In the beautiful Rocky Mountains, where cliffs higher than Lindsay Lohan tower over tight corners and hippies come to hug trees, there's something very special that happens in July every year-the pinnacle of racing madness.
Motorsport can be a bit of a crazy pastime at the best of times, especially when drivers get to the sharp end-six second passes, high-end drifting and let's not forget the borderline insane top fuel guys.
But one of America's longest motorsport spectaculars is the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado Springs, which is by far the most hardcore. An impressive 85 years running, it's become a world-renowned icon, attracting some of the best dirt drivers that want to fire themselves to the thinner part of the atmosphere where horsepower is starved and, as a result, handling realistically needs to be a known quantity. And when there's 12.4 miles of road split between cliffs, tarmac, dirt, and a 156-turn course, it takes a special blend of grunt, fearlessness and experience.
There were some big names in the field in 2007-including Mike Ryan in his massive Freightliner truck, doing what only the incredibly brave would in a big rig. Motocross personality Mickey Diamond did his best on a BMW bike, but failed to take out the hard-fought class that runs side by side up the Peak, broadsliding all the way. Perhaps the most spectacular off in the event was drift icon Ken Gushi in his Open Class Subaru WRX STi, spearing off into the trees at very high speeds on the infamous Engineers Corner.
There was, however, a genuine hillclimb hero on the mountain, as he is most years. Japan's Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima delivers a power-hungry cocktail annually, and with real force. This year his lightweight Suzuki Sport XL7 Hillclimb Special was toting a twin turbo 3.6 liter V6 with variable valve timing (VVT) producing a huge 1007ps and 102kg-m of torque. It also uses its massive rear wing, deep front splitter to increase the downforce to cope with the uber smooth new asphalt sections plus a top secret hydraulically controlled AWD system to help with the tricky transitions back to the loose dirt sections. Monster was chasing a goal set by dirt racing legend Rod Millen in his 1,000-horsepower Toyota Celica-it's held firm for a massive 13 years, since 1994-and this year Tajima knew he had the package to break the record.
With the severely potent, purpose-built XL7 he pushed hard from the 9,420 ft. start line to the 14,110 ft. checkered flag in an awesome 10:01:408, just shy of the all-important 10-minute barrier, but taking out Millen's 10:04.06 outright record in the process. "It just means I have to come back next year to break 10 minutes," he joked with us after the race; his massive smile is very hard to miss.
But the 57-year-old Suzuki Sport boss said that the dirt sections of the road were difficult this year after rain a couple of days before the event. "To finish, yes, of course I'm happy. One more second and I have my goal," he says. "My thinking is that I can run nine minutes and 59 seconds here. I'm honest-with the conditions here today, it's a very slippery run but more traction was needed for under 10 minutes."
Drifter Rhys Millen was also pushing very hard in his Pontiac Solstice GXP drift car. "We thought that with my 14 years experience running up the mountain, the new drift car, the Solstice, had the perfect package for the new Time Attack class," he says. "It's got the power and the torque." Very keen to post a time that would set a solid record for the new class, Millen in the 550hp 2.4 liter, ECOTEC-engined, Pontiac, Millen took out his class to notch up his seventh win at Pikes Peak.
By Matt Greenop
Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!