Recently a customer of ours asked us to help him compete in the 27th annual Hoopa hill climb in Hoopa California. For those not familiar with this small town it is a little over a hour east of Eureka California. Every year the town and tribal council of Hoopa allow the Redwood Sports Car Club (RSCC) to close down a section of paved road leading up one of the many wooded hills in the town for a weekend of hill climbing. This year Fine Line Imports was happy to help out one of our best customers in prepping and racing his 2005 STI for this event.

In preperation for the hill climb FLI fitted the car with a new Ron Davis radiator, Greddy oil cooler, Crawford air/oil separator and Aquamist HFS-6 kit. This is on top of the ATP GT30 and supporting mods already on the car. For a complete list of mods please check out this thread http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1796454 . With the new mods in place and a retune for the Aquamist it was time to head north.

Once race day rolled around and we arrived arrived at the hill I was surprised at the number of cars that showed up to attend. All told forty four cars were entered and they ranged from every day drivers to trailered track cars. Being this was our first time at this event and our customers first time racing up the hill I was hoping for a top three finish in our class. The course itself was a little more then 2.5 miles with a 13% average grade of wooded uphill switch backs. The road was very well paved and in good condition which was surprising.



Below are a few pictures of our customers STI and a few of the competition.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009128.jpg?t=1250097309

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009005.jpg?t=1250097333

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2.jpg?t=1250097366

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa1.jpg?t=1250097404

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009014.jpg?t=1250097057

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009011.jpg?t=1250097089

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009024.jpg?t=1250097121

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009189.jpg?t=1250097151

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009144.jpg?t=1250097179

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009078.jpg?t=1250097210

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/FLIWRX/Hoopa2009018.jpg?t=1250097253

The first run up the hill turned out to be the fastest of the weekend for us at 2:25 which broke the SM class record for the hill buy about 2 seconds. Even with the radiator and oil cooler by the time the car to the top of the hill it was running hot but thanks to the Ron Davis radiator the temps quickly fell down to normal operating temps. Later on in the day as temps started to climb past 100 out we noticed a drop in the times of the STI but after having a great first day with no problems we were very much looking forward to the next day of racing.

The second day of the competition turned out to be hotter then the first. With temps reaching about 110 the best run we had was 2:27. We ran in the second run group of the day which started till the afternoon so we ran at the hottest point in the day. Coolant temps remained high all weekend but not hot enough to do any permanent damage. By the end of the second day out customer was 1st in his class with a record braking run and 7th over all.

Overall the entire event was really fun and a good time was had by all. The RSCC put on a great hill climb that I am sure we will be back to next year with our own cars. The town of Hoopa was very small and I would recommend to anyone looking to to this event next year book your hotel rooms early as they fill up fast. Make sure your cars cooling system is in good condition because it will be taxed over the course of the weekend.

FLI would like to thank our customer Brian for not only his patronage over the yeas but his good driving. We look forward to going out and racing with him more.

For more info check out our blog at: http://fliblog.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/fli-at-hoopa-hill-climb-2009/