Virginia City Hillclimb - Nevada

Great Event Sponsored by http://www.ferraripacific.org/ Ferrari Club of America & Nor-Cal Shelby Club

What is the Virginia Hill Climb about?

With assistance from the local Sheriffs, the Intersection to the 341/342 highway, and run time trials up the 5.2 mile paved mountain road with 21 turns, only about 3 of which have guard rails. Most of the turns are marked at 35 mph turns. You get between 10-18 runs up the Hill over the course of the weekend. This is actually a "truck road" into town, meaning the big trucks and tour buses come up this road, as the other road into town is too tight for these vehicles to negotiate some of the turns. Prize money is non-existant, it is only for bragging rights and hanging out with interesting car geek people. The local people sell food/drinks at the event to help with the local preschool, and the corner workers are hired from local population. About 150-200 people or so come into town for the event, eat in the restaurants, sleep in the "bare necessities" hotels, etc., so it helps the local economy.

The Virginia City Hill Climb is run twice a year, in June and in September. The Hill Climb course is 5.2 miles in length, and is a paved road built originally for the ore trucks going to and from Virginia City, Nevada. It is approximately 40 minutes from from Reno, and 25 minutes from Carson City. The Quattro Club sponsors the June event, and are pretty cool about having "brand X" cars like the NSXs show up. The September event is run by the Ferrari Club of America and the Shelby Club, and they ONLY allow Ferraris and Shelbys at this event. The cops block off the road, and we use both lanes to blast up the Hill, with the goal of getting fastest possible lap time.

The finish of the uphill climb is in front of the Sheriff's Station. Where you get a thumbs up from the cops! That is pretty cool!

Anyone planning on going to the event? I will try to take some pictures on Saturday of the event.

Here is a story from Eric Christen
The Virginia City Hill Climb is a challenging, fast and highly social weekend in a unique part of the world. Co-sponsored by the Ferrari and Shelby clubs, the turnout guarantees a large concentration of cool cars and good-natured rivalry. Basically the clubs rent a 6-mile stretch of Nevada State highway and close it for their member’s exclusive use.

The stretch of Hwy 341 North from Silver City to Virginia City is the “course” and Hwy 342 in the opposite direction is the return. The local law enforcement blocks both ends of 341 to general traffic and the clubs turn cars loose about every 60 seconds to see how fast they can complete the hill. Nevada’s finest also shoots radar on the return trip which adds a new dimension to the not-your-average-open track weekend.

The course is 5.2 miles with 20 turns and a 1216-foot rise in elevation, the first three-quarters of the course a fairly constant 6-7% grade, while the last quarter is flatter. Due to the numerous straights, high horsepower (and the ability to make that power at high elevation) have the advantage over less powerful but more nimble brethren.

Launch is hard acceleration from a brakes-off wheel-chock. A timing light is 75-100 yards or so from the starting box, and I was able to grab second just before I tripped the light.

A gentle left-sweeper under full acceleration sets you up for Turn1 as you shift into 3rd. Hard brake, crank the wheel left and up the hill, T2 is an immediate right, long-sweeper still heading up hill noticeably. T2A was deceptive to me as a first time driver, it’s blind, and appears initially like it’s going to hand you another slow corner. The road actually opens up quite nicely and you learn to throttle-up out of 2 and grab 4th for about 1/3 mile.

Lift, gentle left around a big rock, slight brake, downshift to 3rd, and scrub speed with the declining radius in T3. At this point you go through an impressive cut in the hill with rock walls on both sides – a mistake here would play hell on the bodywork.

T4 is an uphill left, you straddle the double yellow line and look for the 4th "?" (arrow left) that signals the exit and full throttle around yet another blind-bend. A glance out the passenger window will provide a view to forever – it’s at this point you notice how steeply the mountain leaves the road and how quickly you’re climbing. T5 is a gentle left under full acceleration with a reasonable straight following.

Turn6 sets up the first of three similar looking left/right switchbacks. Course tip: the switchback right-handers at 7, 11, and 15 lead to long straights. Brake, turn-in and climb the hill to the left, and end up hugging the guardrail to setup for the following right-hander, in this case T7. Going fast means maximizing exit speed, so anticipating the apexes, and consequential exits, were key to improving my times. Exit can bring you uncomfortably close to the guardrail, especially with the tail hanging out. The apex at T7 signals the fastest part of the track, it's a good ¾ mile of acceleration. There's a full-speed right-kink called turn 8 that precipitates a smirk when you see that “25mph” sign and you look down and see 25 plus nearly a hundred more on the speedometer.

Brake, downshift into 3rd, light brake, and keep a neutral throttle through T9. You briefly accelerate then brake hard to setup T10. Note the skid marks here that exit track-right -- at least he went off on the uphill side, never mind, . . . T10 is a give-a-way as the first of the two-corner switchback.

I caught myself watching for that "11" painted in the road signaling the apex, then it was throttle-on for another wide open blast into T12 and T13. T12 is another kink right, T13 requires a bit of brake, but the speed and degree of turn was reminiscent for me of T9 at Thunderhill. Next up is the last left/right switchback at T14/T15 that leads to the second fastest/second longest straight on the course, and another 4th gear blast.

A high-speed kink signals the approaching T16 and a series of high-speed “S” turns through T20 and the end of the course. I found myself grabbing 3rd and giving up T16 by hugging the right curb past the red flag warning of the turn exit hazard.

A bit of brake for T17 and miss the tree at the apex as you dive left. Lift and settle the car, then hold the throttle constant through the T18-left and T19-right combination. T20 is a high-speed left with an increasing radius and wide-open throttle, but the finish is tricky – I found it the most technically difficult part of the track (for a rookie anyway). The timing light is at the leading edge of a bridge after a short straight, but there is an abrupt right (at speed) before and through the bridge. As a bonus, cement walls frame each side of the bridge. To make things really interesting, participants have been known to trip the light with their rear bumper. As you clear the bridge, a hard brake is needed to haul her down to 30 mph or so as you pass in front of the Fire House and Sheriff station.

OK... Now who is coming to NEVADA??