Catch up on all the action in the 2017 Australian Hillclimb Championships, which were held in South Australia’s Barossa Valley last weekend over the 28th & 29th of October, thanks to this report from Andrew Stevens.

Australian Hillclimb Championships 28 & 29 October

Collingrove, Barossa Valley, South Australia

By Andrew Stevens, with photos thanks to Andrew Stevens and Martin Wallace

The 2017 Australian Hillclimb Championships were held in the Barossa Valley last weekend, with Martin Wallace scoring a class victory at the Australian titles to add to his recent South Australian championships trophy.

All three Lotus present were competing in the road registered class, with Graham Smith’s 1ZZ Elise holding down a tight third in Under 2000cc, and Martin running in the Under 4000cc class with his Elise Cup 220, accompanied by Tim Pitt in the Lotus Adelaide Evora.

The 2WD road registered record, held by Chris Weddle in his black supercharged Exige, wasn’t threatened over the weekend.  Martin improved progressively on Saturday to record an aggressive 35.50 and was hoping to go quicker on Sunday.  Alas, the windy and dusty conditions on Sunday meant that he struggled to match his Saturday time, finding the car prone to oversteer instead of its usual planted stance.  Nobody else in his class, however, managed to break 36 seconds, so he snared his second major trophy in only his first year of competition.

Both Graham and Tim also drove the wheels off their cars.  The Evora looking large when compared to the more nimble Elises on the narrow, snaky, double hill track.  Graham managed to keep it all on track this weekend, and reckons that he had maxed out his pace over the weekend.

A group of SA Lotus locals took time out to support the boys, driving up in convoy, and stopping at one of the local wineries for a coffee along the way.

Martin took to Facebook after his win, to thank his #1 supporter and sponsor – his wife!