Has anyone here run Pikes Peak? Here's a pretty good photo archive of it. http://www.artemisimages.com/gallery.aspx?photomode=3&categoryid=5044 There's stuff from 1916 on up. I like this one: http://www.artemisimages.com/detail.aspx?photomode=3&categoryid=5044&photoid=ppih0293 And this one: http://www.artemisimages.com/detail.aspx?photomode=3&categoryid=800&photoid=PPIH0214
i haven't done the race of course, but i've driven it several times. attended the race once so far. sadly, it's slated to be paved completely within a few years. they pave more and more every year. i drove up it early this spring, couldn't go all the way due to recent snow, but horror of all horrors, new fucking guardrails near the top! yet they still sell their bumperstickers, "real men don't need guardrails". so if you want to actually say you DID pikes peak, you better get while the gettins good, cause the road will not be the same in a few years. if you take the drive as a tourist, you can discretely "hang it out" a bit, but you gotta be careful, there can be a lot of traffic, and sound really travels up there, lots of patrol vehicles. oh, great pics too!
I posted this link yesterday on another thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1567064#post1567064
Thanks Benzine & Attitudor ..Awesome !! Always love the PPH never been ,gotta go while its still mostly dirt.
I've noticed over the years that there is more pavement but I didn't know the plan was to take it all the way. Interesting to note that Indy cars were used in the open wheel class. Louis Unser won in 1948 in a Maserati that was the Indy winner in 1941. That's pretty cool.
Not yet, but it's seriously on my list of things to do after Bonneville. I haven't decided if an old sprint or champ type car would be the thing, or maybe an AWD S10 Blazer chassis under some sort of car, or what. I've always dreamed of doing it. I hear they've paved a bunch of it now though and are continuing to. .
i ran it in a rental car in the late 90's in a buick skylark. was on a business trip in denver, had a little extra time, had a guy i had just met with me and blasted up that hill like a madman. never saw no cops. after racing in dirt for 20 years, and with a hand parking brake, scared the everliving shit out of this guy. on the way back down the was a sign warning not to ride your brakes so i told this guy i was not gona touch the brake pedal and i did'nt. 1st gear and that parking brake, winding the dog piss out of that buick we made it safely back to the bottom. i still talk to that guy and we still joke about it. he said looking back...that it was the most fun ride he ever had.
As many times as I've been in CO I've never had or taken the time to do Pikes Peak. It's a shame really. That will change in August. Roadstar and I will be doing it in his roadster......climbing Pikes Peak that is, on our way to B'ville. I'll have a laptop on the adventure so the HAMB will kind of climb it with us.
My wife and I took the '40 Chevy to Bonneville last year so while we were in Colorado Springs we took it up the mountain. It didn't like the washboard gravel much but we made it with no problem. And if that wasn't bad enough we took the gravel road out of Victor down towards Canon City. That was fun. Charlie
Never missed a race since I was born...my pops raced it and I worked as mechanic on multiple cars. ......Sleepless nights.....methanol burning the nose and eyes at 4:00 a.m..........waking up the neighbors at 3:00 a.m. driving the car on the trailers.....fist fights in the pits....death....insane wrecks....driving INTO the corners at 120mph.... You must go before they shut it down. Its the second oldest next to Indianapolis. .
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