Why are Hill Climb races so abundant all over Europe and so rare in America ?
I honestly don't feel it's just lawyers, in fact I don't think it's the dominant reason. In Europe if you 'step down' (not an insult) from circuit racing or rallying all you have really are sprints and hillclimbs as a grass roots motorsport. In this country you have thousands of oval tracks all over the country. Circle track racing is relatively cheap and easy to get into compared to circuit racing and rallying so it's the de-facto grassroots Motorsport for thousands of people, filling a similar roll to hillclimbs over here. Add in property values, land is dirt cheap here, especially in rural areas, compared to Europe so it's much more cost effective to build an oval track here than in Europe.
They frankly don't get the publicity that major racing gets, there are several associations nationally that put on hillclimbs, the biggest being Pikes Peak and Virginia City. Colorado: chcaracing.com Pennsylvania: pahillclimb.org New England: www.hillclimb.org At the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the Silver State Classic Challenge, where you race against the clock over a closed course on pretty much level or gently rolling countryside. https://sscc.us
I used to work this event just off Tail of The Dragon (US129) outside Robbinsville NC in Joyce Kilmer National Forest. Built a car to run it, moved to CA before i had a chance to participate, but it is a nice setup. A little rough as its a USFS road, but they were working with us on resurfacing the problem areas. https://ccrscca.com/events/chasing-the-dragon-hillclimb-xiv/ https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/chasing-dragon-xiv-hillclimb-robbinsville-north-carolina-scca-central-carolinas-167710 I think this is still the record
That's practically in my backyard, I'll have to look into that further. Racing this year has been "hit & miss" due to the Covid crap to say the least so something like this would make a nice diversion.
Many local motor clubs in Europe like to organise some sort of competition, and hillclimbing is the cheaperst way to do this. No need for permanent infrastructure, or costly installation, just the authorisation of the authorities to close the road for one day at most. That's how most of the famous hillclimbs in Europe started, mostly in the Alps, but almost anywhere there is elevation.
Im curious to learn about what happens when public or private properties get damaged..as they often do.
This, plus a signed waiver by every participant. Cannot speak to the specifics of a Hillclimb waiver, but track insurance is usually offered at my events for track specific damage.
It's probably for the similar reasons as to why drag racing is so much more prevalent in the US vs in Europe, i.e. the prevalent type of roads and driving. European mountains and hills are densely populated and crossed by tons of roads. Mountain driving is a daily chore for a lot of people, and winding climbing roads are accessible to a large fraction of the population.
