Pikes Peak, Run to the clouds plus two kwik Kiwis

[khyndart in CA]

Whenever I saw this event as a young lad, I admired the skill and bravery of these drivers and always will.

[khyndart in CA]

One of the first Pike Peak races I watched at the Regents Theatre on Thames Street in Morrinsville was this 1965 event.
The movie is sponsored by "Gates Tires" and no other tire/tyre is mentioned. There were some big names there such as the Unser brothers, David Pearson and Parnelli Jones etc,. Note how Parnelli hangs the rear end out to the max. as he crosses the finish line !
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Watch the video here.

https://youtu.be/4YtymBWt-_Y


(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

So in 1972 while travelling through the US on the way to England, my friend Jim and I made a visit to Pikes Peak and it was very much as I expected and there is no way I would ever want to race up that road.
Although I can claim to have beaten Rhys Millen to the top.
I made it with a tour group on July 22nd 1972 and Rhys was born 6 weeks later in NZ on Sept. 6 1972 which was my wife's ..'.th. birthday.
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Hyndman at Pikes Peak, July 22. 1972


(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

The Unser family from nearby Colorado Springs were famous at Pikes Peak.
I remember Al Unser giving a talk and describing all the work that it took to win at the mountain.
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1960 Pikes Peak. Bobby Unser in his Chevrolet Special # 92 in the winners circle with brothers Louis on the left and Al on the right.
(Stewarts Collection photo )

All the Unsers participated. Here is Louis in his 1960 Pontiac Catalina attacking the climb.
Number 92 must have been a family favorite.

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>( Ken Hyndman )

[Ray Bell]

Seeing Pikes Peak was a goal of mine when I started planning to go to the States, Ken...

But I didn't make it until the second trip, in 2014. By that time the whole road had been sealed and someone had taken over a minute and twenty seconds off the record if my information is right.

With a good hotmix surface, centrelines, full width road but a little light-on for fences (as in almost none!), and the constant need to be overtaking cyclists as one drove up the hill, it took some concentration. As one drove around a typical long left-hander towards the top, looking out past the edge of the road all one could see was blue sky. And the tops of clouds.

I came away saying that the drive was 'daunting'. But I guess, with experience and perseverence one could try matching the efforts of this Unser car... a photo on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn right above a pickup, trailer and old racer from the Unser glory days...

http://s26.postimg.org/mdgrm9dfd/0506unserrig.jpg

See that Chevy up there?

Until reading Ken's post above I hadn't been sure it was an Unser entry, but it bears that No. 92 so I guess it is. And if there wasn't so much dust you could almost see the fuel tank from some angles:

http://s26.postimg.org/ytdhg06rd/0506pikespeakshot.jpg

Yes, it has been a magical place, and it's been running for over a hundred years now. Well worth a visit, even if it is 'daunting' to drive up there. I still reckon I'd drive it again, I'm not too interested in taking the train.

I didn't go back there last year as a friend recommended I go to Mount Evans, about 80 miles to the north, instead. Mt Evans is about 150' taller and the road up there has been sealed for over forty years. That means it was built to a different standard... not quite so wide, some tighter and blinder turns, that sort of thing. It's also deteriorating, edges breaking away, a bit of roughness here and there.

No, I don't consider it to be 'daunting'. That one's 'intimidating'.

But I recommend to anyone going there to drive up both. The views are stupendous, a great place to look at the world.

[khyndart in CA]

Appreciate your interesting input Ray.
I note that even that little racer on the trailer in your photo has number 92.
Ken.

[khyndart in CA]

The two kwik Kiwis on Pikes Peak are the father and son duo of Rod and Rhys Millen.
I have followed Rod Millen ever since I took this photo of him by chance as he lined up on the grid at Pukekohe in November 1970 as a young 19 year old in a Hillman Husky "Cob" next to my brother John in his Mini Cooper. It was the start of Rod's racing career and the last race of my brother's. Rod would prove to make any vehicle go fast and he finished third in this event. Has anyone else raced a Hillman Husky Cob with any success ?
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Ken Hyndman photo.
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The field that day at Pukekohe, thanks to Milan

[Ray Bell]

You don't count the Alpine and Tiger?

They were on the same platform!

[Steve Holmes]

What a brilliant thread Ken! I love the sandals.

Out of interest, why did they pave Pikes Peak?

[khyndart in CA]

Steve,
" The paving of Pikes Peak is the result of a Sierra Club lawsuit settled by the town of Colorado Springs in 1999.* The Sierra Club sued saying that the town was damaging the mountain*(National Forest land)*in terms of runoff and excess gravel and was violating the "Clean Water Act".

