Event Coverage 2018 Hot Rod Hill Climb and Beyond

I haven't done a thread for a while, and figured it would be a good opportunity to document our trip to the 2018 HRHC.......

This marks our fourth year of attendance at the Hill Climb. I can't say enough about the crew that puts the event on. It's not a one day event.....it's really a whole weekend activity. I chose to take the roadster this year, and decided that I wanted to drive the car out. In the past, I've hauled the car there, but after driving the 5w out last year, I decided to challenge myself with the roadster.

Now the roadster has been a road proven car, but I hadn't taken it on a trip that large for quite some time. I needed to regain some confidence in the car, and that left me with addressing a couple of things on the car before setting out on a 3,000 mile road trip.

First in order was the clutch. While it worked, I've never really been happy with the pedal feel in the car. It has a '39 pedal assembly, hooked to a hydraulic system, actuating a stock 10" long pressure plate. After running a 10.5" GM diaphragm pressure plate in the 5w (with the stock Ford throwout bearing), I decided that was the upgrade target. I pulled the engine, removed the oil pan, and got to work on the conversion. To save time on my part, I bought a new McLoed aluminum flywheel (I've used them in the past) which has multiple pressure plate patterns drilled in it. I then paired it with a RAM street pressure plate and disc. With that assembled, I buttoned up the pan with a new gasket and got to work getting the car back together:



I then spent the summer driving the car a lot, with trips to Columbus, Woodward, and the Gilmore Museum. The car was feeling better than ever, so I moved to the last item, which was a new pair of back tires (the old ones were near the wear bars):

 

We left Michigan on Tuesday morning for the 800 mile trip to Kansas City where I grew up. It was a good chance to see my parents, but it also served as a meeting point for the next day, where we traveled the 650 miles to Central City with some friends.

 

On Thursday, we spent the day exploring the areas around Central City. We ended up in Georgetown, the original site of the Hill Climb, and climbed the Guanella Pass to the summit at 11,700':

 

More from the Guanella climb.....

 

Corey....you may have gotten older but you haven't grown up.... don't
Looking forward to your thread

Sent from my XT1254 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Friday morning, we gathered in Central City and left to meet up for the official start of the Reliability Run. This happens to be my favorite part of the weekend. The challenge of reading a map, following routes, and having minimal u-turns to get back on track is fun.

 

Thanks.....great pics and a fun ride!

 

makes me want to go

 

Saturday was the big day - the Hill Climb itself. The weather remained great, and the spectator crowd was the largest I've seen.

 

A few videos of various cars:

 

Very Cool Pics and Vids @CTaulbert and the Hotrod looks fantastic...a very breathtaking event...thanks for sharing it...

 

Great pics, vids and story. Thanks.

 

Those posts pretty much wrap up the Hill Climb portion of this thread, and I'll cap it off with one of my favorite photos of the roadster, taken by Rick Bales:

 

thanks for taking the time for us

 

Now....for the beyond part....

There're some car events going on in California that I'd like to have a car at, and since Central City was most likely going to be the farthest west that the roadster would be anytime soon, I figured why not drive it to California? It's actually less mileage (by about 200) to just go to the west coast, rather than home. Plus, I had never driven west of Georgetown, so it would be a great opportunity to see more of the US.

So, on Sunday morning, rather than heading east, we turned west on I-70. The climb to the Eisenhower Tunnel was quite impressive, marking the highest elevation of the trip.

 

Great coverage love the short videos.

 

Love watching your trips.

 

We pressed west, following a friend on I-70. We had intentions on cutting up 6 to I-15, but some fires had 6 shut down. That meant we had to go to the I-70 and I-15 junction, adding some time and distance to the trip, but we avoided any backups.

 

Well, that's what I call COVERAGE! Thanx for sharing, Gary

 

More of heading west.....

 

After hitting I-15, we headed north toward Salt Lake City. A portion of I-80 was also reported to be closed, so we took some two-lane roads to come up on the west side of Salt Lake, dumping us eventually onto 80.

 

Thanks - Great Journey & Coverage & Roadster

 

Why am I thinking Steppenwolf music right now......yeah Awe Factor Bigtime...

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way

Two wheels 4 wheels...it doesn't really matter...

 

A Tip of the Viper's Top Hat to you, sir. Where are you going, on the West Coast?

 

I'm planning to tag along for a small reliability run in northern California this year, and whatever else may turn up (as my vacation days allow).

 

Livin' the dream.

 

Never being west of Georgetown meant I had never been to Bonneville. It was obviously one of the reasons for this trip, so I made sure it was a stop for the night. When we rolled into Bonneville on Sunday, USFRA World of Speed was just wrapping up for the day. We got to see a few cars run on the long course (from the end of the access road), and it was quite the experience to take in the sights and sounds.