THE 14th running of the Legend of the Lakes hill climb is fast approaching, with the South Eastern Automobile Club working feverishly to ensure the Valley Lakes course is ready for action.
From its original inception, the event has grown in stature, with 75 competitors pencilled in for next Friday’s opening runs, plus another 140 for the Saturday and Sunday.
The man to beat is again Adelaide’s Dan Day, who will look to lower his course record in his Subaru WRX.
Day claimed the mantle of the King of the Mountain three years ago and will chase a fourth straight title.
Crowd favourite Kevin Mackrell (pictured) will return in his purpose-built Datsun V8 and hope to grab another title to add to his collection.
Simon Feil will return after several years in the wilderness, while the likes of Neil Oatway and Robert Vandercamp will provide plenty of thrills in their GT Falcons.
Event organiser Kevin Raedel said preparations had been ongoing since the event closed last year, with plenty of work to do over the coming days.
He said the hill climb originally started as a club event and has grown to where it now attracts drivers from around the country and even further abroad.
“It has come a huge way,” Raedel said.
“It was originally started as a fun club event and is a pretty unique bit of road.
“Apart from probably Bathurst, there are not many hill climbs where you can spectate as well.
“Most of them you see something from the start but that’s it.”
This year continues with busses to ferry spectators up and down
the hill, with big screens top and bottom to ensure a good view of proceedings.
Raedel said a lot of work goes into preparing the course, with around 450 barriers to be placed, along with around 20km of cables running up and down the course for timing purposes.
He said a dedicated group of club members volunteer to ensure everything runs like clockwork, both leading up to the event and throughout the weekend.
Raedel said the influx of visitors to the city was a bonus and the care taken by the club to ensure the venue is back to normal quickly created plenty of public support.
“You would not know we were there 10 days after the event,” Raedel said.
“It is massive money for the economy, with over 100 cars competing from out of town, which brings about 400 people into town.
“Last year about 1400 people attended.”
In previous years the likes of Steven Richards, Frank Kelly and Greg Gartner have been drawcards on and off the track, while this year Jim Richards will be down the bottom of the lakes.
Weather dependant another track record could be broken, but Raedel concedes that will be a tall order.
Either way he expects another big crowd for the iconic hill climb.
It all kicks off next Thursday night with a launch party at the Rail Lands, with food and drink available, plus around 15-plus cars on display.
The launch party runs from 5pm to 10pm, with all welcome free of charge.
The hill climb begins in earnest on Friday, with runs through Saturday and Sunday to decide the 2019 Legend of the Lakes.
