Racers test their skills winding through forest
Santeetlah – Race and road rally cars of all shapes and sizes participated in the 16th Dragon Hill Climb event over the weekend. The Central Carolinas Region of the Sports Car Club of America started hosting the event – this year called Dragon SCCA Hill Climb – in 2011.
The 2.2-mile course on Santeetlah Road – near the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest – features 23 curves and five short straightaways with a rise in elevation of 1,300 feet. It is billed as the longest hillclimb in Southeast. The course features sections called Lori’s Lefty, a hairpin just right after the start; Racer’s Elbow, a hard right curve just after Lori’s Lefty; Hair Bender, another hairpin turn; Snake Skin Esses, a series of slight curves; Zig and Zag, a curve to the left followed by a curve to the right; and Ruffles.
The event draws competitors and spectators from across the country, testing their driving skills and trying to “Tame the Dragon.”
In a hillclimb event, competitors race for a time and are alone on the course. The timer starts when they cross a laser and ends when they cross another laser 2.2 miles up the hill. Santeetlah Road was closed to traffic during the event.
Cars must meet a set of safety requirements and drivers must have full safety gear. The fastest runtime wins.
Results from the weekend hillclimb were not immediately available.
The event included a handful of spectators, about two dozen competitors with their crews, and a large contingent of volunteers to run the event, including monitors along the course equipped with radios and brooms (to clear the road of debris when necessary).
Rick Mitchell of Georgia helped orchestrate activities at the starting line beneath an open tent.
The smell of exhaust the and sound of race car engines revving up at the starting line and powering up the hill contrasted with the pristine wilderness surrounding Santeetlah Road.
As drivers started their run, monitors along the way reported any problems, and it didn’t take long for a problem to emerge. In the first of several runs, one car stalled on the way up the hill and the event came to a short pause while the driver tried to get his car running again (many of the cars lack starters and need to be push-started).
The glitch interfered with two other drivers’ runs, and they were allowed to repeat the course.
The course is hard on the cars and the drivers. After the first batch of a half dozen cars ran the course, one stalled on the way up and two more showed minor damage. Wreckers were positioned at the top of the hill and halfway up, just in case.
The cars ranged from street-legal sports cars to specialty cars that would be just as nearly at home on the Indianapolis Speedway. Some cars looked like NASCAR racers, some looked like they should be racing among the hedgerows in the English countryside, a few looked like they were built from scratch from random parts, and one, a one-seater with a motorcycle engine, looked like a clown car.
Individual personality was displayed throughout, from the car with a ride-along stuffed animal and video cameras mounted at strategic locations, to the racer with the markings, f(x) over <form> (translation: function over form).
Mike Plemmons, who lives just east of Asheville near Old Fort, has been involved in road racing for 40 years, but he was on the sidelines this year – literally. Seated behind a roadside barrier, he was one of the volunteers positioned along the hill who reported any problems.