For old times sake - Cossey's Farm Road 2014

[Jeff]

I mounted my Go Pro camera on the roof of my 16v Mk2 Escort and took a sedate drive up these once iconic hillclimb roads.
Although the roads have been altered when being tar sealed and the corners have all been given nice radius's it's still possible to make out just why these roads were so much fun.

Hope these video's bring back some memories

Cossey's Farm , Drury

[Rod Grimwood]

They most certainly change, but you can still see rough configuration with as you say corners opened out a little. Ironic the last bit still gravel and gate is about where finish line was as well. The start was the one, on the concrete pad for the cow shed.

Good idea filming these to see what became of them.

[Ross Hollings]

So keen to look at Chamberlain did not see the Cosseys post,another well done,where have those fence posts and yumps gone !!! Ross

[Jeff]

Here is "that startline" at Cossey's Farm..
Possum waits to start on the concrete pad by the cowshed.
Behind him awaits North Shore's Mike Parkes in his Holden Rodeo off-road truck

[Jeff]

Here's Ross McCorkindale at Cossey's in 85

[bob homewood]

Ran there also in 1969/70 held the Hill Record for a while as well,this would have been the day of the record ,very rough and bumpy on this occasion as you can see

[Michael Clark]

Were you a resident of Drury at that point Bob?

When was the last hillclimb here? The last one I can recall was in October 1983.

[bob homewood]

Michael the last Hilclimb I did there myself was April 1970 ,I also competed at the first one in early 1967 ,albeit in a different Anglia ,it was very rough that day and the car I was driving was set up for circuit racing and was miles too low for the conditions ,I would have run the later car there probably four times 1969/70 ,one of those days I had a ding dong battle all day with Wolfy in the Vitesse until he crashed at the top corner ,the run after I took out the fence at the top corner at the same spot. I do have all the reports and write ups for the times I ran there. I lived in Ramarama at that time

Were you a resident of Drury at that point Bob?

When was the last hillclimb here? The last one I can recall was in October 1983.

[John McKechnie]

Bob- absolutely correct, in those days Motorman covered Hill climbs and other off circuit events all the time with details

[Rod Grimwood]

Bob, that fence had a few visits

[bob homewood]

Bob- absolutely correct, in those days Motorman covered Hill climbs and other off circuit events all the time with details

John I also kept all the time sheets and Club mags from events that appertained to me at that time ,in addition I kept a very detailed record and log book of my own ,I must have had more time in those days !

Grimmy if you may remember I became airborne over the last yump and ended up on top of the bank ,apart from impaling a fence post with one of the towing "a " frame brackets ,luckily no major damage ,she was right for the next run

[John McKechnie]

Bob- you must have quite a large library of all this.
Funny the things you see looking at the hillclimb events then- just read Gisborne Car Club, August 1969 Rod Coppins won it in his 1938 Chev Coupe.
What has happened to all these off road events, is there anything now for this new generation?

[Ross Hollings]

My opinion for what its worth is that several things took place in the 60/70,s ,one of these being that before you could go circuit racing you had to do 3 as i remember speed events,now these would be hillclimbs,bent sprints,standing 1/4 mile etc.After you had completed these successfully you then moved onto the circuit side of things,you then had to wear 3 stripes and be observed that you were ok to be out there.This meant that every new driver had to attend these introductory to motor racing type of events.It was quite a big step up to go onto the circuits,not to forget the cost to go faster.Along came the club circuit at Pukekohe and that changed things drastically,i think the licence system must have changed along the way then also [??].So most folks then could go to the circuit direct and not do hillclimbs.Another fact was rallying came along.....one big hillclimb you could say,boy i wish i had been envolved then,would have loved to do something longer than 2 minutes on gravel! I suppose the final nail in the coffin was the difficulty in staging events with all the regulations etc and the spresd of housing.
Just as an aside,i competed in a couple of events 6 years ago in my Humber 80 Special,these events were a combined local car club and classic car type club.I was not impressed with the standard that the local cars were presented at the start and looked more like cars from a Waikaraka stock car event. In my day if you turned up in a less than well presented car at a hillclimb etc you were certainly told about it
As an aside,I always remember Jim Richards turning up for hillclmbs at Bombay,he would be 'A' frameing his 1200cc red Anglia with a Anglia van also in red,this was tunned up also,both immaculately presented,one meeting his race car played up so he did the hillclimb in the van,and did a very quick time.!!!!!

[Jac Mac]

I think things must have changed in terms of eligible vehicles, most gravel sprints/hillclimbs seem to be orientated toward the rally cars with cages etc, the thought of ordinary road cars being allowed to participate in these events seems to be discouraged, at least down in my neck o the woods, heard about a fellow from AKL a few years ago & wanted to run in the Bluff hillclimb while he was down this way, but was told his road car was not allowed, he was somewhat miffed as he had competed in similar events up north, yet watching coverage of Waimate last week on the TV maybe thats not the case... perhaps Crunch or Carlo can elaborate..

[Spgeti]

It was 2005/6 the last time I ran in a hill climb. Both events were on tar seal and more focused on classics. While my car has a half cage there were road cars without cages competing as well.

