On the grid this Saturday is Kiwi racing car driver Bruce McLaren’s 1953 Austin Healey 100/4. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
First staged in 1972, the event sees drivers undertake three, if not four, timed runs up the final, windy 2.7km stretch of the skifield access road.
"It’s a very interesting piece of road, a lot of people involved in motorsport want to have a crack at Coronet Peak," club co-founder Stuart Maclean says.
It’s become so popular the field’s not only at its 60-car capacity but there’s a 40-strong waiting list.
For the first time, the day ends with a top-10 showdown involving the 10 fastest cars.
Among the field are:
- Reigning champ Dunedin’s Glenn Frew, ‘the king of Coronet Peak’, will be chasing a record-equalling seventh win. He’s driving a 1993 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1 with its power range at supercar level.
- The legendary Trevor ‘TC’ Crowe, 81 this week, won the event in the early ’80s in a V8 Starlet and has numerous rally and hillclimb wins under his belt, and a fourth placing at Bathurst. He’ll be racing a Subaru Justy with mid-engine 2.5L WRX power pumping out 450hp through a 6-speed sequential gearbox.
- Chris Hey, whose best result’s second, is a two-time New Zealand 2WD hillclimb champ. He’s in a 1985 Toyota MR2 with a 2.2 Turbo Infinity engine making 460-500 BHP with custom aerodynamics.
- Motorsport globetrotter Grant Clearwater’s raced historic cars around the world and won the 2000 hill climb in a Kiwi-built Capella II special. He’ll be piloting Betty Clearwater’s 1953 ex-Bruce McLaren Austin Healey 100/4.
The course-record 79 seconds was set by Andrew Waite in 2017.
Racing takes place from 10am till 4pm.
Queenstown’s HP Academy is again the title sponsor.
