It’s that time of year again when race teams from all over the world get together for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), one of the most dangerous motorsports events left. Near Colorado Springs, on Pikes Peak Mountain, a beautiful toll road turns into a paved battlefield once a year. Sixty-six cars will try to win the PPIHC this year. On Sunday, June 25, racers in six different classes will each have one chance to finish 156 turns that add up to 12.4 kilometres. Each driver makes one attempt to get to the top, which is 14,115 feet above sea level, and has a delicious doughnut waiting for them. After trying in an electric I.D., r last year, Frenchman Romain Dumas came back this year in an electric Ford car and set the fastest time ever. The winner from the year before, Robin Shute, drove a 2018 Wolf TSC-FS prototype made in Italy and established the shortest time ever at 10:09.525. This was in the rain and through very thick fog. Most people take 50 minutes from the front gate to the top. Since 1916, the PPIHC has used strange designs to find the best combination of weight, downforce, horsepower, grip, and hairpin brakes. We’ve made a short list of great cars and drivers for this year’s event. We contacted the drivers and asked them about their favourite songs, how exciting it is to race up America’s Mountain, and what they eat before taking off from the 9390-foot starting line. We gave answers to a few people who didn’t answer or only answered in part. The first car is set to come out on Sunday, June 25, at 7:30 a.m. MDT (9:30 a.m. EDT). Go to Official Mobil 1 to follow the 101st PPIHC in real-time. KRDO is the neighbourhood news station for Colorado Springs, and you can also listen to it on F.M. radio. Follow the PPIHC’s official Twitter and Instagram pages to know what’s happening and what’s happening right now. Mike Whiddett’s Mazda 3 Hatchback Exhibition He is called Mad Mike. Not because he has yelled at people but because his horse for this year’s Hillclimb is one of the craziest horses ever. This Mazda 3 car now has a twin-turbo four-rotor engine and drives on the back wheels instead of the front. The Red Bull-backed Mazda, which is said to weigh 2,755 pounds and was made for Formula Drift, will try to climb the mountain with the most grip. Mad Mike has made a good living by burning tires. He has also raced in Stadium Super Trucks and won the Formula Drift Japan championship. “Love Machine” by the Miracles is Whiddett’s theme song for Pikes Peak. Toyo Tires was the company that paid for Whiddett’s Breakfast of Champions. The Radford Type 62-2 owned by Tanner Foust Exhibition The Radford 62-2 is a custom-built carbon-fibre overdose based on the Lotus Exige. It was made by Radford coachbuilders. It is said to have a 700-hp blower and a 3.5-liter V-6 engine from Toyota. All of the carbon fibre aero on the 62-2 adds to the weight of 1942 pounds, which is said to be its curb weight. Tanner Foust had not done a hill climb since 2021 when he did it in a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. He’s ready to go up against the best drivers of this year in the almost lawless display class, though. Foust chose “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses as his Pikes Peak theme song. Foust’s Breakfast of Champions was breakfast tacos from the pits. The Nissan Powerstroke GT-R of Cole PowelsonUnlimited It’s just a tiny bit of smoke. This Nissan GT-R Pikes Peak racer has an engine from a pickup truck. This year, Cole Powelson is going to try to break a mark. A 6.7-liter Cummins in an F1 Pickup gives it the diesel record right now. On the dangerous bends of the mountain, Powelson’s GT-R gives off the same diesel smoke. The engine of this beast is a 6.9-liter turbo diesel V-8 Powerstroke from a Ford F-series from 2004. He is already a member of the sub-10 club, and this year he drove a diesel car to a truck fight. Powelson played “Kickstart My Heart” as the theme song for Pikes Peak. Motley Crue is a rock band. When he reached the top, Powelson ate his Breakfast of Champions, a doughnut Daijiro Yoshihara drove a Honda S2000 at the Pikes Peak Open Dai Yoshihara is a professional drifter who participates in motorsports like Global Time Attack and TC America. He came in second in his first race, which was recently at Virginia International Raceway. Five times, he has climbed Pikes Peak. The Japanese driver was the fastest EV competitor in 2011 and finished eighth overall in Evasive Motorsports Model 3. In 2011, he took first place in Formula Drift. This year, he will race the same 2004 Honda S2000 used in his Time Attack attempt in 2022. Yoshihara showed us the “Danger Zone” song by Kenny Loggins, his Pikes Peak prayer. Mrs. Yoshihara made Yoshihara a particular rice ball that he called his “Breakfast of Champions.” Romain Dumas drove a Ford Performance SuperVan 4.2 at the Pikes Peak Open Vans are great. The Ford Performance SuperVan with 1400 horsepower and all-wheel drive is proof. This Pikes Peak-tuned E-Transit SuperVan has more aerodynamics and a new tune