Pikes Peak Hill Climb

By Jeff Wright

Overview

The following is a detailed description of my first experience running the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is the second oldest motor sports race in America and a long-standing tradition in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region. First competed in 1916 where this year marked the 88th running of the "Race to the Clouds." This year the race had 11 classes and featured a variety of automotive, semi truck, exhibition, open wheel, super stock car, pro truck and motorcycle classes with a field approaching 200 competitors. The race week began on Tuesday, June 22nd, and ended with the race which was held on Sunday, June 27th.

Course Description

Day 1 – Tuesday, June 22nd

My first official day traveling was actually Monday since I broke the drive up into two days, staying the night in Albuquerque, NM which was approximately half-way to Colorado Springs. I arrived early afternoon, giving myself plenty of time to get through registration and technical inspection before what came to be the first of a myriad of meetings. You know you are doing something special when this is parked outside your hotel room, which was Yokohama’s electric vehicle entry:

Registration was a breeze and I met fellow Arizona rider Michael Taylor with his family wearing professional team gear. I was thinking “Uh-oh, these guys are pretty serious too”, but a nice group of people and very helpful before and during race week. That is another thing that made the week special as the camaraderie of the competitors and officials is top-notch. Michael was kind enough to even send me helmet cam video from the previous year to ensure I was ready for the race. Other competitors such as Troy Smith were very helpful as well through the Suzuki LTR forums when I was considering running that bike.

Technical inspection was different from other experiences I have had such as the Stateline Supermoto in that they were concerned with different aspects of the bike. Stateline was concerned about preventing oil or coolant spills on the track whereas the main concern with the quad in my case was that of bike width and number size as these were the two main things that they checked on my bike. They have a 50” gate that you are required to drive through both in tech and throughout the week. There was some debate about my bike but I eventually barely passed the width restrictions. They also measured my number plates to make sure they were to specification and they were which was thanks to BRM Off-Road. Technical inspection was held in the parking lot of the host hotel, Crowne Plaza, so I was glad to be staying there. It was filled with fans and proved to be a great place to get a first look at all the various vehicles running the event.

After that, I picked up a transponder and a bag of absorbent material in case of any spills on the hill.

The rest of the day was filled with meetings which is something that you must get used to as they have at least one a day. The first meeting was for rookie drivers only and was held separately for the motorcycles from the cars by lead official Sonny Anderson. Although the website has a great bit of information (http://www.usacracing.com/ppihc) there were several good stories and “gems” of information picked up at the meeting. Following this hour or so meeting was another general meeting for all the motorcycle riders which filled quite a large conference room. Although the information presented was not too much different from that received in the rookie school, the environment was completely different as the air was filled with anticipation and we got to hear from the Race Director and from the Head of the Board.

After the second meeting, it was off to Apex Motorsports in downtown Colorado Springs for free food and “beverages”, along with a raffle. The food was great and I came away with a few door prizes. Apex footed the bill for this one and turned out to be a great resource as the race week went along.

Day 2 – Wednesday, June 23rd

Well, Wednesday started out at 2:45 AM MST! That’s right, that would be 1:45 AM on my internal clock and what PPIHC veterans call dark:30. This was my first moment going “what the heck am I doing…..”. This was also my first drive to the peak and turns out it was a little bit of a drive. We left the hotel at 3:15 AM and arrived at the toll gate a little before 4:00 AM which was the gate time for motorcycles since we were running the bottom section for the first of three days of practice. Mind you, it was still dark for practice parking and they basically have you park wherever you will fit which can mean on a hill, squeezed between trees, or both. A few things were learned this day which was it is cold at 9, 400 feet and I should have brought a flash light. We unloaded and waited for the sun to come up which happened sometime around 5:00 AM. Shortly thereafter we had our daily riders meeting and then we got ready to follow a pace bike up the mountain at half speed or so to get a feel for the track. We all basically lined up in no particular order to get waived up one at a time. Since we were at a lower altitude jackets were not required and I was fine with just my jersey and an undershirt.

The first day’s practice was from the starting line to Glen Cove. This was the longest section of the course and was approximately half of the track. It was a fast course and consisted of a lot of pavement and some dirt sections which were treated with magnesium chloride to keep down on dust and to make the course less loose. We were all hoping for good weather though because rain makes magnesium chloride treated dirt very messy and hard to clean off. The first thing I learned about this section of the course was it was very high speed and there were not really that many corners other than a couple that you really have to watch out for such as Engineer’s Corner (which is where there were several “off’s” during the week). There were already several fans out taking pictures and video and waving to the group. The views when coming back down to the start line were amazing.

