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The Berjaya Hills Time Challenge 2009
The Berjaya Hills Time Challenge in Malaysia is not a speed hillclimb but a precision event for supercar, performance car and classic car owners where competitors are encouraged to drive quickly but at the same time in controlled manner up and down the 8km course. The winner is the driver who selects a time for both the up and downhill drive and then attempts to match it 100% (no timing devices allowed)
Total time must include the 5 sec countdown and a final 100 metre zone which must be driven at
30kmh. The attached video is of a Ford Focus ST on the 2009 downhill run. The target time for this runwas 6:50 min. Time achieved was actually 6:02 (clearly much too quick). 2009 was the first year for this event which is hoped will become an annual gathering for motorsport and car enthusiasts throughout Malaysia, Singapore and region.
TAKE OFF …. Ford Focus ST makes a quick getaway for the downhill
What can I say other than this was a truly fantastic event and one of the best motorsport weekends I’ve attended in years. Around 120+ supercars, performance cars and classics from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lotus, Bentley, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, Ford, Honda, Subaru, etc etc. Also you’ll be pleased to hear I was not the only Ford on the hill. I was accompanied by a fellow Ford fan from the classic car category who attended with his Ford GT40.
Met some great enthusiasts of all ages and nationalities and enjoyed talking about cars every evening until the early hours of the morning over some local makan and cold beers ….. Excellent!
And so to the event: The Friday brief started with a full explanation of what was required of us which in simple terms was as follows:
As I mentioned in an earlier post this was not an outright speed event but a time challenge. Every competitor got at least one practice run up and down the hill with the road fully closed. During these practice runs you were allowed to time yourself by any means at your disposal (watch, clock, stopwatch whatever). After that you had to select a target time for your run of between 6 minutes to 10 minutes. This time had to include the 5 second countdown at the start and a final 100 metre section at the end of the run which needed to be driven at 30kmh. Total distance 8km. I think this system is good as the event is then open to everyone regardless of their driving skills and all participants stand a chance of winning. Fun was the order of the day and I think that is exactly what everyone experienced.
There were a number of categories:
1. Too Fast too Furious – At the briefing this described all those with a right foot larger than their brain.
2. Expert – Regular racers or anyone involved in organizing this or previous events on Bukit Tinggi
3. Gentleman’s Category – The silver haired brigade (which included me of course)
4. Classic Cars – Anything over 35 years old of which there were quite a few including a V12 E-Type, Ford GT40, Lancia’s, Alfa’s and a Lotus 7 replica together with some early model Porsche 911’s.
Category 1 proved correct during practice as one guy ran out of tarmac with his Playstation 3 (Nissan GTR) and into the wall half way down the hill – GAME OVER. The car finally came to rest on its side in the storm drain where it remained for the rest of the afternoon while they found a truck big enough to pull it out. Driver was ok and returned the next day with a different car from his stable: a classic Alfa Romeo GTV (far more docile). It wasn’t a great day for one BMW Z4 owner either as he reshaped the car quite extensively against the Armco barrier before again coming to rest in the ditch. Thankfully the driver was again unhurt.
The second challenge was the Forest Time Attack. This consisted of a slalom / obstacle course set up on the roof of the multi storey car park. Competitors were required to take 3 runs round the course with the fastest recorded time in each category being put forward for the final competition.
During the downhill practice session I forgot to take along a stopwatch so had to guess a time from the cars digital clock. However, I managed to borrow one for the uphill and recorded a best time of 5:47 which is an average speed of 83kmh. This says a lot about the torque of the ST considering I was going uphill and in either 3rd or 4th gear the whole way. Anyway, for the actual run I decide to target a time of 6:50 which would allow for the countdown and the final 100 metre section requiring a speed of 30kmh. This also gave me a small margin in case of rain (which we did get during the later part of the Friday practice).
On Saturday, with watches removed and all car clocks taped over, (hopefully nobody cheated) the downhill runs came first and I registered a time of 6:02 way faster than my declared target time so a bit of a screw up there but great fun none the less.
Downhill Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6z51w83_BU
As we lined up for the uphill runs in the afternoon I was car number 5 in the line up and sure enough as the time came to start we got a typical Malaysian downpour of rain. Fortunately this only affected about the first 2 to 3 km of the hill with the rest remaining dry. As you can imagine those first few km’s were pretty hairy with a healthy mix of wheelspin and understeer all in evidence on the narrow road as I made my way up the hill. As you can guess I had to drive like a lunatic on the remaining dry section resembling a member of the Too Fast Too Furious category rather than a gentleman on this occasion and eventually clocking 6:08 mins. A bit too quick again as I registered a target time of 6:20. Sorry guy’s no video of the uphill run (forgot to turn it on). Must have been the panic that set in with all the rain when only yards from the start line.
The following links show the absolute times from the Berjaya Hills event both up and down.
The first thing to remember when reading these is how they are calculated.
1. After stopping in the start box you are clocked in and handed a time card
2. At the same time a guy in front of the car counts you down from 5
3. When you reach the bottom you then had to drive the last 100m at 30kmh
4. You hand the guy the card (if you haven’t lost it on the way) and he clocks you out.
The time taken for all this process added up to about 25 seconds to the true time. In a proper speed hill climb in the UK the timing starts when you break a light beam at the bottom and stops when you break a light beam at the top. Or vice versa.
See link for down times: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=1454273&da=y
See link for up times: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=1454274&da=y
According to these lists I was the 4th fastest car down beaten only by 2 Lotus Elise’s and a Porsche GT3, and the 4th fastest car up beaten only by a heavily tweaked Scooby STi an Audi R8 and a Golf GTi. In each case I was beaten by no more than 5 seconds over the 8km. Considering some of the machinery in use on the day I think this was pretty good going for a lowly shopping trolley like a Ford Focus ST. Bring on the RS.
The event was finally won by a member of TCC driving a Honda CTR who recorded 100% accuracy on both his uphill and downhill times which was quite a feat. So no prizes on the hill for the ST. However, I did win second place on the slalom / obstacle course with a time of 23.16 seconds which is not bad considering that the ST has a turning circle like an oil tanker on a course that was considered pretty tight by most. Saturday closed with a gala dinner / prize giving ….. and loads of cold beer after a hard days work.
At this event everyone was a winner, and apart from a trophy I also left with gifts from sponsors, which included Selangor Pewter, T-shirts, caps, auto magazines and 10 litres of synthetic motor oil.
On Sunday we all headed off in convoy for lunch down to the Selangor Pewter factory in KL. This was an amazing sight with around 100 cars all hammering down the E8 highway. With every car carrying numbers and an array of sponsor’s stickers; it looked more like the Cannonball run or Wacky Races. Great sight to see.
As we approached KL the organizer had arranged for a police escort of 8 outriders which was even more amazing as this massive collection exotic machinery made its way through the streets of KL with red lights ignored and junctions made clear for our arrival. I felt a bit like the president arriving After lunch we then headed off for an afternoon of more driving action at Sepang F1 circuit which, although closed in preparation for the Moto GP, was opened especially for us to play for 3 hours. A full police escort for the convoy was again in evidence with the FOCUS ST as lead car. I should have had a TCC flag flying from the aerial.
Escort to Sepang video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EJBwDvDwOg
Once at Sepang I accepted the invitation of a couple of guy’s I had met at the event to have a drive of their cars ……. Wait for it …. A Porsche GT3 RS (awesome) an Aston Martin V8 Vantage (I’m in love with a car) and a classic Lotus 7 Replica (I’d forgotten just how drafty they are)
The organizer plans to make this an annual event and I for one will be going again for sure.
Hope more of you can make it next year
Ian Porteous |
