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Pike Peak International Hill Climb is one of the most hair-raising and renowned races in the world. Here’s what makes it so special.
“The Race to the Clouds”
When you think of ideal locations for a high-speed automotive race, you probably don’t envision treacherous dirt tracks snaking along the side of a mountain. And yet, the second longest running auto race in the US (Indy 500 being the oldest), the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, does just that taking racers along a 12.42-mile ribbon of road rising 4,720 ft. in elevation up to the 14,115-ft. summit of Colorado’s Pikes Peak. While most people who drive to the summit take over an hour to get there, racers make this run in around 10 minutes, for an average racing speed of 120 mph.
The Pikes Peak Hill Climb isn’t just challenging by dint of the cliffs. Despite being held in June, the altitude means mountain conditions are still cold. Footage from this week’s test runs shows snow is still on the ground. As the name “The Race to the Clouds” implies, conditions can also be misty and damp. Cold, damp, and snowy? But wait there’s more.
Most racers show up to the mountain in the preceding week to test run the course prior to competition. As all good rally drivers know, it pays to know well the course you’re going to be running. As a result, many drivers get up at the unholy hours of between two and three a.m. to prep and que up for test runs. Sleep deprivation is just another of the many challenges Pikes Peak racers contend with. Some racers arrive in Colorado weeks in advance to acclimatize to the thinner air. The unique challenges and stunning vistas of Pike Peak make its eponymous Hill Climb one of the year’s most singular racing events.
Origins
Pikes Peak gets its name from Zebulon Pike, an American explorer sent to survey the lands of the Louisiana Purchase by Thomas Jefferson. Pike arrived at the mountain in November of 1806. Trudging through waist-deep snow, Pike declared the mountain unscalable. Of course, the mountain would indeed be scaled and in less than 100 years, there was a dirt track leading all the way to the summit. The first car to reach the top of Pikes Peak was a steam car in 1901.
A few years later, entrepreneur Spencer Penrose and his business partner Charles Tutt had the rudimentary road finished into the Pikes Peak highway in 1915. Why? Penrose was building the Broadmoor Hotel. To publicize the project, he organized the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1916. The inaugural winner was Rea Lentz driving a Romeo Special in a time of 20:55.60. The Broadmoor Hotel opened in 1918 and continues to help sponsor the race to this day.
Race Records
The current Pikes Peak Hill Climb record is held by Romain Dumas with a time of 7:57.148 run in a Volkswagen ID. R EV (this is also the record for an all-wheel drive vehicle) set in 2018. Indeed, there are dozens of different racing records from dozens of distinct categories.
A sampling of the current records reveals a wide assortment of vehicles that have raced at Pikes Peak over the decades. From the alternative fuel category, we have a propane powered Shelby Cobra replica. From the Big Rig single axle category, a 2005 Freightliner with an impressive time of 12:43. The Rocky Mountains Vintage Racers Modified category record holder is a 1949 Cadillac 62 coupe (12:26).
The current production car record is held by a 2019 Bentley Continental GT driven by Rhys Millen (10:18.48). The motorcycle record is 9:44.86 held by Rennie Scaysbrook riding a 2018 Aprilla Tuono V4 1100.
Sections of the race had long alternated between paved and gravel sections. Some of the race’s most infamous sections featured broad curving gravel tracks terminating in sheer cliff with no guard rail. (And you thought driving rally cross at unnerving speeds through the dense arboreal forests of Finland was nutty.) The entire run of Pikes Peak was finally fully paved in 2011.
This Year’s Race
This year’s race was the 101st running of the Pike Peak International Hill Climb. The race saw previous three-time winner Robin Shute of the UK take a fourth overall title with a time of 8:40.08 driving his 2018 Wolf TSC-FS. Clear weather helped Shute best last year’s winning time of 10:09.52, when racers had been hampered by wet, cloudy conditions on the mountain. The current record-holder for the fastest lap, Swiss racer Romain Dumas, took second place with a time of 8:47.68.
Lucy Block, Ken Block’s wife, made a time of 11:25.31 racing in a single seat electric buggy, dedicating her run to her late husband. Her daughter Lia also made the final run of the day, an untimed run up the mountain in her dad’s “Hoonipigasus” a 1,400-horsepower Porsche Ken had purpose built to race Pikes Peak (engine problems at the last minute had prevented Ken from racing the car in last year’s event).
And speaking of Porsches, the new Porches Cayman Clubsport division (yes, there’s a whole division of just Porsche Caymans that ran this year). Though new to Pikes Peak competition, Hayden Bradley took the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy with a time of 10:48.38.
