- [Voiceover] The annual Pikes
Peak International Hill Climb
is the second oldest auto
race in the United States.
The event has been around since 1916
when Spencer Penrose,
a turn of the century
business man who had just
financed the construction
of the Pikes Peak Highway, decided to
encourage Colorado tourism by creating
a race to the clouds up the face of
Pikes Peak Mountain, located just outside
of Colorado Springs.
For decades, this unique timed competition
has drawn racers and race
fans from across the planet.
With 13 separate classes
of cars and trucks,
and 8 classes of motorcyles and quads,
the race includes a little
something for every race fan
by featuring a wide range of vehicles.
Each year racers compete
in everything from
time attack four-wheel drive cars,
to vintage motocycles,
open wheel cars to semi-trucks,
and everything in between.
The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is exactly
what it sounds like.
A continuous climb from beginning to end.
A 12.42 mile, 156 turn race course that
goes only one way.
Up.
It's a high speed timed race to the summit
that begins at 9,390 feet of elevation
on mile 7 of the Pikes Peak Highway,
and ends at the 14,110 foot summit,
about three miles above sea level.
As vehicles progress through the race,
the drivers have to
compete with the altitude
as well as the clock.
As the elevation increases, the air thins,
placing additional stress on the driver
as well as the engine.
And the altitude is no joke.
While thousands of fans
gather on the mountain to watch the event,
most prefer to keep to the
lower parts of the track
where the vehicles start.
Traveling to the summit of Pikes Peak
can result in altitude sickness.
As proving grounds go, Pike Peak is
a demanding race.
Accidents can, and have occurred.
There are no pit-stops,
no co-drivers to read pace notes,
and no guarantee that
foul weather will hold off
as racers ascend the mountain.
Competitors simply have to
expect the unexpected.
It's not uncommon for the race to
start in sunshine and mild temperatures
at the lower altitudes,
while just a few minutes away,
snow may be falling at the peak.
Drivers and their teams have to
be ready for almost anything.
And they'll experience it all within
a matter of minutes as they
climb up and over the top.
So how fast can a car run the course?
As of 2013, the current record is just
8 minutes, 13.878 seconds
set by Sebastien Loeb
in a Peugeot 208 T16.
But this record probably
would not have been
possible without one of the
latest improvements to the course,
full pavement.
That's right.
Up to and including the 2011 race
there were still sections of the
Pikes Peak course that remained unpaved.
Drivers had to negotiate the changes
between tarmac, dirt, and gravel
as they summited the mountain.
As a result, many of the long standing
race records fell during the first
full pavement race in 2012.
The race to the clouds
continues to foster innovation.
In 2010, Audi's autonomous
TTS Pikes Peak car
drove itself up the legendary course
in just 27 minutes.
The first driverless car
to ever climb the hill.
Will more race records fall
at Pikes Peak this year?
You can count on that.
But then again, that's
about the only thing
you can count on when it comes to
this ever changing and
enormously challenging
nearly 100 year old event.
