Hillclimb: Okemo II

The FJ finally got to fulfill its destiny as a tow vehicle this weekend, and it did its job well. Tristan and I hooked it up to a uhaul trailer and wehauled the mini 4 hours north to Ludlow VT. Frankly, it's not a 4 hour trip, but I'm inexperienced at this towing thing, and hovered around 60 on the highway, and went quite slowly on the backcountry squiggly roads. But she towed like a champ and I'm proud of its V6, air conditioning, stereo, and plush ride. Way nicer than driving to the event in the competition vehicle.

Quy took this awesome photo of the mini taking off at start:




The mini went so fast it was blurry in photographs. But not so fast that it did particularly well in the results. In fact, I got last in my class. But I beat 2 911 Carrera 4 S's, and that makes me glad. I also didn't stuff it into the trees so that makes me even more glad. I had an absolute blast driving this car, it is totally ridiculous. If I can eliminate or just lessen the torque steer it will not only be more fun to drive, but more competitive I'm sure. After watching my in car footage I can see about 17,047 places where I could have done something better; especially the point where I mistook esses for a hairpin. Gotta learn the course.

Also gotta fix the cooling problem - I only got 2 full runs up the mountain; the 3rd time up I overheated towards the end and had to let up and coast. Balls.

Summary:
Main things:
It's awesome.
I need to fix the cooling
I need to fix the torque steer

Little things
I need to fix the speedometer
I need a window net so I can feel the breeze
That's all I can think of for now.

I leave you for now with 2 videos, one Tristan got of me zooming by, and one of the in-car from my best (though crappy) run up the hill.