=2016 King of the Mountain Winning Pikes Peak Run 10 min Super Vid>EnJoy< =
 

How the Toughest Hill Climb in Racing Got Even Harder
 

How the Toughest Hill Climb in Racing Got Even Harder

​Paving Pikes Peak Only Made the Race Deadlier:(


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BY MICHAEL FRANK


JUN 26, 2016




Racing fans know Colorado's 14,115-foot Pikes Peak for the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. What's likely less understood is how and why the road, built in 1888, only got fully paved in 2011. It has nothing to do with the race. Rather, since the Peak is one of Colorado's biggest tourist attractions—drawing a half million visitors a year to the tune of $12 a head—meant tens of thousands of cars traveling to the summit every summer, which created a lot of runoff. So in 1999 the Sierra Club brought a lawsuit against the city of Colorado Springs, the custodian of the road, saying that having it made of dirt was causing serious environmental damage. The city settled, and the paving began.

What happened next totally changed the character of the road—and the race, the second-oldest continuous contest of speed in the U.S. next to the Indianapolis 500.

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The Enthusiast Network/Getty

Mitch Snow, Director of Promotions and Legacy for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), says the craziest part about the paving project, which was completed in 2011, was that it was done haphazardly. Rather than paving from the bottom to the top, sections were paved here and there. "That nearly killed the race," Snow says, because it was impossible for racers to properly anticipate how to set up their cars. He says in 2006, the PPIHC nearly went under because so few drivers wanted to risk racing.
"Don't forget, we're not part of any other series, so it's very hard to bring a car here designed for rally or pavement, Baja or NASCAR and get the car just right." That's in part because unlike even road courses in other series, where drivers get a week's worth of practice, at Pikes Peak there are only four practice mornings, including race day, since this is a public road, owned by the US Forest Service.
Paving also forever changed the character of the race, Snow says. Yes, it got faster. But it also got more deadly.
Gravel or pavement, this is one of the highest, most challenging roads to drive in the world, let alone to race. Over 12.4 miles, the race route describes 156 turns and already starts at 9,390 feet. If you're not acclimated, it's hard to breathe. Not to mention that it's hard to keep anything that burns fuel fed enough air. As for guardrails? Pikes Peak is not a federal highway, so they are inconsistent at best.

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Andy Cross/Getty

In 1997, multi-time Pikes Peak champion Rod Millen told the Colorado weekly paper Westwordthat paving the road would be dangerous. "It'd be like running the Long Beach Grand Prix with no barriers between the track and the spectators, and as far as the average tourist goes, the gravel slows them down. It sends the correct message. From a general safety standpoint, it's better to leave it as it is."
That didn't happen.
Snow says paving the road forever changed how racers have to approach the challenge. "The dirt was consistent, it would build up in corners and slow the cars down." The pavement is narrower, he says, by as much as 20 feet in some corners, "So we've seen cars go off in places we never used to see them leave the road."
Since they can't change the surface, Snow says organizers have addressed safety.
"We have the strictest roll cage regs in motorsport ," he explains. They've had Nascar entrants they've rejected, forcing teams to go get much burlier tubing. "In Nascar they hit the wall, and maybe another car. All of that's designed to move or to let the car slide. Here you might hit a tree or a rock. That's not going to give way." The tighter regulations probably saved the life of Jeremy Foley and co-pilot Yuri Kouznetsov in 2012 when their Mitsubishi Evo

went off the track" target="_blank">went off the track

in a corner called Devil's Playground, rolling 14 times.
"They'd failed their tech inspection," before the race, Snow says. We sent them to get a better cage built, and Foley and Kouznetsov walked away from a crash that could have killed them."
Still, it's just this kind of spectacle that now sees PPIHC regaining eyeballs—and different kinds of racers.
Snow says that while it's still open to an extraordinary range of classes and vehicles, 2016 could see the continued ascendance of EVs. In fact, 2015 was the first time in the race's history that EV's took both first and second place overall. Rhys Millen won with a time of 9:07.22 in an all-electric race car built by Latvian outfit Drive eO. The single-seat PP03 weighs just 2,535 lbs. and generates 1,368 horsepower and 1,593 lb/ft of torque, giving it one of the best power-to-weight-ratios of any car on earth. Still, Millen didn't match the overall record set by Sebastien Loeb in 2013 in a Peugeot 208 rally car: 8:13.88.

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Joe Klamar/Getty

But this year might see some drivers come closer. Millen is back with a further update to his eO, called the PP100. After last year's race he said he believed he could go faster than the record time. On the internal combustion front, LPM1 Le Mans driver Romain Dumas, who holds the third fastest overall time of 9:05.80 set in 2013, is returning with a more aero version of the Norma M20 RD, the car he won in in 2014. That machine merely put out 450hp from a four-cylinder Honda power plant—but that car only weighed 1,344 lbs. The new Norma M20 RD Limited Spec-2016 gets better brakes, AWD, and more horsepower, but didn't gain any weight.
Production cars should also be interesting, as Blake Fuller, founder of a battery company called GoPuck, plans to race a modified Tesla Model S, and there will be two modified 2017 Acura NSX's in the field as well. It's worth noting that the bulk of those cars and these classes simply would't have been possible on gravel.
So the race isn't the same, but it could well be more interesting than ever. And Snow says the next evolution he'd like to see is a digitization of the road so that, Forza-style, fans could race compete on a video-game version of the same course the pros do to see just how formidable the toughest hill climb on earth really is.
From: AR Revista

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I remember racing Pikes Peak in an old video game (was it Grand Turismo 5?) and it was unpaved. It does seem foolish to pave it because now tourists or other non-professionals will probably give it a try for recreational fun when they are in the area without professionals and emergency medical crews standing by. And to be honest, I can't blame them. If I happened across a road like this in the BudChev, I'd give 'er nuts. And probably die taking a good car with me

Monte Carlo's @ the Pike
 

I've never seen this #7 Geico car. Judging by the decals on the front of the white one, I'm guessing they call it a Chevy SS. But from the front wheels back, it still looks like a 5th gen Monte Carlo like that blue one. Neat! I want him to win

Hi Brent., I found the above pictures on the web relating to Pikes Peak just two reflect that's a Chevrolet Monte Carlo has been involved in this event. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo has had many victories in many Automotive competitions and top auto shows. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo over the years and generation has proven to be one of the best-kept secrets in the Automotive world. Just ask a Monte Carlo owner and they will tell you with pride and a smile on their face. Well... Where did that come from LOL. Okay back to Pikes Peak... Has anyone ever been there? I've just seen it on TV and online. Okay who's next to keep this threat active?... Yes I think it's your turn.? See you at the finish line

Monte Carlo's >Yes, we Race + we Win...Get outa the way <
 

That was awesome! Thanks for sharing Mike.
The winning Porsche is engineered perfectly for that course.
The sound of the engine and it's quick handling remind me of a slot car.

Imagine if it were filmed in 3D.

>Thank You 4-Real<
 

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:rolleyes:
Hi Kurt and thanks for your post/feedback on this thread...:thumbsup: I enjoy feedback when it's good or bad and it lets me know `if my thread creations or posts are aiding the MCF to make it better for the majority of member's. We sure have a diverse group of auto enthusiasts 4-Sure :)