year.

http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/allabout.asp

ETA- the link above also lists the requirements for the car.

[carl_w]

Strawman said:

said:

As a beginner you will need a "non-race National B" licence; this currently costs £33. In most instances you will require no medical, just your doctor’s name and address and then a passport photo of yourself. The license last for 1 year from January 1st to December 31st, so don’t apply for you license at the end of the year.

Except I think it's about £42 now so that page is somewhat out of date.

You'll need a lid that complies with current specs (don't get BS 6658 Type A/FR as it goes end of life at the end of 2015), a nomex racesuit (Proban not allowed any more) and nomex gloves. Plus a timing strut which you'll have to make yourself.

[rallycross]

another good hillclimb forum here

http://www.lcs.org.uk/forum/FlatChat/index.php

[eggchaser1987]

Thanks again. Plenty too look at there. As for a lid, I got one for track days when I had the kit car and made sure it was up to the newest standards so that's ticked from the list.

Already looking for a car! Thinking in advance but have seen a couple of saxos and 106s.

[Benbay001]

Strawman said:

http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/allabout.asp

ETA- the link above also lists the requirements for the car.

ty

[Edmundo2]

You need the "non race national b" licence which is cheap and requires no test or medical etc. work out where you will be racing most and join the club that runs that venue. You will need approved overalls and gloves to go with your helmet.

Re cars I would advise taking time to check you fully understand the class structure as it's much better to asses your budget and then identify the class that you can afford/would like to enter in order to be calculated and choose the best car you can for the job.

If staying in a road going class you may not be able to strip weight therefore a car with best power to weight ratio in standard spec would be a good bet providing it also handled well the day it left the showroom. On the flip side the modified classes may see you having to mix with cars with much bigger power etc that have had big bucks spent on them which can get a bit demoralising if that was not your intention etc.

Uphillracers is by far and away the best website for info.

Good luck and enjoy