Casting back through the record books, Mosgiel’s Chris Hey couldn’t find another 2WD car that had won the Otago Sports Car Club’s (OSCC’s) Whare Flat Hillclimb in the past two decades.
His name will get engraved on this year’s trophy, instead of the customary 4WD drivers, after he stole the win — completing the course in 1 minute 59.52 seconds on his fastest run — just 0.36sec quicker than Dunedin’s Mike Wellington in a Mitsubishi Evo8 RS.
‘‘I beat them all in my 2WD,’’ Hey said.
His Toyota MR220, however, is not your average 2WD.
‘‘It’s not like an old Escort that you can buy all the bits and bolt them on,’’ Hey said.
A self-employed engineer, Hey has spent the past 14 years evolving the deceptive white charger into a hill climbing monster. In its current guise, it runs a 2.2-litre Infinity alloy block engine, which pumps out around 460hp from its diminutive 885kg frame. Hey freely admits he has incorporated ‘‘a lot of carbon fibre and kevlar’’ into his Toyota, but when quizzed about his turbocharger’s restrictor size, ‘‘unrestricted’’ was all he was prepared to give away.
Hey has won four events outright this season and claimed his 12th consecutive Ashley Forest Rally Sprint 2WD title in September.
Last Saturday’s Dunedin-based event was part of the OSCC’s annual Speed Weekend, which featured the sealed Three Mile Hillclimb on Sunday, where Outram’s Glenn Frew pipped Waimate’s Ben Terry, who was also driving a Mitsubishi Evo, to claim the win by just under a second.
After combining the fastest times from both hillclimbs, Frew won the overall Speed Weekend, with Wellington second and fellow OSCC driver James Mitchell third.
- by Catherine Pattison
Photo: Greg Jordan