The town fought the lawsuit briefly out of concern for what impact it would have on the race and the cost to pave the road to the top of the 14,110 mountain but then gave in, seeing the writing on the legal wall with the Sierra Club likely better and more aggressively funded in this effort than the taxpayers of Colorado Springs.

And so some 12 years after capitulation, Pikes Peak is almost paved from top to bottom and I guess the environment there is "saved".* I'll miss seeing real cars on a real surface tackle this race.* And now I know who to blame...

Colorado Springs 1999 Settlement with Sierra Club... "
( 2012 )

[khyndart in CA]

You don't count the Alpine and Tiger?

They were on the same platform!
Ray, that would be correct but I still admire someone who could go out and make a Hillman Cob 1500 competitive.
I do not recall anyone else choosing this type of vehicle to go racing in but I may be wrong.

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[John McKechnie]

These Huskys look a lot bigger in comparison to the people around them.
Is that a 6 year old in a suit loading a box in the red one ?

[Ray Bell]

Ahh... the Sierra Club, saving the world...

Like Greenpeace, all those animal-friendly people who go out of their way to stop progress for a multitude of different reasons which don't in reality exist. I just read today that a circuit planned for the NSW South Coast is to be abandoned because a particular kind of lily grows on the site.

Ken, it is sealed all the way to the top. Every bit of the climb...

https://s26.postimg.org/rimkhmfqx/PPleftsweep.jpg

I guess the higher cornering speeds now mean cars and bikes which get out of control fly further out over the edge?

There aren't many places you can look down on the Rocky Mountains, right?

https://s26.postimg.org/j1n26pb21/PPlookingdownonrockies.jpg

Every bit of rubbish and effluent generated by the million or more visitors a year is trucked out...

https://s26.postimg.org/g8tumoapl/PPsewagetruck.jpg

While it amused me on the way down that those dozens of bicycles I passed on the way up, with riders pedalling like crazy and simply crawling up the hill, all flew by at incredible speeds!

Oh, and on the way down it's obligatory to stop here:

http://s11.postimg.org/hl8rn8sxf/PPbraketeststop.jpg

Park workers use heat sensing guns to check your brake temperatures. If they deem they're too hot you have to park till the cool down. I was very surprised to see the effluent trucks rock right on through this checkpoint... and they hadn't been hanging around with their heavy load... and I asked why they don't have to. "Oh, they work here!" I was told.

Mental pictures of a truck spearing off the road with a couple of thousand gallons of effluent spilling everywhere followed...

[Oldfart]

I had a Husky van you should remember Ken. Built up by Rob McIntosh in Putaruru. It raced every sort of event you can think of, got good results at Kerepehi etc. It was the earlier shape, 1725 motor bored to take Mk 3 Zephyr pistons, Weber, oil cooler, electric fan, higher ratio diff, Jolly wides, all the very good stuff of the time. It did 16s at Bruntwood standing 1/4 and the speed in the flying had Keith Speedy checking the timing gear.
I sold it in Christchurch in 1970 and have wondered where it went ever since

[khyndart in CA]

Thanks again Ray for your photos and input.
I still like watching the old Pikes Peak movies. This one is from 1957.


https://youtu.be/omCAkCV9GB8


The only complaint I heard was that at 13000 feet a beer hits you pretty hard.
Can you verify that for us Ray ?

(Ken Hyndman )

[Ray Bell]

The altitude hit me a little at 14,000 feet...

I had a headache coming on after about half an hour, I felt the after-effects for the rest of the day as I headed up into Wyoming.

But I don't drink beer anyway so I wouldn't know about that.

[Ray Bell]

A great video, full of interesting stuff...

The crowds were amazing.

[Steve Holmes]

Steve,
" The paving of Pikes Peak is the result of a Sierra Club lawsuit settled by the town of Colorado Springs in 1999.* The Sierra Club sued saying that the town was damaging the mountain*(National Forest land)*in terms of runoff and excess gravel and was violating the "Clean Water Act".

The town fought the lawsuit briefly out of concern for what impact it would have on the race and the cost to pave the road to the top of the 14,110 mountain but then gave in, seeing the writing on the legal wall with the Sierra Club likely better and more aggressively funded in this effort than the taxpayers of Colorado Springs.

And so some 12 years after capitulation, Pikes Peak is almost paved from top to bottom and I guess the environment there is "saved".* I'll miss seeing real cars on a real surface tackle this race.* And now I know who to blame...

