I was one of the official photogs up there a couple years back. Its a riot. This year my friend Michael Hill was the "official" photog and media guy. Monster's car puts somwhere more than 8 g's of downforce at speed. Sad to know next year it will be no more dirt.
No, she deserves a better codriver than me. She's been teamed up with Jeremy Rowland for a few rallys before Pikes Peak. They've really clicked as a team and I hope to have Jeremy with us next year for the Rally America series in addition to our next attempt at Pikes Peak.
Yeah, that was actually the beginning of a spin and Rupert Berrington (motorsports photog extraordinary) caught two shots of her. The in-car is actually funny during the spin. Unfortunately we can't publish any of it until the PPIHC checks off on it. Supposedly some of our footage will be used in a TV Special on the hillclimb expected to air this fall.
That's not quite the case any more. If you're a novice, you might have to run all the practice days, but will HAVE to run on qualifying day. They will make exceptions for experienced drivers who have attended the event before. And today you can't practice in anything but your race car (or bike) that has gone through tech and has all the safety equipment.
My uncle was building a Flathead powered 34 Willy's to race there... but he passed before he could finish it.
Pics of my dad "Buster" on the right and Tom Jamison on the left and the Corvettes they ran up the Peak. Tom was the driver, the 64 fuelie was off the show room floor and had only 900 miles on it. Unfortunatley during thier run someone decided they wanted to go home early, the Corvette and a willys wagon hit head on around a blind corner, only two car crash in Pikes Peak Hill Climb history.
If he could run over all them hay bales without feeling it he must have been going REAL fast, dang! (that was cool).
The video is cool, just doesnt even do a bit of justice to how MEAN that car sounds. I could hear him shortly after the start line, and I was about halfway up the hill. 3 minutes later the next car came by, and my shots of them were terrible from all the dust still in the air from Monster's car.
Here's the incar video with audio from the intercom system. The codriver is reading course notes in a type of shorthand used in rally. Brianne and Jeremy have worked together on the style and delivery of the notes that works best for them. <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rtRitCFycvk" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="560"></iframe>
wow watching the video of the driver and co pilot communication.. i think the driving is the easy part.. its learning each others patterns and clicking with each other.. which will make the difference in that type of race it would seem.. i felt like i understood what they were communicating by the end of the video.. heh.. fun stuff.
We will be leaving for the 2012 Pikes Peak Hillclimb next weekend. The actual event is on the 8th, but we have tech, practice days, and the Fan Fest leading up to the hillclimb. If any HAMBers are there, look us up. Same car as last year with another 150hp. I'll be in the lower paddock on race day.
Huge balls those guys have....huge. I once fried the transmission in Ford Taurus rental car driving up that road.....I wasn't driving like a maniac....just stayed at it and didn't really let the car rest. Never buy a rental car that there is the remotest possibility that I've ever rented.
How times have changed... Last time I was there the ~last half was not even gravel...just road graded mountain !! Cool videos... Cheers.....
Well, because of the Waldo Canyon fires the hillclimb was postponed. It's now scheduled for the 12th of August. We'll be leaving Dallas on the 5th. Using the extra time to do some more development on the car.
Man, thats beautiful to watch.When I was a young guy, I worked in a shop with an older guy who had done a LOT of road racing, had raced the big FIA race at Daytona at one point in his life. I remember going for a ride with him in the HAMMERING down rain in a friends AAR Cuda we were working on. Not a great handling car by any means, but riding with him in those conditions was truly awe inspiring. I think he was intending to put the fear of god into me, well it worked. I remember at one point heading into this steep downhill stretch over a sharp drop followed by a fairly sharp off-camber right hander, then a downhill left leading into a short straight. The speed he went over the drop at, I was thinking "He cant be serious, hes out of his mind". Anytime you start to think you can drive, just take a ride with an experienced, semi-professional road racer...GEEZ!
I have been wanting to go since I was a kid, and saw a color photo of Parnelli Jones sliding a big honking '63 merc around.
If you're never been to the Peak, you need to put this on your bucket list!! As others have said, even a casual drive up it in the family car will put sweat on most brave men's balls. I was there in about '66 when the new Olds Toranados first came out. To see a 4500 lb. Olds shooting gravel like a machine gun out of the front wheel wheel wells and sliding through the turns at about 100 mph is a sight I'll never forget.
The Jalopy Journal
