The 13th of July, 2008 marked a very special day for UARC, with the successful completion of thier first hill climb at Collingrove SA, hosted by the Sporting Car Club of South Australia. The morning was an early start, with Collingrove 80km from the city. Blustery yet fine weather made the day perfect for the team’s first run. They were scheduled to run first out of the field of 91 entries for the day. After a short practice run up the hill, Asher Johnston laid down a 42 second first run. A respectable time for an initial run.

After a few minor tuning adjustments were made to the suspension, in an effort to counteract the poor grip as a result from running with cold tyres and brakes. Even an attempt to warm the tyres up on the warm up track did not yield any results, as the track was too heavily caked in rubber. The team laid down 3 more fast times 36, 37 and 35 seconds respectively. 

On the 5th and final run for the day, the wet tyres were put on the car in an effort to improve grip as they heat up faster than the slick Goodyear Eagles used in the other runs. The resulting time was 34.39 seconds which is the fastest time to date in the class the FSAE car falls into (Formula Libre <1300cc). Not only was UARC07 fast in our own class, but the car was one of the fastest out there today, with only a few other cars able to post comparable times (including the likes of a Porsche GT2, Customs and Evo Lancers). 

For the in car footage from the fastest time of the day head to http://www.uarc.com.au/media and click on “hillclimb” in the media section or follow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUk66DH1Z8.

There was significant interest from other competitors in UARC07 due to its aggressive looks, innovative custom design and impressive times. A lot of time and effort has been put in to keep UARC07 running and is tested regularly to improve our knowledge of tuning the suspension. Having a running vehicle throughout the year is essential to improving UARC08 once manufacture is complete. 

UARC08 is over halfway through manufacture, with the finish in sight. Check out the Gallery called “new parts” in the media section of uarc.com.au for the latest pictures of manufactured components. More to come as we progress with manufacture.

Congratulations to the team and we look forward to seeing UARC 2008 flying up the hill!