MX-5 OC Forum

My experience with Scrutineers before a sprint/hillclimb is that they are more concerned about safety; the state of your lid for instance. I never once, for instance, see any of them get a tape measure out.

AT:

My experience with Scrutineers before a sprint/hillclimb is that they are more concerned about safety; the state of your lid for instance. I never once, for instance, see any of them get a tape measure out.

Agreed. They aren't usually interested in what class a car is in - safety is their only mandate. Its normally down to the organisers or maybe an eligibility scrutineer as to what class a car should be in or if it is eligible. If its an ordinary, local championship only, sprint then don't worry about it - the clubs are there to enable motorsport, not find ways of chucking you out...

Cheers guys, I'm all enthusisatic about doing the sprint now.

 ive been looking at getting into sprinting and hill climbs with the 5 but am also a bit baffled by all the regs.  From initial glance i beleive my 1.8 would fit within the 2 litre catagory for my local club, so no chance of winning but i would like to share my car with a friend and have our own challenge beating each other and our pb's. 

Even confused by the regs behind helmets and suits.  I am intending to pop along to an event soon and ask lots of questions!

Someone above mentions an MX5 only sprint?

Matt

Where in the world are you Matt?

7Oaks is running a spring at North Weald Airfield this coming Sunday and whilst not strictly a spectator event, if you get in touch with me I can get you in and you can speak to the competitors / scrutineers / organisers and learn all you need first hand.

There's a 1.8 MX5 entered too...

How did you get on Matt?

I use my standard road going 1.8 MX5 for hillclimb, really good fun and yes, I am occationally up against stuff I can't beat (this weekend a A3 Quattro Turbo running around 250 bhp) but depends on the hill, I was only a few seconds slower but had a great time. Only 1.2 seconds slower than a Clio 180 Sport on R888's but almost 2 seconds quicker than another standard 1.8 MX5 and 3 seconds quicker than a BMW Mini Cooper Supercharged.  Hillclimbing for me is as much as beating your competitors as it is a personal challenge.  I set a time I want to beat after my first practice run (if it is a new hill) and push as hard as I can to achieve it.  I run Falken ZE912 tires which are excellent but the 2 guys who beat me were running R888 Toyo road legal track tires (one drives to the event on them).

So join a motorsport club to understand what is required (timing strut, yellow tape on -ve battery wire, arrow to show direction of ignition off, approved helmet/overalls/gloves, numbers)  Woolbridge (£15 per annum) has info on starting hillclimb worth a look.  You can also call up the club scrutineers for helpful advice - they really are there to help not just fail you for a laugh.  The competitors are the most helpful I've ever met so help is always on hand.

Also have a look at the HSA as they have an MX5 championship.

Hills vary a great deal, again have a look at Woolbridge, their main hill is Wiscombe park, which is a fantastic hill, very technical and fast. Just back from Manor Farm Hillclimb in Charmouth, couple of videos attached.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV38Q9R3eYo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4kHlh4UmKE