Since this race is a ultimate demonstration of handling and car control, this year is the 100th running of the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. The race has certainly evolved over the years as it changed from dirt to asphalt, run what ya brung to purpose built cars and the constant evolution of classes from a few dozen to the current format of 5 classes plus exhibition and the need to be invited to participate.

This year's event has Jess Neal and his '71 Cuda returning for the century mark run. Kevin Wesley is in town with a '21 Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye widebody both in the exhibition class. Other mopars are limited to Ray Guerrero in an '08 Viper.

Other vintage rides are Aaron Kaufman in a '49 Ford F1, Ken Block in what is claimed as a '66 BBI Porsche 911 Hoonipigesus (I've seen conflicting entries saying '66 and '96. IMO, this is late model, 1500 hp, radical car), Tommy Boileau in his '67 Camaro (there is always a Camaro in there) Chris Strauch in a '70 Porsche 914, and a few early '80s Audi Quattros, if you want to call them vintage.

This year's roster is set with 73 entries in 6 classes. Gone are the motorcycles classes after multiple deaths over the last few years. Details on teh event along with driver profiles can be found at the event website: https://ppihc.org/

I missed the tech inspection today at the World Arena, so didn't get to see any of them in person and have no photos to share. I've seen some videos of Ken Block testing the Hoonipigesus at a local road track with its teething problems. Jess Neal was invited to display at the PPIHCA Museum here in town a couple of weeks ago. Videos of his first races back when the road was dirt are easily found on the net. The rest of this week will consist of practice on various sections. I hope to catch Fan Fest downtown this Friday night, which is a fun time, but the top runners probably won' have their cars out for display.

With that, I'll leave you all with a link to a compilation of some guys who overestimated road conditions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgbbGUwzy2c&t=76s
...and a non-timed, display run of Ken Block's Hoonicorn a few year back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg6L_7qLIEQ

JESS -- You are wished the BEST of LUCK and with your skill and experience... hoping you place HIGH or better yet WIN the CLASS!

Mopar Mitch

I'm wishing him the best. Jess is going to have a tough time this year because of the range of cars in the exhibition class. His times form today's practice on the upper section above timberline:
Exhibition - Jess Neal - #426 -1971 Plymouth Cuda - best time - 3:39.197 - Run 1- 0.00, Run 2 - 4:02.516, Run 3- 4:00.748, Run 4 - 3:39.197
Exhibition - Kevin Wesley - #222 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody best time - 3:00.783, Run 1 - 0.00, Run 2 - 3:03.730, Run 3 - 3:00.783, Run 4 - 0.00

For comparison in the middle section;
Pikes Peak Open - Rhys Millen - #67 2016 E-Motion Porsche GT3R TT - Best time -2:26.411, Run 1 - 0.00, Run 2 - 2:30.615 Run 3 - 2:28.370, Run 4 - 0.00, Run 5 - 2:26.411, Run 6 - 0.00
Open Wheel - Paul Dallenbach - #98 2020 Sierra Alpha - Best time - 2:46.953, Run 1 - 0.00, Run 2 - 2:55.166, Run 3 - 3:02.703, Run 4 - 0.00, Run 5 - 0.00, Run 6 - 2:46.953


Here is some freelance footage of testing done two weeks ago in an early session. Testing is done in 3-4 mile sections, assigned by class. Then they rotate you through each section each day. This gives a good view of the range of vehicles as well as showing a perspective of what its like to watch the race below tree-line. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05N3I2BXlDg

Slick, pro production footage of BMW team practice yesterday. They do have some views of their pushrod suspension in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qv0KsIL1xU

Another day of practice on the books. Jess and Kevin were on the lower section today.

Exhibition Jess Neal #426 1971 Plymouth Cuda best run-5:03.154 run 1- 0.00 run 2- 5:22.026 run 3-5:11.505 run 4-5:03.154
Exhibition Kevin Wesley #222 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody best run-4:29.489 run 1-0.00 run 2 - 4:35.290 run 3 - 4:30.530 run 4 - 4:29.4

Some more videos

Freelance 2nd day early practice ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SQuT6U8wRc

Scott Birdsall and Aaron Kaufman diesel practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ9mNRoV288

Randy Pobst and his Tesla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b0-ez8Gffo

Thursdays practice and qualifying for Jess and Kevin was on the lower section. Thursday's times:

Exhibition Jess Neal #426 1971 Plymouth Cuda best time-3:17.856, Run 1 0.00, Run 2- 3:38.894, Run 3- 3:25.550 Run 4-3:19.578, Run 5-0.00, Run 6- 3:17.856, Run 7-0.00

Exhibition Kevin Wesley #222 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody Best time-2:49.100, Run 1 0.00, Run 2- 2:52.053, Run 3-2:50.896, Run 4 -0.00, Run 5 -0.00, Run 6- 2:49.100, Run 7 -0.00

Found video of Jess' run on the lower section for qualifying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgUfqzx45yo

TC -- T/Anks for keeping us updated... and for the videos!!!

