History
The Spectre 341 Challenge has roots going back to 1972. Hans Tanner was the President of the Ferrari Owners Club (FOC) in Southern California. He remembered Hill Climbs in Europe, how much fun and how challenging they were, and he found a perfect place to do that in Virginia City, Nevada, where he was working for the local newspaper. The original mountain road was built to allow trucks carrying silver ore to get from Silver City to Virginia City. Today, renamed Nevada Highway 341, it’s a bypass road to Highway 342. It’s now used by large trucks and tour busses that are unable to navigate the tight turns of Highway 342.
In June of 1972, Hans and the Ferrari Owners Club organized the first Virginia City Hill Climb. The competitors raced Ferrari’s from model year 1972, and older (mostly older). Cars that today are worth millions were flogged up the mountain road. As the years went by, the club members started bringing other cars, including all-out racecars.
In 1985, Bobby Donner Jr. set an all time record of 3:24.57 (91.5 MPH avg.) in a Ferrari 512BB/LM, a Le Mans category all-out race car. In 1988, Reg Howell re-set the all time record in a Big Block Chevy powered Lola T-70 with a time of 3:23.78 (91.9 MPH avg.). Following this, competitors started bringing open wheel cars and the State of Nevada promptly stepped in and mandated that all cars must be street licensed, registered and insured. The reason? Because after the completed run, racers put on the left turn signal and merge onto operational public Highway 342 to get back to the start line.
Around 1990, anything under 4:00 minutes (78 MPH avg.) was considered really fast. This is a 5.2-mile stretch of road, with between 20 to 30 corners, depending on your definition of a corner, and an elevation change from 5,000 to 6,200 feet above sea level. Many of the turns are designated 25 or 35 MPH. Each one is unique. They are each technical in a way that a professional racetrack designer could never duplicate. The constant rise in elevation means that, for about 2/3 of the course, there is more weight on the rear of the car than the front (compared to most relatively flat racing surfaces). Competitors begin on cold tires, but that changes after a few corners when they heat up, and then the roadway levels out, changing the balance of the car again. Many of the corners are blind. Additionally, there is the surprise element of wild horses throughout the surrounding area.
During the early 1990’s two things developed. 1) The original members of the Ferrari Owners Club were getting old, their cars were worth millions, and attendance at the event was dropping off. To keep the event going, invitations were sent out and The Audi Quattro Club [from Minnesota!] stepped in to provide additional entrants and a tremendous boost to the program.
Over the next decade, the only differences between the two events were: 1) the original event still ran in June and allowed any street legal make or model car to run and 2) the June event had a world class timing system.
Unfortunately, on the first day of the June 2002 event, a tragedy ensued which was one of the deciding factors for the organizers to discontinue the event.
Until today! Speed By Spectre and FM3 Performance Marketing have resurrected the annual Virginia City Hill Climb and created The First Annual Speed By Spectre 341 Challenge to be held on June 25 and 26, 2010 on public Highway 341 between Silver City and Virginia City, Nevada. Photos By: Doug Hayashi
2) Around this same time, another Ferrari Club, The Ferrari Club of America [FCA] opened a west coast chapter, and in the course of competing for members with the FOC, decided that they would have their own Virginia City Hill Climb, apart from the other club. However, they couldn’t field enough entries either so they formed a cooperative with The Northern California Shelby Club. To this day, their hill climb runs in September.