We basically ended up getting one pace run and 3 – 4 more with longer breaks in between to make changes, which was good for me because I quickly found that with 17” rear TT tires that I was fully pinned in 5th for the majority of the section. I quickly changed out my 13/38 combination for a 14/38 gear set. This proved to be a good combination for top speed and torque to climb the hills throughout the week, although next time I might run a 14/37 or 14/36. I also found that my jetting was pretty spot on which was awesome because it was pretty much just an educated guess. In Arizona I run a 180/50 and I found that if I multiplied those by 0.93 that a 168/48 would be a good compromise since that was what the HMF altitude chart recommended for the median 11,000 foot altitude (http://hmfracing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1957). The altitude was not robbing too much power at this point but Glen Cove only goes up to about 11,440 feet. Thanks to DFR for quickly adjusting my valves and jetting the bike a few days before leaving for the event to extract the maximum amount of power. Times for the day were averaging around 6 minutes and the first day was the only day considered to be the “qualifying day”. That is, the times reached on this day were used to determine race day running order, although it was really a misnomer as running order did not mean anything since you were racing the clock and not each other even on race day. This proved to be a good thing since we caught a lot of the vintage bikes, slowing some of us and our times down. They also checked width again and despite not changing anything I did not pass this time. Thinking that perhaps it was my 210 pound butt on the bike I got off and settled the suspension to just barely pass. If you don’t pass they can scratch your qualifying time but again this is probably not a huge deal and the officials were willing to work with you if you were willing to do the same. They do sometimes check it again on race day so to be safe I removed 2 1/4” of front spacer.

As far as the altitude is concerned I didn’t find it to be an issue. I was a little light headed for the first hour or so on the mountain but I’m not sure if it was the altitude or the fact that I woke up so early on only 4 hours or so of sleep.

Practice was done around 9:00 since the mountain is then open to tourists as they obviously close the road for practice. We decided to drive to the peak to get a feel for the rest of the course. Honestly after the first day I was left wondering what the big deal was about riding Pikes Peak until I drove the rest of the way. There were more narrow and steeps roads ahead where on several all you saw was sky. It was definitely a harrowing experience in the truck, especially in the middle section, which definitely increased the “pucker factor” for the next day’s practice. This was my second moment going “what the heck did I get myself into…..”. The summit has a beautiful view but the temperature decreased some 20 degrees from the starting line and it was chilly to say the least. They had a pretty decent sized store on the top that ssold doughnuts and hot coffee and chocolate which was a nice addition. We then headed back to the hotel and arrived before noon but it felt like a whole day had passed and in reality it had. It was definitely nap time at that point!

Day 3 – Thursday, June 24th

Same start time obviously and the anxiety from the first few days was starting to take its toll on my energy level. We had to go higher up the mountain this time for practice since we were now running the middle section which went from Cove Creek to 16 mile and was all asphalt. As a side note, even though there was a good mix of dirt and pavement, PPIHC will be fully paved by 2012. Parking was interesting as we basically had to park just to the side of the road on an incline and overlooking a pretty sizeable cliff. Many others had to park on one side of the road only leaving one lane open. Same meeting and practice schedule as the day before but this time the practice runs were about half the time as before so we got more runs in. We also learned the value of arriving early, parking, and then taking a nap until the sun came up.

This section was not quite as fast as practice day 1 as there were many “10 mph” switchbacks and horseshoes. It was significantly colder at these altitudes which went up to about 12,500 feet. Jackets were pretty much mandatory for all of practice and this turned out to be the coldest practice day for me which was most likely due to the wind chill. Times were in the 4 minute area.

The sun was also a factor so I wore my chromed lenses. Luckily, no more changes to the bike were needed this day or for the rest of the race. I found though that I was running through gas much faster than anticipated. I thought that with the higher altitude and smaller jets that 5 gallons plus what was in my bike would be plenty, but with the wide open throttle style of the race I had to get more gas that afternoon. This is where Apex Motorsports was helpful as I had to stop by there to get directions to the gas station which the GPS could not find and it was back in an unusual location. We also picked up some more supplies today including a flashlight and a sewing kit. Yes, a sewing kit to put the mandatory PPIHC patch on my jersey. I didn’t feel too manly doing that but the fact that it took me nearly 2 hours to do it made me feel a little better!