to handle the rough weather on the mountain. The Performance SuperVan, driven by current record holder Romain Dumas, is sure to get noticed as it tries to do what minivan vans do daily: kick a lot of ass. Edith Piaf’s “Je Ne Regrette Rien” was chosen as Dumas’ Pikes Peak theme song. We chose Breakfast of Champions by Dumas—a croissant, of course. The BMW M8 of Rhys Millen Exhibition Rod Millen won the Pikes Peak race five times. His son, Rhys Millen, is also well-known in hill climbing. He has been here 26 times and has won King of the Mountain twice. The paint job on his father’s famous Toyota Tacoma, which won the climb twice, looks like this BMW M8. He told us that Millen’s Pikes Peak song was “Machinehead” by George Bush. Millen’s breakfast of champions was a banana and a cup of coffee from Loaf n Jug in Colorado Springs. The Renault Alpine A110 GT4 of Raphael Astier is in first place in the Pikes Peak Open A French driver, Raphael Astier won the Rookie of the Year award in 2016 at his first Pikes Peak Hillclimb. He did it in a 2009 Porsche 911 GT3 RS. On his first try, he was second in the Time Attack 1 division with a time of 10:06.006 seconds. Astier has returned to the Alpine A110 GT4 Evo for the fifth time after making such a great first impression. Alpine says that the A110 GT4 Evo has 500 horsepower and only weighs 2094 pounds, about 400 pounds less than the A1110 road car it is built on. “Lovers on the Sun” by David Guetta was Astier’s Pikes Peak song. We picked the Double Espresso from Astier’s Breakfast of Champions. The book Sierra Echo by Lucy Block Unlimited Lucy Block is listed as a “rookie” on the form because this is her first time climbing the mountain. However, she knows that signing up for such pranks takes a lot of courage. Her goal is to bring attention to the 43 Institute, a non-profit group that works to improve chances for people who want to work as drivers. She also wants to remember her late husband, Ken Block, who died earlier this year. The Echo from Sierra Cars is an electric car with one seat. The 43 Institute will get some money from selling seven 300-hp Block Edition Echo EVs. Ken makes an honour pass up the mountain in the 1410-hp all-wheel-drive Hoonipigasus Porsche 911 that he drove at the 100th PPIHC last year. Lucy and her daughter Lia Block are there to watch. The Southern Ohio Forest Rally had just ended. “Sure Shot” by the Beastie Boys was picked as Block’s Pikes Peak theme song. The breakfast burrito at Block’s Breakfast of Champions was the one we picked. Gardner Nichols’s display of the Rivian R1T The Volkswagen I.D. R, backed by the plant, set a record for the fastest time up the mountain in 2018. Rivian, based in California, made the R1T, which went from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds. This shows that the company knows about setting records and driving electric cars. Gardner Nichols and his team will try to break the record for the fastest pickup truck at this year’s hill-climb. They are racing in an R1T that is caged and has no carpet. Suzanne Vega’s song “Tom’s Diner” was chosen as Nichols’ Pikes Peak theme. We chose the Dino Chicken Nuggies from Nichols’s Breakfast of Champions. The Acura Integra Type S of Loni Unser Exhibition Loni Unser will not drive a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport to Pikes Peak this year. Instead, he will go with an Acura Integra Type S. It was built by Honda Performance Developing (HPD). It has a Borla exhaust and 19-inch wheels with Yokohama’s Advan A005 race tires. The Unser family has been racing on the mountain since 1926, and Loni Unser is the fourth member of the family to do so. “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush was Unser’s song for Pikes Peak. We were given Oreo cookies at Unser’s Breakfast of Champions. BMW XM Label Red The Art of Matt Mullins Matt Mullins drives shotgun in other BMWs for the Performance Driving School when he’s not driving a 6,000-pound BMW. His racing number, 735, is the same as the amount of X.M. Red Labels made. Even though the X.M. looks strange, it is the most powerful BMW ever made, and it can only get better from here. Mullins’ Pikes Peak theme song is “Juice” by Lizzo. We picked the Mountain Dew Voltage from Mullins’ Breakfast of Champions. The first time Cam Ingram drove his E-Motion Porsche GT3R up Pikes Peak Cam Ingram, who runs Road Scholars, a company that buys and fixes up old Porsches, will keep the E-Motion Porsche 911 GT3 R from gathering dust. Even though it looks different this year, the car is mostly the same as the one Rhys Millen drove to finish sixth overall with a time of 10:52.664. Now it’s Ingram’s turn. He’ll go with a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport and try to beat the time he set last year. Forman Ingram said that the bottom part sounds like “Kick It” by A Tribe Called Quest, the middle part sounds like a symphony orchestra, and the top sounds precisely like “Reign in Blood” by Slayer. His Breakfast of Champions, according to Ingram, was a Kind breakfast bar and a banana.
