One Tree Hill was abuzz with excitement last weekend as 53 competitors from as far as Adelaide and Bairnsdale ventured to Ararat to participate in one of fastest and longest hill climb events in Australia.

Following two days of competition, Mackrell in his V8 powered 4WD Datsun added to his 2013 KOTM title with the best over time of 37.53 seconds a track record.

Finishing a narrow second in a time of 38.86s was Andrew Webber, who overcame a split oil line to be the only other driver to break the 40-second barrier.

In his first visit to One Tree Hill, Danny Traverso rounded out the podium, with the Melbourne local hanging on to third place (41.45s) after only competing on the Saturday.

The event also had plenty of Ararat representation with a number of locals featuring in the section placings, including Stacy Phillips (second place 1601-2000cc Sports Sedans and the weekend's fastest woman), Jeremy Leslie (second place 3001cc and over sports sedans), Andrew Calvert (second place 1601cc-2000cc Road Registered) and Brad Bond (second place 3001cc and over Road Registered).

At the end of Saturday's competitive runs the Ararat Car Club invited four drivers to compete in the 'Bucket' Challenge a race to the top of the hill in a 1.3l Ford Meteor sedan to settle the argument on who is the better driver.

After sorting out an order Glenn Latter set a time of 1.08.66 seconds, which Mick Argoon (1.10.58) couldn't match. Steve Grinstead was next to go, but had gear selection issues to post a time of 1.16.43s.

Mackrell was the last driver and everybody was fixed intently on the timing display, which stopped on 1.08.08, giving him bragging rights as the fastest driver at One Tree Hill.

Sunday the invited drivers wanted to have a rematch and pulled together to tune the motor, adjust tyre pressures, check oil and water levels and refuel (with special fuel).

The order was reversed with Mackrell starting first and posting 1.05.36s, letting the rest of the competition know he meant business.

Grinstead followed and posted 1.05.46s, just seven hundredths of a second behind.

Mick Argoon was third and stopped the clock at 1.06.04, with Latter determined to better that.

Everybody was silent watching the timing display and cheered loudly when it stopped at 1.05.83, but unfortunately for Latter it wasn't quick enough to beat Mackrell, rounding out a successful weekend for the driver.

Following the two days of racing, points were tallied with the Peter Hall Memorial State of Origin Challenge going to South Australia.

The other highlight of the weekend came on Saturday when one of the event's long time sponsors Wally Boyd from Boyd's Body Works had the rare opportunity to ride in the KOTM winning car with track record holder Mackrell behind the wheel.

The Ararat Car Club's next event will be on the Australia Day long weekend at One Tree Hill where it will host round one of the 2015 Victorian Hill Climb Championship.