FLI at Hoopa Hill Climb-2009

FLI at Hoopa Hill Climb-2009

August 12, 2009

Hoopa Hill Climb Map 2009 Fine Line Imports

Recently, a customer of ours asked us to help him compete in the 27th annual Hoopa hill climb in Hoopa, California. For those not familiar with this small town, it is a little over an hour East of Eureka, California. Every year the town and tribal council of Hoopa allow the Redwood Sports Car Club (RSCC) to close down a section of paved road leading up one of the many wooded hills in the town, for a weekend of hill climbing. This year Fine Line Imports was happy to help out one of our best customers in prepping and racing his 2005 STI for this event.

Hoopa Hill Climb 2009 Fine Line Imports

In preparation for the hill climb, FLI fitted the car with a new Ron Davis radiator, Greddy oil cooler,  Crawford air/oil separator, and Aquamist HFS-6 kit. This is on top of the ATP GT30 and supporting mods already on the car. For a complete list of mods please check out this thread.   With the new mods in place, and a retune for the Aquamist, it was time to head north.

Once race day rolled around and we arrived at the hill, I was surprised at the number of cars that showed up to attend. All told, forty-four cars were entered and they ranged from every day drivers to trailer-transported track cars. Being this was our first time at this event, and our customer’s first time racing up the hill, I was hoping for a top three finish in our class. The course itself was a little more then 2.5 miles with a 13% average grade of wooded uphill switch backs. The road was very well paved and in good condition, which was surprising.

Hoopa1

Hoopa2

Below are a few pictures of our customer’s STI, and a few of the competition.

The first run up the hill turned out to be the fastest of the weekend for us, at 2:25, which broke the SM class record for the hill by about 2 seconds. Even with the radiator and oil cooler, by the time the car arrived at the top of the hill it was running hot, but thanks to the Ron Davis radiator the temps quickly fell down to normal operating temps. Later on in the day as temps started to climb past 100-degrees ambient, we noticed a drop in the times of the STI, but after having a great first day with no problems we were very much looking forward to the next day of racing.

The second day of the competition turned out to be hotter than the first. With temps reaching about 110-degrees, the best run we had was 2:27. We ran in the second run group of the day, which didn’t start until the afternoon, so we ran at the hottest point of the day. Coolant temps remained high all weekend, but not hot enough to do any permanent damage. By the end of the second day out, our customer was 1st in his class with a record-breaking run, and 7th overall.

Overall, the entire event was really fun and a good time was had by all. The RSCC put on a great hill climb that I am sure we will be back to next year with our own cars. The town of Hoopa was very small, and I would recommend to anyone looking to do this event next year, to book your hotel rooms early as they fill up fast. Make sure your car’s cooling system is in good condition because it will be taxed over the course of the weekend.

FLI would like to thank our customer Brian for not only his patronage over the years, but his good driving.  Considering this was his first time driving in a hill climb, a new bracket record, and 6th best overall for the weekend is not bad!   We look forward to going out and racing with him more.

Here is a You Tube Video of the record breaking run.

For the complete results for Hoopa 2009 visit here.

For more info on Redwood Sports Car Club visit here.

Fine Line Imports