I think most on here would appreciate this video. I'm not a "little" engine fan, but this little thing sounds wicked. The guy's an awesome driver, if he slips up once, it won't be pretty. The Ken Block reference is just to snag eyes lol...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJsHlugRls4

A long time ago I belonged to a rally club and served as a check point car on the Olympus rally that was run through the Gifford Pinchot national forest in southwest Washington. When the last of the rallyists had passed the other check point cars collected us and we "swept" the course. Of course, the leader was trying to show his skills and challenged us to keep up!!! When we finally got out to I-5 on our way home, it seemed that at 70mph I could get out of the car and run faster than that. Just shows you what 2 hours of driving fast on gravel roads can do to your senses. Anyone that can drive that fast on a mountain gravel road course has my utmost respect.

it's always cool to watch the hill climb, seeing them run through devil's playground, the switch backs, etc. And as a descendant of Zebulan Pike, and having spent 5 years in C-springs, the mountain will always holds a special place in my heart.


Driven to the top several times...I tried to do that once when I drove up...but I got yelled at.




It'll never be the same now that the road is paved all the way to the top. what's next? guard rails? I haven't been to the peak since they've paved it.

And driver is... ofc from Finland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Vatanen

It's such a shame they're going to start paving that course.

Yes, the road is paved all the way to the summit. They have been paving 5 mile segments for the last few years, so up until now the race was actually on a combination of dirt and asphalt.

Since annoucing completion of the paving, registrations have been pouring in. The Hillclimb commitee anounced in October of last year that they had exceeded all previous early registrations and they were continuing to come in. If the registrations continue at this pace, there is talk of it becoming a two-three day race with qualifiers on Fri-Sat and the race on Sunday.

Is the change in racing surface going to change the race, yes. It is not what it was before, that is for sure. However, it may actually become more technically challenging because the paved surface is narrower than the dirt surface. Dropping a tire in the dirt on one turn in a car wth an asphalt set up could become the difference between winning and loosing. Speeds will be higher too, so judgement of distance will become critical to hitting braking and apex points.

Despite all that, there are still several other all dirt hillclimbs in Colorado if that's your thing. Granted, none are Pikes Peak, but this is how things have changed.

Are there guard rails on it now??? That would REALLY change the nature of the climb.

This stuff is so cool. I'd prefer to have a screaming V8 engine dubbed over the 4 cylinder though...

Pike's Peak in a small fast car.. Childs play!!! try this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tBHHVZEQU0

No 80's Audi Quattro, Lancia Stratois, or ford B2000 rally group(?) no care

For anyone that is interested, the PPIHC commitee has announce that they will have live streaming video this year on Red Bull TV. While it won't be start to finish coverage, they no doubt will have a host a land based cameras in select locations along with helicopter coverage.

1st and 2nd days of practice are in the books.

Sébastien Loeb is leading the charge in practice both days. http://www.autoblog.com/2013/06/25/2013-pikes-peak-hill-climb-practice-day-1/

Entries this year were limited to 150 slots. This number of applicants was achieved back in February of this year. I'd say the paving has not had a significant negative impact on interest and in fact seems to be pushing it higher than ever. Media teams from 20 nations have descended on Colorado Springs to document the 91st running of The Race To The Clouds.

The Peak has also already consumed its first piece of motorized mayhem: http://jalopnik.com/heres-whats-left-of-cody-lovelands-crashed-1000hp-pi-574109868

Here is the rs200 that went off too..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c515YLpOvAc&feature=player_embedded