by Zach Doell
Ask any racing fan and they’ll tell you that Colorado’s Pikes Peak has a bit more to offer than just picturesque views. Every summer, the mountain sees all sorts of vehicles imaginable carving their way up the range’s 12.42 mile road course, bending through 156 turns, sprinting next to sheer cliffs, and ascending nearly 5,000 feet into the sky.
But it hasn’t always been that way. Back in the early 1900s, the only way to get up to the summit was to take a carriage path. The first automobile to make the climb was a two-cylinder Locomobile Steamer driven by two men from Denver. Unsurprisingly, the trip took over nine hours and required more than a little pushing.



In 1915, Spencer Penrose, a major player from Colorado Springs, had realized the tourist potential of the mountain and finished converting the constricted carriage road into the Pikes Peak Highway. The first official event was held the following year on August 10-12, 1916.
Rea Lentz, a 22-year old hailing from Washington won the inaugural race in his Romano Demon Special (pictured above) with a winning time of 20 minutes 55.6 seconds. The entry fee was between $25 and $50, and overall winner in each class could take home up to $2000. However, the event would not be held again until 1920 due to the advent of World War I.
In the early days, mechanics frequently rode along with drivers due to the many breakdowns that occurred on the sprint up the mountain. These days, the course is fully paved (since 2012) and drivers go-it-alone, but the challenges of the mountain remain ever-present. Thunderstorms, fog, hail, you name it – it could be happening at the summit.

Nearly a century has passed since the first race and over the years quite a few notable names have been scribbled on the timesheets, including Eddie Rickenbacker (WWI flying ace), Bobby Unser (three-time Indy 500 winner), Mario Andretti (Formula 1 champion), as well as Rod and Rhys Millen.

Sebastien Loeb achieved the course record – a staggering 8:13.878 – last year in a specially-built Peugeot 208 T16. You can tune-in this weekend via our live stream of the event on BoldRide.com to see who becomes the 2014 King of the Mountain.

 

71 Plymouth Hemi at Pikes Peak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmgIrveVOT4

 

Links tying some racing history together:

see last post in thread

 

By Stephen Edelstein
There are fewer better combinations of car and driver than Jeff Zwart and the Porsche 911. The former Porsche ad man and accomplished racer has an intimate relationship with this car.



He learned to drive in his father's 901, and has been driving 911 variants all over the world ever since, as well as selling them through his coordination of Porsche advertising campaigns.
Specifically, Zwart tends to express his love for the 911 by thrashing race-prepped examples of it at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. He's won his class at the event seven times and, to the benefit of anyone with access to Youtube, he sometimes brings a camera on board.


This year was no different. Zwart brought a specially-prepared Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to Pikes Peak, with 700 horsepower and 700 pound-feet of torque. A fuel pump failure early on caused problems, but Zwart puts in a spirited effort nonetheless. The Porsche spits fire and sucks in air like Superman preparing to cool off Mount Vesuvius.
Enjoy the experience and prepare for next year, when Zwart will undoubtedly be back at Pikes Peak with a 911 for another impressive performance.

 

Eweuuuuuu.......he's got holes in the bumper and a rear wing........he's a ricer.....
As usual, the dumbasses are wrong....

Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzfThRiU_Bs#t=15

 

...and look at the time he got!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOEX31kq2So

 

Eweeeuuu......you can't race with an automatic transmission.
Once again the dumbasses are wrong. He set a record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y20CLumT2Sg

 

Electric Superbike wins Pikes Peak
https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/g...html#post93659

 

An Electrifying Result at Pike’s Peak By Bob Marlow
The annual “Race to the Clouds,” the Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb, experienced a paradigm shift on June 28 as Rhys Millen became the first driver to win the event with an electric-powered car. In the process he set a new electric vehicle record time of nine minutes, 7.222 seconds.

The overall course record of 8:13.878 was set in 2013 by Sebastian Loeb in an internal-combustion racer.
Without intending a pun, the ascent of battery power was underscored by a 9:32.401 run to second place overall by Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima in another electric machine.
If the hum of electric cars is not your thing, there was still plenty of thunder on the mountain. Paul Dallenbach shattered the open-wheel record with a 9:36.496 time, he did so using an old school, battered looking, naturally aspirated, scoop-winged creation. In the Unlimited class, which historically has topped the time sheet, Dominic Dobson recorded a best time of 10:15.289. On two wheels Jeffrey Tigert was the fastest bike at 10:02.735.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y3OFf0ArU
Falken Tires
Ride on the bumper of a screaming 910hp, Twin-Turbo, All-wheel Drive, 150 mph Suzuki SX4 as it races up one of the world's most dangerous hills. An attempt by the "Monster" to break his own record of 10:01:41...

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (June 29, 2010) -- For the fifth consecutive time, Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima combined experience, skill and Falken Tires to claim overall victory in the 88th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Although he did not set a new Pikes Peak record, one day before his 60th birthday, Tajima continues to hold the current overall record for reaching the peak, beating hill climb veterans Paul Dallenbach and Rhys Millen in the Unlimited Class. He drove his new 910-hp Monster Sport Suzuki SX4 Hill Climb Special on Falken WildPeak A/T tires, the powerful new line of all-terrain, all-season tires Falken launched this past April.

Following exhaustive tests in a Japanese wind tunnel facility, Monster's 2010 Pikes Peak race car underwent extensive aerodynamic changes to better adapt to the modified road surface on the race to the clouds, which assumed a smoother tarmac and less gravel than last year. Thinning air ascending the mountain robs most motors of their power by 30 or more percent, but the increase in horsepower over last year's race car helped push the driver forward.