MG MMM Blue Dog Racing: Vintage Collingrove 2012

Vintage Collingrove 2012 - Prewar Speed Hill-climb. 7-10-12

A return to Collingrove Hill Climb has been on the agenda for some years. Our last visit coincided with the Lobethal Grand Carnival in 2009.

On the Truck Again - Blue Dog Heaven

Our racing at Lobethal ended with Dan and I being towed to the pits backwards. Not the nicest way to arrive. A racing change using the pre-selector at 6000rpm in pursuit of a SS Jaguar resulted in a destroyed crown wheel and pinion. Hence the only action at Collingrove on Monday was watching the superb line up of prewar racers and MGTC specials.

The Cunnamulla Fella

Town Hall - Broken Hill

Norm, Ian, Dan and I set off for the leisurely 2000kms drive west to Cunnamulla, south through Bourke and Broken Hill and then onto the Barossa Valley.

Emu Dad and Chicks

The countryside was looking great with wattles in flower and mobs of emus sighted throughout the west. Many of the male emus had chicks with them – a great sight. Not so good was the large number of feral goats taking advantage of the good season.

The Vintage Collingrove weekend is a mixture of social evenings, Barossa Valley tour and the hill climb on the Sunday. The great social atmosphere set at the first dinner continued throughout the weekend. Staying in an old fashioned hotel in Angaston we were based within easy travel of all the events.

A must for the Barossa Valley is a visit to one or two of the many wineries in the region, dragging the confirmed beer lovers to a couple of wineries nearby did not improve the revenue of the wineries visited.

PA0437 & J3762

Prewar MG owners had come from far and wide for the event; Tony had driven his PA over 3000kms from Cairns. He enjoyed the previous week touring the wine district of South Australia with a contingent of prewar MG owners from Victoria.

The Recommended & Likely Line

Collingrove Hillclimb is nestled in the hills about eight kilometres south east of Angaston. The track is around seven hundred and fifty metres long with a vertical rise of seventy metres. On the sighting run the track appeared to be quite narrow (narrower at speed!).

1924 Essex 4

The pits soon filled with a mouth watering selection of vintage racing and touring cars. Some of the more unusual vehicles to tackle the hill included the 1924 Essex 4 which is a recreation of the Wizard Smith Record Breaker, a 1934 Hudson Terraplane and a 1929 509A Fiat.

1931 Austin 7 Factory Racer "Rubber Duck"

The Austin and MG contingents were there to relive the rivalry of these marques that battled it out at great venues such as Brooklands and Ards TT in the 1930’s.

A leisurely start to the day set the tone for the event. Five ascents of the hill were made, fortunately my times were improving with each run but only quick enough to score a second in class.

1928/74 Austin 7 Monoposto

1929 Austin 7 Roadster

Attacking The Wall at maximum speed and successfully negotiating The Esses was the path to better times.

1959 McNeil Austin Special

The organizers gave all a chance during the lunch break to experience either driving or being a passenger up the hill, this was a great hit with the spectators and pit crew.
The weekend wrapped up with another dinner on the Sunday night followed by a early start on Monday for the long trip home. Four thousand kilometres driven for five minutes of track time - one must be mentally unbalanced.