By Kevin Murphy
Photos by Gene Durso and Kevin

s promised all year, the 2005 Climb to the Clouds (a.k.a. the Mount Washington Vintage Hillclimb) was held rain or shine (good thing, as it poured the first day!) on Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July10. The event was sponsored by the Antique Auto Club of America (AACA) and sanctioned and run by the VSCCA.

We had driven up in typical conditions on Friday, July 8 (pouring cats and dogs and temps in the 50s—can this be July?). I don’t know about you folks, but extreme weather conditions for long-distance car events seem to be the "norm" for me lately. Absolute practicality under these conditions (I had wife and daughter attending with me) dictated that I leave the Alfa home and dry while piloting the family car thru the deluge. I met AONE members Gene and Judy Durso up at the inn where we had booked rooms in Jackson, NH and soon discovered that AONE member John Basel and his wife and son were also staying there. The weekend was starting to look positive for AONE despite the weather.

The next morning (Saturday) found Gene and me at the Mount Washington Auto Road for the pre-race practice runs. The ladies had decided that attacking the outlet stores in North Conway was more to their liking. At the base of the mountain, a slow drizzle became steady rain, and it was so cool that you really wondered if the drivers would run into frozen precip on their runs. Despite this, the AACA members had a nice group of cars assembled at the base, including a beautiful 30s Lancia coupe.

The VSCCA racers, on the other hand, were hard at it, with AONE Director Steve Silverstein running one of the fastest times of the day in his ’64 Sunbeam Alpine. (I know, it’s not an Alfa, but this car has period race history at Sebring and Daytona!) Steve was bested by a Cadillac-powered Allard on this day. Grin-and-bear-it with the weather, as Steve said he couldn’t really see through his face shield with fog and damp, nor could he see when he removed it as the rain got in his eyes. But he must have seen just well enough to make those hairpins that zigzag up the side of Mount Washington.

Incidentally, you can drive this road most days yourself (there is a toll), but there are warnings posted to re-think that decision if sharp, steep precipices on either side of the roadway are not your thing. Most of the VSCCA run is tree-lined (oh, yeah—trees...), as they just race 4+ miles up the mountain instead of the entire 7+ mile road.

The next day, more cars joined both the auto show event AND the race, so Steve’s competition increased. Believe it or not, he actually finished in the top five with a run of 5:13, losing out to a very fast and light custom-built old VW racer and a lightweight 356 Porsche. Saturday’s Allard had snapped off a shock during his Sunday run, and had to limp back down the mountain. Steve modestly said he hadn’t done so well (because he had a 5:08 last year).

Gene, John Basel, and I had all left our Alfas home on Friday, and were a bit down because we hadn’t seen nary a one all weekend. But between the first and second run on Sunday, the sun actually appeared. And as I looked east toward Route 16, just out of Pinkham Notch, I first saw a low, streamlined red shape streak through the glistening mist, and then heard a crisp 5th to 4th downshift that was unmistakably an Alfa! Gene and I ran over to the entrance to the field to meet up with the car and driver. It was AONE member and NH resident Randy Wilkins and his pretty ’74 Spider. What a champ—he had left his house at about 6:30am to make it up to the mountain around 9:15, and had run into some rain around Winnipesauke, but knew better weather was on the way. He brought the sun with him, and the day just improved steadily from there (naturally, the best weather of the weekend was that afternoon!). Needless to say, he upheld the pride of our marque as well.

I am definitely formulating a contingency plan for next year to make sure I am not caught Alfa-less again. Speaking of next year—please make an effort to attend this event, even if just for the Sunday goings-on. At the end of the race next year, we have all been invited to register for any of several White Mountain driving tours that look like a lot of fun (plus a colorful event banner to hang on your Alfa). We can also park and show our cars in the car show area. Look for my heads-up on this at next year’s Spring kick-off meeting!

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