[Jeff]

Yes I certainly agree Jac Mac.
I looked at building up a little ( Daihatsu Charade ) club car a few years ago to compete in local hillclimb / bent sprint / car club events for fun but discovered I couldn't "just run" a road car cheaply.
A home made sumpguard and half rollcage these days has to be built and inspected by an engineer etc...
and it just gets sillier for "just a bit of fun".
It's a shame but it's the way the world has gone

I think things must have changed in terms of eligible vehicles, most gravel sprints/hillclimbs seem to be orientated toward the rally cars with cages etc, the thought of ordinary road cars being allowed to participate in these events seems to be discouraged, at least down in my neck o the woods, heard about a fellow from AKL a few years ago & wanted to run in the Bluff hillclimb while he was down this way, but was told his road car was not allowed, he was somewhat miffed as he had competed in similar events up north, yet watching coverage of Waimate last week on the TV maybe thats not the case... perhaps Crunch or Carlo can elaborate..

[Jeff]

Very good point you put forward there Ross.
I didn't realise that the circuit racing licence system included hillclimbs etc - thats a damn good way to hone your skills.
Jim Richards really excelled on gravel and watching him and Leo Leonard fight out the Riverhead Rallysprint in the late 70's in matching BDA Mk2 Escorts was superb stuff. There is rough but superb footage of the event on You Tube with all of our superb drivers of the day including Mike Marshall chucking the CRC Escort off the road at speed.
I was there that day and loved every moment of it as a kid.
Dad worked for TVNZ (NZBC then ) and mounted in-car and on-car camera's with limpet ( suction cup ) mounts
and sometimes clockwork 16mm film camera's were used as they didn't have a heavy battery and could film for 3 mins at a time.
NZBC were relieved that they had taken the camera off Mike Marshall's Escort before he went off.
Video is in 4 parts.
Not good quality but well worth a look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCmPmqjhTQY

My opinion for what its worth is that several things took place in the 60/70,s ,one of these being that before you could go circuit racing you had to do 3 as i remember speed events,now these would be hillclimbs,bent sprints,standing 1/4 mile etc.After you had completed these successfully you then moved onto the circuit side of things,you then had to wear 3 stripes and be observed that you were ok to be out there.This meant that every new driver had to attend these introductory to motor racing type of events.It was quite a big step up to go onto the circuits,not to forget the cost to go faster.Along came the club circuit at Pukekohe and that changed things drastically,i think the licence system must have changed along the way then also [??].So most folks then could go to the circuit direct and not do hillclimbs.Another fact was rallying came along.....one big hillclimb you could say,boy i wish i had been envolved then,would have loved to do something longer than 2 minutes on gravel! I suppose the final nail in the coffin was the difficulty in staging events with all the regulations etc and the spresd of housing.
Just as an aside,i competed in a couple of events 6 years ago in my Humber 80 Special,these events were a combined local car club and classic car type club.I was not impressed with the standard that the local cars were presented at the start and looked more like cars from a Waikaraka stock car event. In my day if you turned up in a less than well presented car at a hillclimb etc you were certainly told about it
As an aside,I always remember Jim Richards turning up for hillclmbs at Bombay,he would be 'A' frameing his 1200cc red Anglia with a Anglia van also in red,this was tunned up also,both immaculately presented,one meeting his race car played up so he did the hillclimb in the van,and did a very quick time.!!!!!

[Hart1598]

I remember running my Anglia up the hill, and being on the start line, the night hill climb was great fun

[Trevor Sheffield]

Yes I certainly agree Jac Mac.
I looked at building up a little ( Daihatsu Charade ) club car a few years ago to compete in local hillclimb / bent sprint / car club events for fun but discovered I couldn't "just run" a road car cheaply.
A home made sumpguard and half rollcage these days has to be built and inspected by an engineer etc...
and it just gets sillier for "just a bit of fun".
It's a shame but it's the way the world has gone

Jeff,

The Cossey's farm era more or less marked the ending of low budget racing for fun. I always placed family first when it came to expenditure and every car I used for competition had to also serve as a practical road car. The majority of competitors were in the same boat and cars on a trailer were nor the norm. The serious guys at best used an A frame. Roll over protection was for sissies. LOL

I recall my last event at Cossey's as impressing on me that the fun days were over. I was ranning a moderately warmed 1275 Mini Cooper, as usual driven to the event. There must have been a lot of cow shite on the concrete start pad, as no matter how I tried, the clock ticked mercilessly as I groped endlessly for traction. On the day front wheel drive and road tyres was an impossible handicap. At that point specialist very expensively rally cars were in evidence and writing was well and truly on the wall with money fast becaming an essential requirement.

My memory is a little hazy, but as I recall the owners of the farm drove a very nice Brooklands Riley, which could have been a built up replica, and later on an E type Jaguar. They did not compete, except maybe once, but were certainly seriously car minded. I also recall the hill as being much steeper than as shown in the video and a right hand sweeping corner which called for bravery due to a steep drop off. I think there was a stone quarry close by. Please can someone straighten out my memory.

Here's to memories. Trevor.

[bob homewood]

John,
Out of interest I looked back at the log book I kept for that period and I ran 44 seperate events between May 1969 and May 1970 plus one Hillclimb that was called off as too muddy after practice ,that was 44 Hillclimbs ,Sprints plus race meetings at Pukekohe and Baypark ,not a bad run especially with a 100 % finishing rate

Bob- you must have quite a large library of all this.
Funny the things you see looking at the hillclimb events then- just read Gisborne Car Club, August 1969 Rod Coppins won it in his 1938 Chev Coupe.
What has happened to all these off road events, is there anything now for this new generation?