Discussion: New record for Pikes Peak Hillclimb

Because many of us have driven up Pikes Peak while orienteering in Colorado (and some AP'ers have even run up), I thought others might enjoy this short video of Porsche setting a new record: http://vimeo.com/13171794

I for one did not drive that fast next to those sheer drop offs!

That don't impress me much. I drive much faster than that in my ordinary pickup going to the local Tim Hortons.

Well sure. If there was a Tim Hortons up top he most certainly would have gone much faster.

Wow, and that's a 2WD car, too!

I for one did not drive that fast next to those sheer drop offs!

He's wearing a helmet. It's ok.

I only tried to drive that fast downhill, but my drive was interrupted by overheated breaks half way down the hill, so we were forced to observe climbers attacking some cliff.

looks like a fun activity...to watch....from the edge of the road.

Man, I miss Tim Hortons.

When Joe, Eddie and I recently drove the Mt. Spokane Hillclimb Joe was hanging on, white-knuckled, all the way up!

from the edge of the road

Probably the inside of a curve would be a preferred spot.

There isn't a Tim Hortons on top, but there is a donut shop.

Someone lend me a GT3, I'll give that a shot. But seriously - that's the access road for an O map? I'm moving to Colorado asap.

kupack - yeah, it's an ass-heavy Porsche, too. Notice how he didn't dare get it sideways on the gravel turns? :)

Sounds cool, but (and call me boring) I still think this this is the only way to climb Pikes Peak.

look, all that is pretty good fun, I must admit. Seeing a Porsche skuttle its way up the mountain is great and so is running it too. However, nothing beats the film that started it all:
http://vimeo.com/10711424
In a time of 10:47, almost 1 minute quicker, 20 years ago and with much fewer sections of sealed bitumen roads.

....and with AWD.

Plus Vatanen loses 4:21 in coolness penalties for that ludicrous rear wing.

I love that they gave him that rear wing, but didn't give him a sun visor. Haha!

Not only is the Peugot AWD, but it's also not production-based. (The Porsche has real headlamps, the Peugot has stickers.)

I really liked both videos, though. Looks like a lot of fun.

Watch out for another speedy ascent on August 21st when Marc defends his title at the World long distance uphill running championships :-)

Y'know with these car things, in addition to all the obvious insanity, I figure your ears must be popping like crazy, and with this kind of altitude, you're probably feeling faint as you get near the end (above 12000 feet I generally feel like crap, and not in any condition to be doing critical maneuvers behind the wheel of a car).

They have Tim Hortons in Wyoming? Awesome.

I recollect I was sittin outside a perfectly regular Tim Hortons once, not paying any particular attention or nothin, when out of the complete blue what looked to be a whole entire Wadd squad appeared and started troupin into that perfectly regular Tim Hortons. So I got up, followed them in, and it really was the whole entire Wadd squad in that perfectly regular Tim Hortons, with the Hammer hisself leadin the procession! I don't know who was more surprised, me or the wait staff. Once I was inside, I wasn't sure what to do, but I was sure I wanted to fit in, just in case there were any deputies from Arizona in there, lookin for illegals without their papers to arrest and throw into some damn tent prison in the bakin sun, so I did what the Wadd squad did, and ordered. I ordered me two blueberry muffins, and they were mighty fine! So fine!

The whole episode was so extraordinary; it was like we were living straight out of a Van Morrison song.

That's a true story, by the way.

There's a Van Morrison song about Tim Hortons?

Oooooo! That Peugot video rocks! I like the bug splat on the camera lens. There is a nice long bit where the road seems to just go off into the sky and the driver has to trust that more road will be there.

Now that we're talking about cars, I'm wondering if anyone here has been a navigator for a rally race?

Were those video guys driving with navigators?

I doubt it, since that was just a hill climb race, and not a rally race.

Some of the newbies (to Pikes Peak) do. I think Kenneth Ericsson drove with a navigator on this first few attempts so that he could learn the route quicker.

A couple of orienteers round here drove rallies in an earlier life. In those days o was described in the media as "like rallying on foot". Although there are some doubters, we have made sufficient impact in public recognition that rallying has been described as "like orienteering in a car".

I've navigated to 1st (with my wife (then girlfriend) Juliet driving) and 3rd (with a stranger driving) in the Helix Mini Cup, a Philly area road rally. Pretty casual, and more about the BBQ at the end though. The whole time I was thinking "I wish I were driving". It would probably be different on a 2 day cross country or something.

It is true swampfox was in a timmies. Then when he left with his muffins peter Gagarin arrived. Two of the OUSA's living legends at the same
Tim's within minutes. No wonder the US won the BK cup they have learned our secret.

They have Arizona in Canada? Scary.