Pikes Peak
 

These guys are friggin nuts! I drove up the peak last week and I was white knuckled above the tree line from 12,000 to 14,000.

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At the top I had little O2, but tried my best to give our favorite mystery writer pose.

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Whooo...whatta trip. Thanks for posting the video.

Coming back down was much easier.

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I was in Co Springs during the race, but was unable to see it. I was up a few days later.

Some pics from the top at the cafe.

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I met Rod Millen at the historics a few years ago when I was working the show for toyota, at dinner he was telling stories about the peak.

That guy has huge appendages. it's a wonder he can even walk.
His tacoma had over 1000 hp, the racing version of the celica had at last 800, maybe more. On dirt. At elevation. With no guard rails and drop offs. His biggest problem was trying to get enough traction to keep the vehicle going the right direction.

He explained how he spent quite a bit of time trying different lines in different sections, just trying to get hooked up and keep off the rev limiter.

Imagine a 9 1/2 minute burn-out at over 100 mph, on a (partially) dirt mountain road with 156 turns. Breaknig the old world record by about 35 seconds.

My hats off to this group. I was in first gear going 20 mph down to 12,000 feet elevation.

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911 Turbo

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The Pikes Peak hillclimb is one of the 100 best things to see in one's life. The place is awesome.

I have been up Pike's Peak twice, once with my parents on a family vacation when I was a teen & once a few years ago with my wife & kids. We drove a rental Chevy Malibu. I thought I was being really good, but my wife still freaked out at the huge drop-offs & lack of guard-rails.

A few weeks ago my son & a friend (both recent college grads) hiked up Pike's Peak. They had quite an adventure. The trail was 12.6 miles long. About 2 miles from the top they lost the trail because the ground was covered with snow. They decided to "just go up" through a boulder field & snow. They made it to the top in about 7 hours. I joked that, "You know there is a road so you can drive up, or you can take the tram."

They had a reservation to take the 3:00 tram down, but they arrived at 1:57, so they took the 2:00 tram. I said, "You mean you took 7 hours to hike up the mountain & you only spent 3 minutes at the top?!" My son replied, "We had plenty of time to enjoy the view on the way up!"

Nice vidieo!

The pictures simply do NOT do it justice. It's only been one week since I drove it and above 12,000 feet (tree line) there is no way in hell I would drive like that.

For me it was like walking on the edge of a tall tall building, and to watch these racers is like giving me the idea to start a spirited tango on the top of the building. Not my thing, these guys are simply nuts.

1st one is the same top video with more time and a little better picture.

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RUF at 7:00 min pretty awesome.

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