The Ararat Car Club will welcome an impressive field of 75 cars this weekend for its annual King of the Hill hill climb.

Taking place at the club’s famous One Tree Hill in rural Victoria, the event will see the revival of its State of Origin rivalry against South Australian competitors.

More than a quarter of the field will be making the journey from across the border, including high profile drivers Damian Brand, Norm Goodall and Geofff Vardon, the latter of which has won the event in previous years. 

Representing the home state will be the likes of Glen Latter, Steve Greenstead and Warren Heath – with Heath fresh from a class win at last month’s Motorsport Australia Hill Climb Championship in Queensland.

Adding to the event’s uniqueness is that there will be no open wheel vehicles taking part, meaning it will be all tin top cars making up the bumper field. 

With up to seven runs making the schedule, there will be plenty of opportunities for drivers to take out the top prize, with the heralded Peter Hall Memorial Challenge trophy also up for grabs. 


Photo: Karl Meyer

Event organiser Chris Harwood was excited with how the event was looking and was pleased that there was a huge field entered in one of the club’s biggest events for the year.

“We’re pretty happy with the entry list, especially since our maximum is 90, so that sort of thing makes it good for racing,” Harwood said. 

“For us, it’s one of the biggest multi-club events on our calendar and although we were able to run it last year, this time around, there are no restrictions, which is fantastic.  

“The club is really pleased with the amount of people attending as its symbolic of the rise of interest in the sport – Victorian state rounds have seen an average of 80 competitors across the seven rounds, so to have around this number without open wheelers is fantastic. 

“We always strive to improve where we can and this year, we had a wide variety of people enter – from top of the range drivers to the local guy who brings his car out once a year. It’s really positive. 

“Running events are usually a bit stressful, but that is motorsport and I will feel much better when it’s all run and done – especially if we can get all seven runs out and the rain doesn’t affect it too much.”

The King of the Hill hill climb takes place at One Tree Hill on 19-20 November.