Everyone who's ever been any good at rallying will eventually want to run this most difficult course. The oldest current class is the Open Wheel division which has been won by the likes of: Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Little Al, Robby Unser, and these are only the Americans. The current record holder in the unlimited class is Frenchman Sebastien Loeb in a peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak. He set the record in 2013 in just 8.13.878 minutes, besting the old one by more than 90 seconds.These are the most popular racing classes are in the car category:
- Unlimited, no form of restrictions (Pikes Peak Car)
- Open Wheel, the traditional Pikes Peak race car
- Mini Sprint, Small bore open wheeler
- Super Stock Car, traditional tube-frame stock cars
- Pro trucks
What makes this hill climb so challenging is the altitude change from the start to the finish. At the peak (14,110 ft) the partial pressure of oxygen is only about 60 % of that at sea level, so the engine needs to be tuned accordingly to run well, even though it suffers from oxygen starvation while climbing to the top. Conditions can get pretty bad too. Because of wild fires in 2012, the race was run in August and towards the end of race day, freezing rain and snow closed in on the summit, causing a race stoppage.
And as if this wasn't enough, back in the day the course was of asphalt at the bottom but as you climbed it would suddenly change to gravel, making for some incredible driving.
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| Map of the course, aka The Race to the Clouds. Almost 20 km long, 156 turns |
Originally called "El Capitan" by Spanish explorers, the mountain was renamed Pike's Peak after explorer Zebulon Pike , Jr. The Arapaho name is heey-otoyoo (meaning long mountain).
More FulTrot coverage on Pikes Peak:- Ari vs Pikes Peak, July 2, 2012
- Pikes Peak, July 17, 2012
Source: Pikes Peak Int'l Hill Climb, Wikipedia,
Photo credit: Google Earth (Pike National Forest)
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