MMSC :: Haunted Hills Track Day

Grant — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 07:34:28 +0000

Late friday night I came across a photo of a Mitsubishi Evo on a trailer, that car was Victor’s. It was on its way to Haunted Hills, suddenly I realised there was an event being held at my favorite track!

Without a thought I canceled my original plans and soon enough I was on my way there. After 2 hours at a constant 5,500 RPMs in my silly Kei car I arrived at the Haunted Hills Race Track.

Although it was freezing cold and the fact that you could not see more than 50m in front of your face this didn’t discourage the drivers. The Toyota 86 is really gaining in popularity not only on the streets but here on the track. There were three 86’s registered to race and I was surprised to see so many, when normally you are lucky to see one at any given track day!

As soon as I laid eyes on this Honda Jazz I knew I was in for something special. With some nice subtle exterior mods and sensible light weight wheels this package looked the goods!

When there is an open top racer on a track that had a car roll only a month ago you know this guy had to be a bad arse! The Lotus Kit car was painted in an awesome British racing green complete with some gold highlights. My favorite part of this car was its sneaky air intake which was raised out of the normal shape to give it that extra gulp of air for some extra pony’s.

This is the very car that inspired me to make the trip to Haunted Hills for the day. Victor has been hard at work on his car in preparation for this event. Being victors first time at this track he made the decision to run the car with no front bar to avoid any extra damage that may occur if he was to go off the track.

After a short drivers briefing it was time to hit the track, Harley and his JZX Chaser was one of the first in line and quickly took time to talk track with the man who was organizing the dummy grid.

After being called from the dummy grid you get to the real start line and have to then wait for the remaining car on the track to get to the finish line before being allowed to go.

This slight right hand bend in front of the Evo is known as the “OH’Shit” corner, it is one of the most tricky corners on the track, why because you carry so much speed into it. This happens because of the steep incline shortly after the start line and when it is wet and the track is cold one hesitation and you go straight off the corner.

There was quite a mix of cars in attendance, this XR5 really was hitting the track hard and punishing his tyre’s as he struggled for grip in the damp conditions.

As the track slowly dried out lap times started to fall although there was no sunshine the grass was no longer covered in icy frost.

This little Corolla did more than make beautiful sounds, it was fast! Like really fast! Adrian’s KE70 really had people wondering what the hell is under the bonnet of the bronze beast.

The Corolla made it into the top three fastest cars of the day, even though this car is still a work in progress Adrian managed to scrape more and more time off his PB for this track. Not every lap was perfect and sometimes this track car was quickly transformed into a drift car.

This FG XR6 took it really easy during the early morning session but quickly got faster and more confident as the track warmed up. The Ford and Toyota chaser behaved completely different on the track. The Chaser being the larger car you would think it would be slower and more cumbersome to get around the track, Yet it was faster, flatter and and seemed to fly around the track with ease.

With some very consistent times this RX8 had mastered the track, but wasn’t managing to smash his PB by much. The rotary sounded great and you could hear that rumble echoing around the tiny valley surrounding the track.

Flying into the big hairpin at the end of the track was one way to build up a bit of extra oomph for the hill up to the finish line. But there was another way! the Nissan way, a bit of a clutch kick and you were off and up the hill!

Not everyone had a lucky day, mistakes where made and under such tricky conditions it was bound to happen, the lunch break was mainly used by people to repair and ready their cars for the next session.

After lunch a line quickly formed and the Charge Speed’s Evo X was first in line to hit the track. This Mitsubishi Evo 10 looked great and went very, very well! With plenty of exterior mods and engine mods this is one tasty package!!

This supra knocked almost ten seconds of its original time around the track getting its time into low sixties. The track was run in a clockwise configuration and this made the track a bit easier for the drivers to navigate.

Track days are such a good opportunity to practice the things you are not meant to do on the road. For instance drifting! If you have the power and the know how, why not practice a little?

One of the most imposing looking cars of the day was Victors Evo, that big time attack style spoiler and large front mount cooler really make this car sand out. The car not only looks serious it also has plenty of after market parts that help this Evo attack time.

When this Honda jazz would fly past me I kept hearing a weird sound, I thought to myself “that sounds like a supercharger” could it be? I had to take a closer look and sure enough this little jazz was packing a supercharger! The sound that it made was like a screaming angry monkey! It was scary as hell!

This was one great track day! even though it was super cold and most people watched on from the comfort and warmth of their cars, it was full of action and time slashing goodness. If you would like to know more about the (MMSC) make sure you hit these links Melton motor sports inc – MMSC Facebook page
Thanks for looking,
Grant.

hill climb – Gripshiftslide

MMSC :: Haunted Hills Track Day