Knox Mountain Hill Climb

26 May

Posted at 09:53h in Knox Mountain Hill Climb by
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[caption id="attachment_16435" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Two of the VRCBC’s finest competed in the 2022 Leavitt Machinery Knox Mountain Hill Climb. President Mike Zbarsky was a first timer with his rare 1967 Triumph 2000. In contrast, Larry Sandham’s Mini Vauxhall has lost count of how many times they have gone up that hill together! – Jim Moody photos[/caption] Posted: May 26, 2022 After missing two years (for well known reasons), the Leavitt Machinery Knox Mountain Hill Climb was back over the May long weekend. Our intrepid roving reporter (and long time supporter) Jim Moody braved 'the wilds' of the Okanagon in order to send us this report and photos of some of the highlights. Thanks very much Jim!  

The recent Victoria Day weekend saw the return of the Knox Mountain Hill Climb after the event, for the two previous years, had been cancelled. This year's event, the 63rd Okanagan Hill Climb, was held under pleasant sunny skies. The two day event saw 54 drivers challenge the road course and a large turnout of spectators enjoyed the racing action both days. VRCBC was well represented along with other vintage entries. Club president Michael Zbarsky made his first appearance at Knox. Michael's best time with his 1967 Triumph 2000 was on his final run turning a 2:30. 325.

Larry Sandham with his Mini Vauxhall turned a 2:10.729 this year for his fast time on the hill. Gayle Baird achieved a time of 2:28.382 with her Honda Civic and Erle Archer driving a Lotus S3 recorded a time of 2:14. 148 as his best. Robin Liu with the 1970 Datsun 240Z posted a best time of 2:26.098 on his final run of the weekend. Kees Nierop entered a Datsun 280Z and achieved a quick time of 2:06. 260.

Jasper Thomas, making his first appearance, arrived at Knox Mt. with his 1970 Dodge Challenger. His time of 2:14.528 on his 7th run would be his best. A long time competitor at Knox, Fred Del Pero with his 1969 Alfa Romeo GTV got his time down to 2:02.921 this year. Doug Yip with his son Trevor returned to Knox Mt. with the Tesla Cobra EV. Trevor's best time this year was 1:54.435.

The Gunner brothers, Nick and Steve made an appearance at Knox again. Nick's time of 2:13.372 beat Steve's best of 2:13.762. Richard Matte driving Steve's Porsche 944 post a best time of 2:18.080.

The FTD winner of this year's event was Mark Uhlmann racing his Stohr WF1 up the Knox course with a very quick time of 1:39.989. Mark's time was just 2.924 seconds off the record time set in 2007 by John Haftner with his Tui Super Vee.

In all, 12 drivers posted times under 2 minutes and a few more entries very close to that mark. It was a successful weekend of Hillclimb racing I think all would agree. - Jim Moody

  The full results are available on the event web site (here) and the event Facebook page (here) has more photos and an onboard video of the fastest time of the day by Mark Uhlmann. Check out more of Jim Moody's photos below!

22 May

Posted at 19:05h in Knox Mountain Hill Climb by
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[caption id="attachment_13866" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Regular VRCBC racer and 'Knox rookie', Phil Pidcock wheels his very quick 1965 Triumph Spitfire up the mountain. - Jim Moody photo[/caption] Posted: May 22, 2018

One of the VRCBC's very own 'travelling motorsports correspondents', Jim Moody covered this year's Leavitt Machinery Knox Mountain Hill Climb, and has sent us a report plus some excellent photos of the VRCBC members and friends who were competing. Thanks Jim!!

" VRCBC members and associates made their presence known at this year's running of the Knox Mountain Hill Climb. A mixture of  sun and cloud kept temperatures pleasant for the two day competition.

 Gayle Baird very ably represented the ladies (as always) piloting her Honda Civic up the 2.2 mile road course and posting a best time of 2:21.603. Legendary (ahem) race veteran Keith Robinson, no stranger to Knox, brought a Honda CRX to challenge the course and his best time for the weekend was 2:14.105.

Vancouver Island's Phil Pidcock, making his first appearance at Knox, drove his Triumph Spitfire to an excellent best time of 2:13.364. Larry ('Pops') Sandham once again had his familiar Mini Vauxhall up to speed clocking a best time of 2:04.188. Trevor ('Junior') Sandham drove his gold coloured Mini Cooper to a time of 2:11.249 on his fourth run of the weekend, and that stood as his best.

Mike Ball and Bruce Jamieson shared a Datsun 240Z, with Mike's best time showing as 2:12.770, while Bruce's best was 2:12.645. Nick and Stephen Gunner co-drove a Porsche 944 keeping the car busy on the hill with Nick's fastest time being 2:17.289. Stephen beat his brother's time by only .113 seconds to finish at 2:17.176.

The most fascinating story of the weekend was Doug Yip's son Trevor posting a very competitive time of 1:51.210 with Doug's self-designed and built 'Electric Cobra'; a Tesla-powered EV. Trevor was second fastest overall up Knox, beaten (by only 1.17 seconds) by Andre Marziali's highly modified BMW M3. Andre's FTD was 1:50.040 and he was crowned 'King of the Hill' for 2018.

The 2018 event is now in the history books and Knox Mountain is quiet once again ......... until next year's Hill Climb!"

Check out Jim's photos below.

25 May

Posted at 07:52h in Knox Mountain Hill Climb by
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[caption id="attachment_12762" align="aligncenter" width="450"] John Randall in his Brabham BT8 at the 1968 Knox Mountain Hillclimb. - Jim Moody photo[/caption] Posted: May 25, 2017

Long time VRCBC supporter Jim Moody was at this year's Knox Mountain Hillclimb and has sent us a few of his photos plus some others from 'back in the day' showing some of the 'heroes of yesteryear' in action. Thanks very much Jim.

Check the Knox Mountain website (here) in the next week or so for more of his photos from this year's event.

24 May

Posted at 10:16h in Knox Mountain Hill Climb by
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[caption id="attachment_12733" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Vintage Class winner Geoff Tupholme in his Mini. - Brent Martin photo[/caption] Updated: May 30, 2017

Several of the VRCBC's finest and some other Vintage racers made the trip to Kelowna over the May long weekend for the 60th(!) edition of the Knox Mountain Hillclimb, the only remaining hill climb in Canada.

Update: Vintage Class winner, Geoff Tupholme's last minute scramble to get his Mini ready plus an in-car video of a run up the hill is captured on video. (here).

Update: The results are available online here. Brent Martin was also there and passed on some his photos of the action (see below). He has posted a lot more on his Facebook site (here) and on his web site (here).