Pikes Peak

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/records-set-pikes-peak-climb-amid-heart-stopping-130045334.html

 

Yep...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpQtPhRDDs4[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEUrEPPABbY[/ame]

 

dayum!

somehow I think paving the road all the way up is going to be the end of this event...too fast, the cars are too "purpose built" now and we'll see this type of high-speed mayhem more often.

not that people stayed on the course when it was dirt and rock, but they crashed at a lower speed.

 

I've codriven the hillclimb twice w/ the factory Mazda effort. Its a butt-puckerer to the summit and then deep sigh of relief. Nothing else like it.

 

Now that sub 10 mins is easy-peasy (easy for me to say ) I wonder how long until they get under 9 mins.

If the source is accurate, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikes_Peak_International_Hill_Climb#Current_records, 17 years ago they were within ~ 6 secs of sub 10 mins!

I suspect several relatively big leaps towards 9 mins in the next few years as they get familiar the pavement and the technology improves but how close to 9 mins until they hit the wall (pardon the pun )?

A couple cool old photos found here, http://www.usacracing.com/ppihc/historical/history.
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The big difference this year is that its 100% paved. Not only is traction better the entire course, but now we don't a mixed-surface tire so you can really have the optimal tire the entire route. That is why several cars broke the 10 minutes and don't think all the Open or Unlimited cars got to run this year.

Faster or not, I don't like the electric cars much.

Mt Washington Hillclimb is a sketchier more scary road than Pikes Peak. Narrower w/ jumps, bumps and plenty of exposure.

 

During the time I lived in Colorado Springs I never once attended the race and I'm glad I didn't. it was horrific going to the top of Pikes peak due to the lack of air as is I could only imagine what those racers are going through.

 

Course needs armco ... I thought Americans were big on safety?

Pete

 

And so begins the pussification of hillclimbing.

After racing Pikes Peak Michelle Mouton said something like, 'If they had any balls they'd race it downhill.'

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDPKu4ydWLc[/ame]

 

Just like with mountain hiking/climbing, the dangerous park is going back down. I can't imagine the number of wrecks that would happen with speeding down a mountain compared to the vids above.

I went down Mt. Washington in one of those purpose-built ranger vans (some kind of axle/driveline mod that won't let the van accelerate downhill) and those roads are pretty narrow at some points. Would make an interesting race at least...

 

Jeremy Foley is local (Dallas), I think I might have autox with him back in 2004, you might have too Rob or ran with him at a track day at MSR or Eagles Canyon.

Man that car took a beating. Here some photos from his FB page.
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^^^ now that's the definition of "used up"!

 

That would be awesome!!!

Hell back in the '70s when I was still just a young buck the drive up the mountain was a butt-pucker ride.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTiTPAusog4[/ame]

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiIh8n1QTOk[/ame]

 

That was fantastic!!! As someone who has been to the summit of Pikes Peak and still gets chills from those memorys the racers who conquer that mountain deserve alot of respect.