Revving engines and petrol fumes took over the usually quiet Tewantin forest on the weekend as more than 140 well greased machines made their fast-paced trek up Gyndier Drive for the winter Noosa Hill Climb.
By the time Noosa Beach Classic Car Club president Mike Ryder was set to take his Lotus Exige 2016 through its paces for the first run at lunch time on Saturday there had already been two crashes on the 14 corner, 1.5km hill, he considered to be “the toughest hill climb in Australia“.
“We will have more,“ he predicted of the crashes.
Mike was aiming to shave a few seconds off his 60 second time with conditions dependent on a number of variables.
Bathhurst champion Luke Youlden drove his family wagon, an Audi RS4, to the event, took out the child seats in the back and raced it up the hill in about 61 seconds.
Hill climb spokesman Iain Curry said it was a “monumental effort“ in a road car.
Youlden also took spectators on a ride up the hill during the event before driving his Audi back home.
Winner of the winter hill climb and event record holder was Michael von Rappard in a Dallara open wheel hill climb special with a time of 52 seconds which did not beat his record time but was enough to beat the pack.
There was a wide variety of cars in the mix over the weekend event including a home built electric racing car.
Put together over 10 months by Greg Alderding it was nicknamed the Batt Mobile, because it ran on batteries, and finished the track in about 78 seconds.
