87th Mahagastota Hill Climb on 3-4 April

Text and pix by P.D. De Silva

The 87th edition of the Mahagastota Hill Climb organised and conducted by the Ceylon Motor Sports Club (CMSC) and powered by SLT-Mobitel is set to roar off on 3 and 4 April.

This meet will be the season opener in Nuwara Eliya, and will held conforming to current health regulations. The Motorcycle events will be held on 3 April, while the Motor car events will be held on 4 April.

An array of classic cars will be joining the festivities at Mahagastota and will commence their Saturday Morning Run from the Golf Club in Nuwara Eliya and drive down to Mahagastota.

The 875-yard Mahagastota track comprises of two hairpin bends and two semi hairpin bends.

Ashan Silva clocked 32.643 seconds driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution in 2018 to hold the fastest time for the Hill Climb as well as the course record for cars and Ananda Sampath Weerasinghe riding an RM 250 clocked 33.936 seconds in 2017 to be the fastest on two wheels.

The previous records were held by Darin Weerasinghe (33.479 seconds) and Shafraz Junaid respectively.

The race will go down in the record books as the first Carbon Neutral Hill Climb in Sri Lanka with CMSC Partnering with ‘Drive Green’ to conduct a study and evaluate the carbon footprint. 

Historic cars, bikes and modern cars taking part in the event and recording the least emission will receive cash prizes of Rs. 10,000 each. A tree planting program is also on the cards.