September 2020 • Nestor Cabrera • Photos Nestor Cabrera, Devon 'Afro Thunder' Dobson of Imagine Media and Larry Chen courtesy PPIHC

No sane person wakes up one day and says: “I think I am going to go race Pikes Peak,” but that’s exactly what Kash Singh did. Before Kash became an Enthusiast Marketing Manager at Ford Performance, he was a very active in the sport compact show scene. As is usually the case when we grow older, our palate changes and one day, while watching a documentary about the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), Kash realized, when he saw Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima fly by in his Monster Sport Suzuki SX4, a 900HP purpose built racecar, that he too wanted to race to the clouds. 

Kash raced a Shelby GT500 from 2011 to 2015 and was famous for driving it to and from the event. In 2016 he raced a 4-cylinder turbo Mustang, seen here in the snow, and set his best time to date 13.11 minutes.

Unfortunately, racing at Pikes Peak isn’t as easy as saying you will. Kash realized that to do so, he had to build a car capable of conquering the mountain. At the time, Kash owned a Ford Focus and a Shelby GT500; obviously, the GT500 was too valuable to cut up to make into a racecar so he chose to focus on the Focus. As luck would have it, on one fateful day, Kash was rear-ended in his Shelby. Instead of putting it back to stock, Kash decided to make it a racecar.

In order to conquer the 12.42-mile, 156 turn racecourse you need a purpose-built racecar; with the finish line above 14,115 feet, both driver and machine must be able to adapt to the lack of oxygen at the top. The PPIHC has a mix of high-speed sections and some very technical sections—over the 98-year history of the race seven racers have lost their lives attempting to conquer the mountain. With a turbocharged 5.4L 500hp powerplant the GT500 engine needed minimal tweaking, so attention was focused on safety and handling.     

Kash raced the GT500 from 2011 to 2015 and was infamous for driving it to the event, sometimes from as far away as Federal Way, WA—some 1,400 miles each way. In his first year, the GT500 overheated six turns from the summit. Kash’s desire to go faster would see him retire the GT500 and starting in 2016 he raced a 2016 4-cylinder turbo Mustang that reached the top twice and to the shortened finish at Glen Cove two additional times. It provided Kash with his best time to the summit of 13.22 minutes in 2017.

Kash saw the potential of turbocharging and resolved to build a twin-turbo 2017 Ford Mustang GT. Like the Shelby, the GT was outfitted with all the required safety equipment and the 5.0L would get the full engine treatment. To handle a lot of turbo boost the block was fortified with Darton sleeves and fitted with K1 Rods and JE Pistons. Surprisingly, the crank remains the factory unit, as do the heads and cams. The valvetrain, however, has been ungraded with Ferrera Racing Components. The turbos of choice are a pair of Garrett GT3076R, which breath through K&N air filters and discharge high-pressure air to a Mishimoto Intercooler that is cooled with a custom water/alcohol injection system that keeps the water from freezing. The Coyote engine makes over 1000WHP, double what the GT500 5.4L made. Kenny Sampson from Turbo Gixxer Tuning dialed in the factory PCM with three custom tunes allowing Kash to dial in the car for maximum performance during the race.

With enough power to break his previous record Kash needed to ensure all that power made it to the ground. The factory MT82 transmission was outfitted with a McLeod twin-disc clutch capable of handling 1200HP. A set of Toyo Proxes RS1 295/30ZR19 slicks ensure that the GT sticks to the ground.

One of the challenges of racing Pikes Peak is the fact that the road is open to tourists year-round and unlike purpose-built racecourses PPIHC has only a small window of opportunity when teams are allowed to practice during race week.

Race day 2020 came but the mountain did not co-operate. The race was delayed by several hours to allow snow from the previous night’s storm to melt and the course to dry off. Since Pikes Peak is now 100-percent paved most cars run slicks and unfortunately wet surfaces and slick tires don’t work well together. Once the weather cleared and the race began, Kash took his place in line and set out to conquer the mountain. The first segment saw him annihilate his previous times but on the second segment Kash heard something come loose. Fortunately it was only a reservoir used for the water/alcohol injection so he battled on and completed the course in 11:38, a new PB. Of course, Kash now knows the car has a sub-11 minute potential.

As Kash puts it, “Your biggest challenge at Pikes Peak is the mountain, you never know what she will throw at you. I’ve started the race with a warm dry course and finished in the rain, while avoiding small animals along the way.”

To put it in perspective, the record for PPIHC before it was paved, held by Rod Millen, is 10:04 in a purpose-built racecar. Although the course is a different monster from its dirt days, it’s still pretty impressive that Kash drove his GT from Washington to Colorado, raced it and drove it home again, although at the time of this article, Kash was looking for a new place to call home. In the meantime, he is calling the Antlers Hotel home while he gets ready for his next road trip.

2017 Ford Mustang GT
Owner: Kash Singh

Engine:
• Twin-turbo 5.0L Coyote V8
• Darton sleeves
• JE Pistons
• K1 Rods
• Ferrera valvetrain
• Twin Garrett GT3076 Turbos
• Mishimoto intercooler with water/alcohol injection
• Factory PCM with custom flash by TurboGixxerTuning.com
• M82 transmission with McLeod twin-disk clutch

Wheels: Forgestar f14
Tires: Toyo Proxes 285/30ZR18 front, RS1 295/30ZR19 rear
Race prep: European Performance Specialists, Colorado Springs, CO
Accommodation: The Antlers Hotel, Downtown Colorado Springs