Sunshine Superman

Congratulations to Malcolm Oastler on winning the Australian Hillclimb Champion title in his OMS 28.

Having only debuted the turbo charged Hayabusa powered machine a week or so ago at Canberra Hillclimb and taking a maiden win and outright hill record, Malcolm's hopes were high for the big event on 1st and 2nd November.

The Australian Hillclimb Championship is a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) sanctioned competition which determines Australia's annual hillclimbing champion. The 2014 competition was hosted by the MG Car Club (Newcastle) and was conducted on the newly extended version of the Ringwood Park Hillclimb, near Raymond Terrace in New South Wales.

Unlike the British Hillclimb Championship which is based on a full season of events, the Autralian title is decided on one weekend of competition. Practice takes place on Thursday and Friday prior to two competition days on Saturday and Sunday. It is one of the oldest Australian motor sport championships dating back to 1938 and the title is awarded to the driver setting fastest time out of their six competitive runs taken over the two days. The event is held in a different state each year due to the sheer size of the country and distances drivers travel to participate in the championship. Recent venues include Bryant Park Victoria (2011), Bathurst NSW (2012) and Mount Cotton Queensland (2013).

Following Saturdays timed runs Oastler was in the lead with a best time of 33.81 from the nearest challenger on 34.08 seconds. The pace hotted up on Sunday with Malcolm heading the leader board with his best time of the weekend 32.86 and a full second faster than the previous day. His nearest rival for the title was Brett Haywood on 33.41 seconds. Third man was 2013 Australian Hillclimb Champion Greg Ackland.

Malcolm Oastler with his OMS 28 1300t (Photo CAMS website)

The only details available at present are on CAMS Facebook page, click here to view.

Date: 2/11/2014 | Author: L.Owen