Racers revved up for 60th hillclimb
Drivers top 200 km/h heading to the top of Knox Mountain
Mark Speed was born to be a race car driver — and yes, that is his real name.
“I have speed in my genes,” he said.
This weekend marks Speed’s second time participating in the Knox Mountain Hillclimb, where drivers race against the clock up the Kelowna mountain.
Speed, who does autocross racing on Vancouver Island, said his friends in the racing community told him he had to go to the Knox Mountain Hillclimb.
“It had been on my bucket list for awhile, and I finally made it here last year,” he said.
On his fourth run last year, Speed crashed his car, which then sat in his trailer all winter.
“This year is especially important to me because I turned 60 in December, so I wanted to do the 60th (Hillclimb) at 60,” he said.
Speed has learned some tricks from last year’s race.
“Watch out on turn five,” he said. “That’s where I had my mishap, so I’m giving it a lot of extra caution this year.”
This weekend, there are 76 drivers racing up the mountain.
Another one of those drivers, Dave Stephenson, is back for his fourth Knox Mountain Hillclimb.
“It’s just so much fun,” he said. “It’s a great atmosphere here too; everyone’s always laid back, and you see the same guys every year.”
The best part of the race for Stephenson is the adrenaline rush.
“It feels like you’re going faster even when you’re not, because there’s no runoff. There’s no room for error,” he said. “It’s a good time.”
The Knox Mountain Hillclimb is a popular event because it is unique, said organizer Bryan Fulton.
“It’s not going around a track or a road circuit that’s continuous, it’s a race from the bottom to the top,” he said, noting mountain roads tend to be more challenging because they are sloped differently than other roads.
“It makes it a lot harder to drive fast around the corners.”
The fastest cars will get up to speeds over 200 km/h.
“The perfect car is a combination of a lot of horsepower and a lot of downforce,” said Fulton. “Too much of either and you tend not to go very fast.”
Many drivers come back year after year on the May long weekend specifically for the Hillclimb.
“It makes me feel really good to be able to participate in something that provides joy to a lot of people,” said Fulton.
The Hillclimb continues today at Knox Mountain.