It was a day of celebration at the Rob Roy Hillclimb last week as more than 100 competitors took part in the 30th Rob Roy Historic & Classic Hillclimb, competing in front of a packed house of spectators.
 
With the sun shining over the second oldest hill climb in the world, the record crowd were treated to an entertaining show with beautiful weather, as an elective mix of classic and modern invited cars got four runs throughout the day.
 
While there was plenty of eye candy for the car lovers on the track, the MG Car Club of Victoria also had an array of vintage MG cars, some as old as 1934, on display as fans were able to get up close and personal with these classic pieces of history.


Following on from the highly successful day, Event Director Wayne Rushton praised the work of volunteers at the event, as well as thanking spectators for turning out.
 
“All of Rob Roy has basically been built or with volunteers, if it wasn’t for volunteers this event wouldn’t take place,” Rushton said.
 
“I just wanted to thank all the spectators that came out as well to make it such a great event, 30 years running is not a bad effort.”
 
When it came to the competition, James Callahan and his Mitsubishi Evo VI were too strong for the 100-plus competitors, winning the event outright with an impressive time of 22.43 seconds
 
It didn’t come easy though as Callahan won the event on his final attempt and only narrowly beat fellow modern car driver David Bell by just seven tenths of a second – a feat he himself was rapt with.
 
“It felt pretty satisfying actually, but that wasn’t the goal, the goal was to go there and develop myself as a driver and just try to extract the most from the car,” Callahan explained.
 
“The event itself was so well organised, there were hundreds of spectators there, it was just a terrific festive atmosphere, it reminded us of how good grassroots Motorsports can be when they’re well supported.
 
“I love Rob Roy, I think it’s so challenging to drive quickly and it’s always special to go there because it’s a globally significant venue in the Hill Climb discipline and it’s just great to see events there being supported."
 
Finishing behind the top two drivers was previous Rob Roy winner Mike Barker who was behind the wheel of the Elfin Type 3 Clubman, beating fellow Clubman class rival Chris Randall by two and a half tenths of a second.
 
Although the modern vehicles enjoyed a podium lockout, the fastest classic wasn’t too far off the pace as Graeme Raper posted the fifth outright fastest time for the day in his George Reed Ford Special Monoskate.
 
Like his modern car counterpart, Raper saved his best until last, his time of 24.28 seconds coming on his last run of the day and just half a second off Randall.  
 

“It felt absolutely fantastic (to win), it’s what I go out to do, is it to push and push hard and win if I can do so. It was a beautiful day, but the track got to be fairly hot, so I finally got it to be about right on my last run,” Raper said.
 
“It was absolutely fabulous, spirits were high, everyone was happy to see each other and the interest in all the cars was very real.”
 
Click here to read the full results. 
 
The Rob Roy Hillclimb has now wrapped up for the year with the next event being the Motorsport Australia Victorian Hillclimb Championship on 16 January.