Colorado Springs 1999 Settlement with Sierra Club... "
( 2012 )

Thats amazing Ken. I had guessed various reasons for the paving, but none of them were environmental.

[Ray Bell]

Environmental or activist?

[khyndart in CA]

I know this was shown on TRS almost 3 years ago but it is worth seeing over again as this was when the climb was completely unsealed.
Finnish rally driver,Ari Vatanen was battling back from serious injuries from a rally crash in Argentina in 1985, He suffered a great deal and his Peugeot Sport team manager,Jean Todt (now president of FIA ) wanted him to get his confidence back so entered him in the 1988 Pikes Peak event in a Peugeot 405 Turbo with 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steering.
This film of Ari's drive into the setting sun is magic on an unsealed Pikes Peak road.
Do note how wide the road is before it was paved.
(Before the days of Go Pro cameras and Sierra Club !)
I think this proves Ari had gotten his confidence back !


https://youtu.be/-PZ5J3GLSYI

Doing this right on the edge after years of recovery takes a very brave man indeed.



(Ken Hyndman )

[Ray Bell]

The commentator on Channel 9 (Darrell Eastlake?) during the Australian Grand Prix telecast about 1991 said this was the most requested footage that they ever used for fill-ins during the telecast.

Brilliant stuff...

[khyndart in CA]

In 1996 the first work at paving the road up the mountain had begun and Rod Millen was determined not to let Japanese driver Nobuhro Tajima beat his time as he had the previous year. Rod was not thrilled with the paving process but this did not slow him down.
This You Tube clip covers all the action in 1996.


https://youtu.be/hQ2yq5CaU0Q


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Rod Millen in his Toyota Celica after crossing the finish line at Pikes Peak mountain. July 1996.


( Ken Hyndman )

[seaqnmac27]

Would the Cob have made it to the top? If do in what time?

[928]

a few other motor sport people from europe had been there as well Michele Mouton in a quattro, and Martin Schanke with his rallycross 4WD escort. Martin was stopped by a cop while driving his escort to the event on the road. the cop wanted to know which state it was registered in and was told it was a norwegian rego so the cop said carry on

[Oldfart]

Would the Cob have made it to the top? If do in what time?

Given that the winning car in 1923 (?) took 18 minutes, I recon about 15, it was pretty quick (at least the Millen one was) :)

[khyndart in CA]

In 1998 Rod had built up a Toyota Tacoma to take on the mountain.It was like a IMSA GT vehicle within a Tacoma body. It was quickest up Pikes Peak but he could not beat the 10 minute barrier. I thought it was a good looking machine and it certainly had "heaps of grunt " as can be seen when it was driven at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
I am not sure when this took place but why was there a Range Rover piddling along at the finish line ? It could have led to a tragic end as there had been when John Dawson-Damer crashed his Lotus 63 in 2000 Festival of Speed event.
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https://youtu.be/faK1RCiTM6g


(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

I spoke to a Colorado client today and when I mentioned I had grown up in NZ he started to tell me how he goes to Pikes Peak every year and he said what wonderful ambassadors for NZ the Millen family is. He raved about their friendliness and driving skills etc.
I know this is too modern for this site I wanted to close out the Millens showing Rhys powering to the top in his "giant battery disguised as a race car" machine in 2016. Being all electric it does not have to worry about the lack of oxygen at higher altitude but it does have to have an annoying alarm sounding off to warn it is on it's way ! It is not the same as the real engines but they say that electric cars are here to stay. :(

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https://youtu.be/bSX9Dqn0g5w


Ken H

[khyndart in CA]

I will finish up with a father and son drive up the mountain to have a donut which makes a good ad for Hyundai as well.
Thank you Millens (the two kwik kiwis ) for a job well done.


https://youtu.be/bjGxFCdbLdA

(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

the 2017 Pikes Peak recently took place and the winner was Romain Dumas in a Le Mans type racer. A 2017 Norma MXX RD.
His winning time was close to 9 minutes.
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I still admire the old style of cars and drivers such as Louis Unser driving his Chevrolet to his class division win in 1961.
His winning time was just over 15 minutes.
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(Ken H)

[Oldfart]

I still think it's astonishing that the time in an Essex in 1922 was 18 minutes 47 secs minutes

[khyndart in CA]

As my photos are in limbo I thought this Pikes Peak clip might be of interest to some of you showing how to take an old, slightly modified, Mustang up "The Hill. "


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg6L_7qLIEQ


(Ken Hyndman )