The 80s were a magnificent time for the motoring enthusiast with Group B and C – manic horsepowers, giant wings for downforce and advertising surface. You could smoke Marlboro Lights and be cool as your favorite driver wore the decal of it on his/her racing suit and the car, as opposed to today’s standards – being all healthy, environmentally friendly and politically correct. Power was not under control but rather out of it. Soon Group B and C were folded in the mid-80s and mid-90s respectively and such questions came into focus as traction, aerodynamics, efficiency, emission and ‘the’ message as the 21st century set in. The wind of change seemed to have missed one place on Earth, though. That is Pikes Peak, Colorado.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is one of the oldest races in the United States with its first race held in 1916. That puts it only five years younger than the Indy 500 and twelve years after the first Vanderbilt Cup. A 12 and a half-mile race into the clouds with 156 turns altogether, running on tarmac and gravel, drawing motoring enthusiasts from all around the world, privateers and major manufacturers alike. The reason is quite simple: it has an overly magnificent ‘unlimited’ class.
Just a brief comparison of motoring evolution: in 1916 the winning time for the event was 20:55.40. The current record, set in 2007 is 10:01.408. On the 26th of June, the question is whether someone breaks the 10-minute limit.
Until the arrival of the banned Group B cars, it was a race of virtually dirt-road spec. Indy cars with mid engines, rear-wheel drive. Team Audi and Peugeot made it to clear, that the future of competitive advantage lay in the all-wheel drive system at a race like this. Since then it has become a generic formula for all competitors wishing to be the King of the Hill, and since then the unlimited class has been dominated by silhouette races bearing 1000bhp with their multi-turbocharged, nitro-injected monstrous little four-bangers for weight saving.
As one leaves the start line, races forward the tarmac road through pine trees with yet fast bends and corners. Then the paved surface disappears with only the dirt and gravel roads and remaining, with the asphalt popping up here and there. The trees then becoming smaller and smaller as the route is escalating up the mountain and corners start becoming slower and bendier. A few miles into the course only bushes remain and some more pines as a function of reminder of your starting point. Then all vegetation disappears and you are left with the dirt, the rocks and the wall on one side the chasm on the other. Fans are encouraged by the elevation and you can find them even in the late-June snow patches. The engine is losing power rapidly as air pressure is decreasing by every yard the race cars taking vertically. That’s when nitro-injection is kicked in by old-school competitors after corner exits before the few remaining longer straights. Then you meet the swirling finish curve, only to arrive at the checkered flag, ten minutes into the race.
The very last haven for petrol-junkies who are eager to see flames shooting out of exhaust pipes, generated by engines with numbers inexplicable to ordinary people, going sideways on the straight asphalt, the driver struggling with the immense amount of power right behind his or her back.
I once titled the event as the number one form of motor racing of all. You will be quite sure about this once you type the words ‘pikes peak’ into the search field. The event is on 26th, June this year, clashing with the Grand Prix of Europe in Valencia and the Nürburgring 24 Hours. You watched the videos now. Any questions what to choose next weekend?
