August 2020 • Nestor Cabrera and Tony Thacker

It’s hard to believe that some of the world’s most famous races are now more than 100 years old. The first ever Grand Prix was held in France in 1906, the first Indy 500 was in 1911 and the first Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was in 1916. The Broadmoor Pikes Peak remains one of the world’s toughest events that continue to grow in popularity and international stature.

The first winner was Rea Lentz with a time of 20:55.60 minutes. To put that in perspective the current record is just 7:57.148 minutes set in 2018 by Romain Dumas driving the electric VW I.D. R—it’s the same car that holds the current record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Of course, we’re not comparing apples to apples. The track that measures 12.42 miles (19.99 km) has over 156 turns. It climbs 4,720 ft (1,440 m) from the start at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway, to the finish at 14,115 ft (4,302 m), on grades averaging 7.2%. The surface used to be gravel then a combination of gravel and pavement and then in 2002 the City of Colorado Springs began to pave the surface. By 2012 the entire course was paved.

Veteran Kiwi racer Rod Millen, who won the race five times between 1994 and 1999, predicted that paving would be the end of the race but that year saw more than 170 entries when the average is around 130. Ironically, Rod’s son Rhys Millen won the race that year in a Hyundai Genesis Coupe with a time of 9:46.164—much faster than his dad’s best of 10:04.540 in a Toyota Tacoma.

Times for the Overall Winners have consistently dropped until 2019 when Brit Robin Shute won in a 2018 Wolf TSC-Honda with a rather pedestrian 9:12.476 compared to Dumas’ 7:57.148. There should be no denying Shute’s achievement though as he and his team had no factory support, bought their own car and worked together out of a small home garage. It was a magnificent, old school effort that got them a place in the record books.

What makes Pikes Peak so interesting is the change in elevation, the change in the weather and the variety of cars competing in the six classes:  Exhibition, Open Wheel, Pikes Peak Open, Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama, Time Attack 1 and Unlimited Division. The oldest car is a 1949 Ford F1 entered by Scott Birdsall. There’s a 1972 Datsun 240Z owned by Shawn Bassett, a ’67 Camaro driven by Tommy Boileau, a 2018 Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody driven by Kevin Wesley and there are even a couple of 2021 Acura TLX driven by Jordan Guitar and Justin Lumbard. Plus there are a couple of Teslas and even a Palatov D2tt driven by David Meyer that is worth watching.

Even with a Covid-reduced field the 98th running of The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb looks like it will be an exciting race to the clouds.

For more information visit: http://ppihc.org/