Wish I could have made it out there Jess. Kick-Ass and stay safe!

All practice and qualifying is done, everyone gets today off, tomorrow is set. Unfortunately, a low pressure weather system is moving into the area. Temps are down a bit today and they are expecting Sunday to be 30* below normal with the chance of 1-2" of snow above timberline tomorrow. If this happens, then it will be a shortened race tomorrow. Whether they end at Glen Cove or Devils Playground will depend on conditions.

Looks like Jess skipped Friday's practice. He was on display downtown at Fanfest Friday night signing plenty of cards, hats and shirts.

Kevin did practice Friday but I didn't see him downtown. He only made a single run on the upper third. Time was 2:54.372

Since they are both in exhibition, they run early tomorrow morning. Whether this is good or bad depends on road conditions. Typically, early runs are best to avoid afternoon thunderstorms, but if we get snow tonight, the road will be cold and wet and not have very good grip.

Top time in qualifying was posted by Robin Schutte in an unlimited car, naturally. Video of that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3VdZXXlwP0

Randy Pobst was fighting some rear suspension porpoising and slid it off the road and into some rocks. Damaged the splitter, but that's all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hfzNuWRAcw (I'm curious how tough driving that transporter to the top was since there is a 26' limit on trailer length)

Did find someone who posted some video footage from Fanfest. They obviously got there early enough to miss the large crowds as it was shoulder to shoulder by the time I arrived. They show quite a few cars but probably only captured 50% of the competition vehicles there. Keep your eyes peeled for the half track, snow ski, Porsche 356 in this ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CH9rjPCrSU

100th edition is over and on the books.

Conditions were cold, cloudy with fog over most the course and intermittent sun in the middle. Starting line temps were 40s, summit was in the teens. Most cars needed extra time to put heat in the engines at the start.

Unofficial results, top ten. Interesting thing about this years results are the top positions are predominately different class vehicles. Typically the top spots are are locked down by the unlimited class cars. To see a range of classes within a second of each other at the top of the board is pretty amazing.
P No CLS PIC Name Best Time AvgSpeedSection 1Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Nat Chassis
1 49 Unlimited 1 Robin Shute 10:09.525 70.875 1:42.183 2:11.517 2:46.242 3:29.583 UK 2018 Wolf TSC-FS
2 000 Exhibition 1 David Donner 10:34.053 68.133 2:00.714 2:22.039 2:54.845 3:16.455 USA 2022 Porsche Turbo S
3 59 Time Attack 1 1 David Donohue 10:35.830 67.943 1:55.890 2:26.133 2:58.369 3:15.438 USA 2019 Porsche GT2 RS Clubsport
4 18 Open Wheel 1 Codie Vahsholtz 10:38.259 67.684 1:48.260 2:19.331 3:02.246 3:28.422 USA 2013 Ford Open
5 72 Unlimited 2 Derek Boyd 10:43.511 67.132 1:49.689 2:30.585 3:07.915 3:15.322 USA 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X
6 67 PP Open 1 Rhys Millen 10:52.664 66.190 1:53.129 2:26.613 3:04.308 3:28.614 USA 2016 E-Motion Porsche GT3R TT
7 11 Time Attack 1 2 Jeff Zwart 10:58.928 65.561 1:54.306 2:29.108 3:04.816 3:30.698 USA 2019 Porsche 935-19
8 1 Unlimited 3 Rod Millen 11:06.152 64.850 1:52.254 2:27.573 3:00.578 3:45.747 NZL 1998 Toyota Tacoma
9 89 Exhibition 2 Daijiro Yoshihara 11:06.205 64.845 2:02.797 2:31.325 3:07.084 3:24.999 JPN 2018 Tesla Model 3
10 98 Open Wheel 2 Paul Dallenbach 11:06.387 64.827 1:53.494 2:27.278 3:01.380 3:44.235 USA 2020 Sierra Alpha

Kevin and Jess
29 222 Exhibition 5 Kevin Wesley 11:50.848 60.772 2:13.924 2:43.212 3:18.480 3:35.232 USA 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody
63 426 Exhibition 14 Jess Neal 15:36.860 46.11163 3:13.500 4:13.667 3:57.828 4:11.865 USA 1971 Plymouth Cuda

Complete listing here: https://livetiming.net/ppihc/


Found out there was live streaming available Sunday morning. Did watch some of the race on Mobile 1s Facebook link. Their live streaming coverage was fair. This is a tough race to cover. They had 7 cameras running most of the broadcast, but this was down from the 12 they had planned. Weather on the mountains impacts everybody, not just cars.

Cool stories of the week- Ralph Murdock, who first raced up The Peak in the 60s, returned for the 100th running at age 82, placing 11th in class. At the other end of the spectrum, 19 year old Loni Unser, daughter of Johnny, was on The Peak for her rookie year and is the fourth generation of Unser to compete on Pikes Peak, finishing 2nd in her class.