I'm sorry....did the presenter just say the words "V8 turbcharged Morris Minor" in the same sentence? If you can do this, and THEN build your own turbine-induction, all wheel drive hillclimb car, you can take your place next to Mr Imhoff in the Jalopnik hall of fame.
@SCROGGZILLA RAIDS AGAIN!!: There are loads of crazy home built cars in the U.K. just like this,it's cold & rainy here,we gotta keep busy somehow. I have my own insane plan to get a Z06 engine in a TVR S2, once i get past problems like lack of funds,it'll be on top of my mad shit to do list.
@layabout: Yeah, I've got a mental disorder involving the creation of a Sunbeam Tiger restomod using an Australian Chrysler Hemi-6, built to E49 or better spec, in lieu of the usual Ford lump. Now, if I could only win the lottery.....
@Feds: True.....but Chrysler killed the Tiger when they acquired the Rootes Group, so there's a certain symmetry to using the Hemi-6 to make a new one. Plus, the Hemi-6 makes a really awesome noise when you put your foot down.
Why don't we have hillclimbs here in the US? Well, there's Pikes Peak, but in the UK they seem to have purpose-built outrageous hillclimb cars mixing it up on a different course every single weekend.
Same thing with touge. It looks unbelievably awesome but you just don't see it legitimized and sanctioned here the way it is in Japan.
@stoke: Plenty of rally events in the U.K. too,the smaller events are generally more interesting than the WRC. You get to see old rally legends doing what they do best.
@stoke: We're just generally starved of any motorsport in the US that isn't NASCAR or drag racing. The few places there are tracks are cost prohibitive for a lot of people.
@SCROGGZILLA RAIDS AGAIN!!: Pikes Peak is still the daddy hill climb venue. I have visions of group B Audi's & Lancia's going hell for leather leaving a large trail of dust in their wake.
Have you ever driven Pikes Peak? Those times would be so much lower if the drivers weren't carrying 75lbs worth of iron balls with them!
I very briefly tried to get exuberant in my Protege5 up there, but reverted back to posted speeds when I realized I might not poo again for a month at this pucker level.
@acarr260: Hah...I had the opposite reaction. Count me out! I like speed, but that's positively insane in the hands of anybody but the most capable. Certainly, I am not.
That is friggin insane,i've seen that car at the Prestbury hill climb,the sound is phenomenal. I'd imagine it'd turn your face into jelly the way the Atom did to Clarkson.
@Corvette_Thunder: Totally. Hillclimb is probably the last auto racing category left on earth where the cars basically only have to pass a safety inspection.
While I'm sad I wasn't alive for Can-Am or Indy in the '60s, this is a pretty good consolation.
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"Wossat, Nic?"
"How'd it go if we added another engine to the car?"
"Cor, she'd be some heavy, Nic. Bog in the turns."
"No no, mate, just a little engine for running the turbo."
"Oh, ye're givin me the collywobbles! Lessee what we've got in the back..."
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All I could think was how weird the people of Gurston must be to host a down hill "climb".
Silly Brits.
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Sorry... I couldn't resist.
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The best Auzie power plant out there is the Turbo Ford I-6, that will bolt into your Falcon Ranchero, or '82 Econoline.
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+ Watch video
Besides, I'd rather have that Turbo I-6 attached to a shiny new Falcon. Are you listening Ford?
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Same thing with touge. It looks unbelievably awesome but you just don't see it legitimized and sanctioned here the way it is in Japan.
America likes the wrong motorsports.
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Have you ever driven Pikes Peak? Those times would be so much lower if the drivers weren't carrying 75lbs worth of iron balls with them!
I very briefly tried to get exuberant in my Protege5 up there, but reverted back to posted speeds when I realized I might not poo again for a month at this pucker level.
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The second one, just wow.
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While I'm sad I wasn't alive for Can-Am or Indy in the '60s, this is a pretty good consolation.