Mt Buller Sprint is a Hill Climb that takes part over 3 days in the Victoria snow fields and is 16km of pure awesome road!!

I have waited for this moment ever since I started out as a navigator. I love Tarmac Rallies and was so happy to finally experience it. I received a phone call late Wednesday night at 10:30pm asking if I could navigate in a Porsche 964 at Mt Buller. Of course I leapt at the chance and got myself down to Victoria. This was the first time I was doing a pace noted event and was a bit nervous. I was happy that I had done the previous “road book rallies” with the dreaded “Terratrip” and that style is defiantly a lot harder to learn than pace notes. I was adding and adjusting notes to the notes (haha) and was giving Richard Fricker some tips on what to do to help him when he was on the road. It was his first time navigating for Craig Burgess in the Awesome Nissan Skyline R32 GTR.

I met up with Greg Muller my driver in the Porsche and I had the 1-10 pace note system. (To explain 1-10 notes the number represents the grades of the corners. So 1 being a hairpin and 10 being nearly a straight) Greg and I wanted to get some practice in before they closed the road Friday morning. We set off from the start line and I was way off the notes by the third corner and we were only doing 60km per hour…I started doing my usual self doubting, started thinking “What the hell am I doing, I cant do this!!” But I shook those thoughts out of my head and pressed on with going back to the start line and trying again. By the 4th time I started getting the hang of it and was getting used to what a “10 corner” looks like. So with practice in we headed up to the top of the mountain which is 16km of gorgeous tarmac twisting up through the lush forest!!
The view up the top was breath taking and couldn’t believe what I was taking in. We were at a ski lodge surrounded by trees and mountains and it was fantastic!

I was so happy to see that there were more Southern Sporting Car Club Members out to conquer the mountain. Patrick Bourke and John Woods in their 1992 Mazda RX7,
Chris and Anne-Maree Crowe in there 2004 Holden HSV GTS Coupe and Steve Spada and Christina Condon in there 1999 Mitsubishi Evo 6, David Murphy & Con Constantino in the 1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and of course Craig Burgess and Richard Fricker in the 1989 Nissan Skyline R32 GTR.
Once we got the “hellos” out of the way we all attended driver briefing and was glad to find out that the organizers “Mountain Motorsport” were going to give us a taste of what we were in store for a prologue on the last part of the hill climb. This turned out to be my favorite part of the mountain and the part I remembered the most.
We all suited up and travelled down the hill to the service park which was situated ¾ the way up the mountain to get ready for our turn at the taste of tarmac. With 80 entrants in the sprint the array of cars was sensational. You had everything from the old classic mustang to a brand new Nissan Skyline R35 GTR. I had personal favorites which were the double trouble team of Corvette Z06’s and a Skelta which I had never seen before and looked like something out of a batman movie but it sure did haul arse up the hill (haha).

It was finally our turn in the Porsche and I got into my groove was ready for 5 lights to come on and go out. 5,4,3,2,1 GO!
We head out with a 3R followed by a 9L into 7L into 1L that went uphill followed by a 8R into a steep 1R into a 7L that tightens and opens into a 7R opens and tightens into 8L into a hard 4R and then Flying Finish. Was all over in a flash which felt like forever and was happy with the way I went. Greg thought I did ok and was good to get it out of the way. I like to know what to expect as funny as it sounds. It helps to calm my nerves and work out how I am going to tactical it from there on. I regrouped with the others to find out how they went. A lot of the SSCC members where after the Porsche as had faster car.

Richard Fricker went well for his first time navigating in the GTR and was such an eye opener for him sitting on the other side of the car for a change. So was Anne-Maree Crowe navigating Chris and the HSV up the twisty road and was lovely to see another female getting in the passenger seat. She thoroughly enjoyed herself and did an excellent job for her first time!! Their best time was a 9:07.63 on their 8th session up the hill.
The RX7 was having issues most of the weekend which was unfortunate as it’s a sight to see the “fast & furious” looking Mazda carving up the bitumen. Their best time was a 9:59.68 on their 5th session up the hill but the RX7 wasn’t at its full potential.

The mighty “TEXICO” Sierra put in a massive effort and scored a 9:27.53 on their 7th Session up the mountain. The boys were struggling for grip on most corners as the Sierra just kept lighting up the tyres!!!
Steve Spada & Christina Condon in the sensational Evo 6 did a 9:20.30 on their 8th Session and were having a great time after their experiences on the mountain in 2008. Fricker & Burgess did a 9:01.15 on their 3rd session in the GTR.

But there is a twist to this story!! Saturday morning Richard Fricker wasn’t feeling the best and with Burgess & Fricker being in the Top 10 line up they asked me to jump in. It was also a bit of an audition for me to see if I could handle navigating the Awesome GTR!! I jump in with Craig and due to having Friday’s runs up the hill I was on the ball! We managed a 8:53.79 for our first attempt together and I was having the best time navigating in my most favourite model of car. We were on a high from going 10th place down to 9th. Craig and I were on a mission to get better. We lined up again at the bottom of the hill…I love to countdown as sykes you up for the moment and better for the driver as only has to concentrate on the launch and the road in front..5,4,3,2,1….GO!! We were off and the GTR is an absolute bullet launching off the line it seriously puts you back in your seat. I was on my notes and so focused I didn’t stuff up once! The GTR sticks like nothing else and Craig’s driving is so smooth he really knows and understands his car well. We reached the top with an outstanding time of 8:51.67!!! We got 8th outright and first in class. The Mt Buller Hill climb is a fantastic event and is a real eye opener. I am so glad I made the dash down to Victoria to do it! I got to know the SSCC members a lot better over the weekend and was really nice to share the experience with them. If you ever want to try a hill climb this is one that shouldn’t be missed!