Mount Alma Mile to be conquered April 1st

In just one week’s time, the legendary mile-long hill climb at Inman Valley will come alive to play host to 160 competitors at the annual Mount Alma Mile Hillclimb, this year jointly sponsored by Willall Industries and Pilatus Aircraft. Featuring a 15% gradient, sweeping corners and a chicane, SA’s longest hillclimb track, approximately halfway between Victor Harbor and Yankalilla, will test the drivers and their vehicles to the limit.

“It is quite a spectacle to see the entrants lined up along the road as the first competitive car moves into the burnout pad to warm up their tyres. As the day progresses, unpredictable conditions will keep the drivers looking to the skies” says the event’s timing manager, Daniel Palmer. Using Tag Heuer timing equipment, Daniel and the team of volunteer officials will be providing live timing all weekend for spectators and competitors.

With SA’s most talented hill climbers taking on the best visiting from around Australia, it’s a great opportunity to see grass roots motorsport at its best. The track record is currently held by Kevin Mackrell who drove his 1975 Datsun 260Z up Mt Alma in 2009 in 42.56 seconds: an average speed of 135km/h! He will return next weekend to take on 2010 winner Tristan Catford in his Mitsubishi EVO 9 and 2011 winner Sebastian Lip in his Nissan GTR.

The event culminates in 2 top 12 shootouts on Sunday afternoon – one for 2WD vehicles and one for 4WD vehicles. Unlike, other events the shootout competitors are determined from the total time of all completed runs, rewarding the drivers’ consistency over the duration of the event, rather than just one quick time. From there the top 6 drivers have one run to determine the top 3, and the podium is shaped from a final 3 shootout to determine the overall winner of the 2WD and 4WD categories.

The event is scheduled to run from 11:30am to 6:00pm on Saturday 31st March, 2012 and 8:30am to 5:00pm on Sunday 1st April 2012. Spectator points at the start line, first corner and above the chicane provide great viewing; a shuttle bus ferries spectators the ¼ mile to the first corner, but the chicane spectator point can only be accessed by hiking up the slope from the start line. Directions to Mt Alma can be found at http://mountalmamile.com/HowDoIGetThere.aspx

The best viewing is available to officials manning the various points along the course, and volunteers can find out more at the website.