Collingrove Hillclimb

The Collingrove Hillclimb is one of South Australia's most historic motorsport locations. First built in 1952 this narrow stretch of tarmac 750m long ascends 70m up the side of a hill located in the Barossa Valley. The hillclimb has seen some of the best cars ever privately raced, from factory racing machines, to homemade formula cars to your every day grocery getter & more. This track has seen it all throughout the years. It has witnessed generations of drivers, young and old, build confidence, hone skills, and squeeze every last tenth out of their car. My grandfather was telling me a story the other day about bringing one of his supercharged Mini Cooper's here in the 70s, there is history with this place and you can feel it.

I first came here in December 2024. Bringing my little 1.6l red Nissan Pulsar, accompanied by a friend I met through work who races an MGF. We talked for ages about tire pressure and ideal lines and exchanged fun and interesting car stories. That first day we got 6 runs in and I managed to drag my time to a 42 flat. Not too bad considering saggy old suspension, slowly degrading piston rings and street tires. It was far off my friends low 39s, but for a first event I was very satisfied with the result.

30th of March 2025; the Collingrove season has started back up again and I was still keen as ever to give the hill another crack.

As I arrived in the daily driver the first thing I noticed was the crazy increase of competitors and how wild some of these cars were, I also noted the number of cars that fit into my category as well. 0-1600cc was the focus of my attention, and as my fellow shitbox owners unloaded their stock Lancers and Suzuki Swifts I saw I'd have some competition.

At the slightly more exciting end of the field there were some crazy whips, a fully race built NA MX5 with a brutal Holden 5litre V8 crammed in there, that thing sounded incredible and was a proper weapon. 

There was a decent turnout in the Formula Libre field as well, all mostly running Ford V6s and all built on welded steel tube frame, they made for some entertaining scenes, barely being wide enough to fit on the track. 

A few recognisable faces too, an AU Falcon XR6 and a VS Commodore Ute that I've competed against in tarmac khanacross events in the past. 

After the competitors finished piling, in the SCCSA president showed up in a beautiful yellow Honda NSX and prepared to give the drivers briefing.

Now to say I wasn't hopeful for a better time would be an understatement, since my last visit to Collingrove Hillclimb the degrading piston rings had noticeably gotten worse, I knew I'd have to be pushing hard to squeeze as much time as 130psi of compression could give me (meant to be 190psi).

First run of the day was pretty terrible, getting to grips with the new surface and remembering the lines, but it set a benchmark. A starting point of 42.5 wasn't a bad place to start from. It also let me see what the other cars in my class were doing, and to my surprise a 1500cc 1964 Morris Mini was setting the pace, in front of a 1.6l NA MX5 and a lovely 1973 Volkswagen Beetle, sporting twin Webber carbies and some nice fat rubber.

That's the pace we stayed at most of the day, I had a massive spin out trying to hold turn 2 flat. Safe to say it didn't work out and I became politely acquainted with the grass (as did a few others).

 

On run 3 however, I finally dragged my time below 42 seconds, which with a slower car than last time definitely boosted my confidence. 

To prove a point (how slow my poor old Nissan had become), the start of the track is a dead straight line followed by a flat left hand corner before descending downhill to turn 2. In the downhill between turn 1 and 2 there is a timing beacon.

Consistently no matter what I did at the start, the Pulsar was the slowest car up the hill, by a good 4-5 tenths. Which made me feel quite good about myself when I set a new PB and was gaining about 7 tenths over some of my fellow class competitors in the tight corners at the end of the track. 

I even managed to surprise myself again, the next run being 41.77, still slowest in the first sector but finding small amounts of time at the top of the hill, and it was enough to keep me ahead of the lancer & swifts, but the MX-5, Beetle and Mini just had more grunt. No matter how much I gave it, without some nice shiny slicks and some major suspension upgrades, my Nissan couldn't catch them in the corners.

I finished on a good note too, 41.9 with way too much wheel spin at the start helped secure 3 faster runs than my previous PB, 1 warmup run and 1 run with a spin. All in all it made for a fun/insightful day, and now I really want to rebuild the engine, buy semi slick tyres, and buy that sway bar kit from Whiteline. I'll keep pushing this shitboxes times till we get into the 39s and beyond. 4th place for today though, is something I'm proud of.

At the end of the day we also got to test out the new stretch of tarmac the SCCSA has built for the track, they call it the "Long Layout". 

At first I and a few other people were skeptical about adding and changing a historic course but fears were quickly subdued. Four Suzuka style, beautifully cambered, duel apex corners, that really fit with the style of the original circuit. Skepticism turned to eagerness.

The Long Layout has yet to have Motorsport Australia approved barriers installed so we couldn't test them out at full pelt, but when they incorporate it into the main track in May of this year, it will truly add to the wonderful hillclimb that is Collingrove.

Its a very easy thing to think motorsport is a gentlemen's sport, a sport only attainable if you land that well paying job or retire on a fortune. But hillclimbs like this prove the exact opposite. If your car runs and you have 4 tires, you can have so much fun out there. You don't need to lease the latest DSG Golf R, or own the most built Mitsubishi Evo 9. I spent 500 dollars on my car and 50 dollars on my entry fee, and I had as much fun as anyone out there. Go buy that shitbox thats been sitting in your neighbours yard for 2 years, and bring it out to the next event.

 

Ill cya out there.

- Felix Binns