Photo by Dave Wallens JPIII RALLY SPORT TAKES 2nd AT FIRST BEECH MOUNTAIN HILLCLIMB - LIMITED-SLIP DIFFERENTIAL HAS SUCCESSFUL DEBUT The inaugural Beech Mountain Hillclimb was held in the North Carolina mountains just outside of Banner Elk, NC and the JPIII Rally Sport Honda Prelude VTEC was there to contest in the C-Street Prepared Class. While the car is prepared with a rally suspension, which raises the vehicle a little more than an inch. I hoped to still be competitive based on last year's performance at the final Chimney Rock Hillclimb where the Prelude finished 2nd and with the addition of the Quaife limited slip differential to help pull out of the 6 hairpin turns on the course.

The Honda Prelude VTEC crossed the finish line doing 79 mph on two wheels!

The weather was clear, but much windier and considerably cooler than expected. The SCCA was also new to the site and there were only three timed runs for each competitor the entire weekend. The CSP field accounted for 9 of the 110 total entrants competing in some 32 classes.

1996 was the first time a hillclimb event was held at Beech Mtn, so there were the inevitable delays which resulted in only one competition run on Saturday. However, I had a fairly good one ... crossing the finish line of the 1.2 mile course in 87.474 seconds doing 79 mph on two wheels (according to the spectators). It was fast enough to be leading the class until the final run Sunday afternoon when Glen Gaddis, driving an early model Mazda RX-7 knock 2 seconds off his previous best, leaving the Prelude in second. Although I was disappointed not to walk away with the win, both the spectators and the other drivers were all very complimentary of the JPIII performance. The next event is the Susquehannock Trail PRO Rally held in Wellsboro, PA - May 31st through June 2. This will be the PRO Rally debut for the Limited Slip Differential, and I am very excited about being able to compete with the West Coast competition in Production Class on the fast narrow roads of central PA.