STIRRING THE SEVEN SENSES
THE MANUNUI COASTAL HILL CLIMB WORDS KEVIN BEESLEY
This speed event, staged jointly by Waitemata Branch and the Historic Racing and Sports Car Club, with timing assistance courtesy of the MG Car Club, catered for all the senses. The pleasantly rural Manunui Coastal Estate, a lifestyle retreat near Pakiri about 70 minutes drive north of Auckland, offers sensory reward enough with or without the presence of historic motor vehicles. North facing on the side of the ridge rising behind the Pakiri settlement, with bush clad slopes and stunning views over rolling green farmland out to the white sands of Pakiri Beach and the ocean beyond, it is a glorious location for a hill climb. Generous cloud cover on 28 March, the day of the contest, held the temperature
down to a pleasant level, and a stiff breeze from the north-east was fresh with the salty tang of the nearby coast. The course is over about 1.2 kms of the tar sealed road into the estate, rising about 100 metres in elevation through a series of corners and gradients. It is challenging, and testing of each competitor’s sense of balance and orientation. Immediately from the start line the road ascends steeply for 250 metres or so, then veers sharp left into a modest decline before a sweeping right-hander of increasing severity, then
s Bright and shiny start line-up. Photo: Jacqui Goldingham.
42 Beaded Wheels
.onwards and sinuously upwards to the finish. “We are aiming to get four runs in,” declared Max Jamieson, Clerk of the Course, at the drivers’ briefing. That may not sound many, but there were 31 contestants to get through, which requires a pretty slick operation. Waitemata are quite good at this sort of thing and activities progressed smoothly, despite a minor hiccup early on with the timing gear. In the end, three runs including the practice were undertaken. Time for the fourth run was curtailed by a delay in proceedings during the third following an unscheduled departure from the course by Peter Boel in his 41C Lotus, and the location of an unfortunate tree that impeded further progress. Peter could take some consolation, though, from the excellent time of 61.85 seconds he posted on his second run. The Lotus was rather crumpled. The fate of the tree is uncertain. Shortest time of the day went to Nigel Russell in his 1960 1098cc Sadler SJ. Nigel’s sense of proprioception was jolted somewhat about two thirds into his practice run when he slid off the road, ran through a coprosma bush and over a large rock it was
