Hot Rod to contest 2016 Pikes Peak Hill Climb in a Viper ACR

This is the primary event I will be contesting in 2016. Lot's of planning and prep to still be completed, but it's nice to finally get the official announcement released.

Good luck, have fun. Watch out for goats.

someday I'll own one...someday

Will you be in the Viper or the Dart?

Congrats Kevin and good luck. What an opportunity.

Viper, the Dart is hold until this event is completed.

I will have some test days in MI with the Viper, so I might get the Dart out, but time is not on my side at the moment.

Very cool that they are putting a cage in the Viper! That thing is so awesome!
Good luck and be safe up there!

Time attack, huh. Tough class. Lots of factory money spent in that class by your competitors.

Good Luck!

Can you be my mentor so that one day I can drive just like you?

If nothing happens with the engine program it will run TA2, where it is currently entered. If the engine program pans out, we'll switch to TA1 and throw some more modifications at it. Primarily weight, wheels and trans changes. Suspension and aero will remain the same regardless of the class we end up running.

Power is obviously the enemy of any NA motor at altitude, but there is no plan for a blower or turbos at this time.

Thrilled for you man! Go get em!

Great stuff! I'll be watching!

Congrats! Be safe and show em how its done!

Kevin - best of luck to you... you'll want to hook up with Jess Neal as he's run it many times before with his '71 Cuda.... Jess lives near there.

The time is rapidly approaching for the 100th running of the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. At the century mark, Pikes Peak is second only to the Indy 500 as the oldest running race in the United States.

The weeks activities kicked off this weekend with time attack, half mile drag racing at the old COS airport. Tech inspections begin Monday with practice through the week. Fanfest is Friday night and races start at the butt crack of dawn on June 26th.

Looking though this years competitor list, it has a few familiar faces and some somewhat odd entries.

In unlimited electric, Rhys Millen and Monster Tajima are back. Local favorites Clint Vasholtz and the Wood family are running in the open wheel division.

Of interest to readers on here, Aaron Kaufman is back with his '63 Falcon, and David Meyer running a'96 S10, both in the open division. Also in open,Mike Ryan and his 2008 Freightliner.

The vintage division is thin again this year with only three entries - Chris Lennon and his '73 911, Ralph Murdock and his '70 Camaro, and 2012 Champion Jess Neal is back with his '71 Cuda.

Surprisingly, in the time attack classes, normally dominated by the factories, are some more older types of cars. In Time Attack 1, David Haski is bringing out a '83 Quattro, Tim Hardy is in an '87 BMW, Miko Katja of Finland is bringing his '79 Toyota Starlet, and William Kitchens is running an '84 Honda CRX.

Time Attack 2 is a bit thinner this year. Of course Kevin Wesley is running the 2016 Viper ACR Hot Rod Special. Stephanie Reeves also in a '16 Viper ACR, Kash Singh is in a '16 Mustang, Nick Robinson is in a '17 NSX, Furnio Nutahara is in a '15 Toyota GT86, and rounding out the class in the oldest vehicle is Jeff Denmeade in an '06 Evo.

The unlimited class brings a variety of vehicles from this century as well as drivers from all over the world including Paul Dallenbach, Romain Dumas, Richard Boake, Tony Quinn, and Rodney Tu.

Should be interesting to see the cars, drivers, times, and festivities around this years event.

Any feedback on how the race has changed now that the road is paved all the way up? For those who may not be aware, the top half of the road used to be gravel so guys would drift around the turns like WRC drivers. with no guard rails and extreme drop offs.

Changes are similar to the differences you see between a dirt or asphalt oval. High profile, long travel suspension with soft springs are transitioning to lower ride heights with a great emphasis on aero properties. I'd suspect we will see some future modifications to the rules in the aero aspects.

Speeds are also up and records will fall. Speeds are up significantly in some areas and the race promoters have chosen to create designated viewing areas for spectators. No longer is the mountain a free for all on race day and all spectators must be in these designated viewing areas.

Practice June 21, bottom section:

Kevin was running 4:24:7s pretty consistently. Best time of 4:24:48. This is about mid pack of all classes combined. Electrics are in the 3:45:xx range.
Jess Neal did not participate.


Practice June 22, top section:

Kevin's first run was a 3:01:xx. Subsequent runs dropped to 2:55:xx. First run jitters, no doubt as this is all above timberline. Fastest cars are 2:30:xx and less.
Jess Neal was turning 3:30:xx to 3:17:xx. fastest times in vintage.


Practice June 23, combined qualifying, bottom section:

Kevin qualified 15th overall and 1st in Time Attack 2 with a best time of 4:17:537. Not bad considering the range of drivers, vehicles, and experience.
Jess Neal qualified 52nd overall and 2nd in vintage with a 5:04:052. Missing the first days practice on the lower section hurt here.


Practice June 24, combined qualifying, mid section:

Kevin was 4th in TA2 qualifying today at 3:07:86. Top spot was 2:45:72. This is a technical section of the course where experience on the mountain really is a big advantage.
Jess was first in vintage with 3:01:50.

Race is in the books.

Overall win goes to Romain Dumas in the unlimited class at 8:51:445.

Kevin finished 23rd overall, and 2nd in class at 10:39.964. Class win was Nick Robertson in the 2017 Acura NXS at 10:28.820.

Jess Neal wins vintage class for his second championship, one on dirt before paving was complete and one on asphalt. 47th place overall . Winning time was 10:39.964.

Aaron Kaufman running the Gas Monkey Garage Falcon in Pikes Peak Open class finished 67th overall, 5th in class at 12:15.484.

18 cars failed to post times on race day. Among them was Ralph Murdock in his '70 Camaro.

More results can be found here if you want to browse them: http://ppihc.livetiming.net/ppihc/

Thanks for the report! Hopefully Kevin checks in and gives us his view on driving this event.