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It was a backward idea that worked so well they’re bringing it back.
The Corkscrew Hillclimb is a wrong-way dash from the start/finish line of Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca, backwards through Turn 11, then all the way up 300 feet in elevation to the top of the famous Corkscrew.
The Corkscrew Hillclimb will be held the day after the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. The Reunion runs from August 16-19. Those dates left open the Sunday of the Reunion race weekend. So track management decided to hold the Corkscrew Hillclimb on Sunday Aug. 20, now the second year for the reverse race..
“I think it was a huge success,” said racer Patrick Long, who drove a Gunther Werks Porsche in last year’s Hillclimb.
Long finished third last year. A Porsche 908/3 driven by IMSA pilot Gunnar Jeannette won overall while second place went to a Lotus Formula 1 car. Ben Collins, aka The Stig, drove a Lucid Air electric sedan. There was a Ford F-150 Lightning, a Can-Am car, a La Ferrari, a RUF Yellow Bird…
“It’s a blend of a variety of different types of builds, vintage and modern, whose owners want to kind of show their performance against all different genres of cars,” Long said.
“It couldn’t be better, it really couldn’t be better,” said racer and restorer Bruce Canepa, who drove the 900-horsepower NASCAR truck-based “Doc Hudson” up the hill. “It’s about having fun, number one, it’s a fun hillclimb, it’s got the right shapes and curves and everything from the bottom to the top. I kind of just spun the tires, every time I stood on the gas it just spun the tires. It was a blast.”
You can get an application to race in the Corkscrew Hillclimb at the Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca website. If you’re already signed up to race in the Rolex Motorsports Reunion, it’s only $250 to stay another day and go up the hill in the reverse direction as many times as you can. If you’re not in the Reunion, you can sign up for the Hillclimb only for $500. Sounds like it would be money well-spent. If you’re going to Dawn Patrol at Pebble but don’t want to hang around those couple hundred hours until they hand out Best of Show, then spend another $35 (the cheapest ticket all weekend) and go watch the Hillclimb.
“I think everybody had a blast,” said Canepa. “I talked to a bunch of the drivers who were doing it and they loved it, they all loved it. It just seemed like it was meant to be, and that’s why we’re continuing. We’re gonna get some real variety this year.”