Day 4 – Friday, June 25th

We tried to get out of bed even sooner since we had to drive all the way to the top and in fact my Dad and I were waking up before the alarm as our bodies adjusted to the new schedule. Parking was again in a hairy area and this time we were greeted by mud in the pits as well. We had the same meeting and practice schedule and similar napping regimen.

This section was mostly dirt except for the newly added pavement section toward the top and went from Devil’s Playground to the Summit/Finish Line. This section was again fairly flat out except for a few corners and the drop offs weren’t too bad until the upper end toward the finish. We got a lot more runs in since we had to wait for all the traffic in the lower sections to clear out anyway. I think we got about six runs in and some people didn’t even do them all. There isn’t really time to work on your bike so it was good mine was running great all the way to 14,110 feet. The dirt in this section was much more loose and makes for more of a cautious ride. It took some time to get used to drifting through the corners while in 5th gear running probably 70 – 80 mph or more.

Coming back down lead to some of the best views of the week as you could now see what’s on the “back side” of the peak. Again, practice times were in the 4 minute area for a total practice time of around 14:14:00 for me. I was happy with that since that was around the race time of Michael Taylor last year in his rookie year.
Down in Colorado Springs the temperature reached into the 90’s, which was unusual considering we were seeing wind chills in the 30’s higher on the mountain, but we decided to hit the pool that day regardless.

Friday night was Fan Fest from 5 – 10 PM with many vendors and all the top qualifiers from each class had a display. PPIHC quotes ~30,000 people attending. Unfortunately there was a lot of wind and some sprinkling of rain but it was still a good time.

Day 5 – Saturday, June 26th

Finally an off day! I was so exhausted I had no problem sleeping in and I got about 11 hours of hard rest in. Bob Kline had a barbeque for all the quad guys at his rented cabin off of Pikes Peak highway showing us how to live the good life for the week. Great conversation and great food along with a great location and great view made for a wonderful afternoon. I met a lot of new people including National Pro Champion and Pikes Peak record holder Michael Coburn and renowned engine builder Tom Carlson of TC Racing Engines from PA who built Bob’s engine and worked some with Doug Gust several years ago.

Day 6 – Sunday, June 27th – RACE DAY!

We were warned to still get up to toll gate early even though the start time was later than normal and that proved to be good advice as the toll gate had spectators lined up all the way down to the Pikes Peak Highway even at 3:30 AM. We headed up to the same parking area that we used on day 2 or practice day 1. Everyone tried to sleep but it was hard with all the revving engines and lights everywhere. We unloaded and decided to do a little spectating ourselves as the race started at 9 AM and motorcycles weren’t scheduled to start until 12:30 PM at the earliest.

There were a few minor mishaps with some cars going off the road (it happened once in practice too) and there was an emergency with one of the spectators so we really didn’t get to race until probably 1:30 PM. There’s a lot of hurry up and wait until we were told to get up to the starting line and did so somewhat frantically to just wait some more to check transponders and get some of the earlier bike classes through.

At the starting line we lined up three wide which we practiced the first day of practice for qualifying times. It is nothing more than a flag start and as a side note we started in first gear versus second like you normally would in MX.

We were told there was rain at 16 mile and snow on the top but the race went off without a hitch and went by really quick. The bike was not running as good as in practice for whatever reason causing me to short shift it as it was falling on it’s face at the upper RPM’s a little but I don’t think it really slowed me down much. I was glad to go in the afternoon because all those that started first had to wait for everyone to finish before they could come down the mountain. Since the bikes run 5-wide and the quads 3-wide the motorcycle group gets done really quickly. It rained on us on the way down but no one cared including the fans.

There were probably 4,000 to 5,000 fans present and it added a whole new element to the race to see people cheering you on, pumping fists at you, etc. It was also interesting to send a few of them running for the hills as they got a little too close to the corner apex! On the way down, all the fans line the street, bad weather be damned. It is a PPIHC tradition for all the fans to thank the riders for a good show and high-five all the motorcycle riders. I swear I must have high-fived 500 people including little kids which was great. I truly felt like a rock star and it definitely put a positive cap on the weekend. You could see many riders/racers with tears in their eyes and it goes to show what the Pikes Peak experience is all about.

The race week ended with frantic packing and crazy traffic down the mountain as everyone tried to exit the race. We decided to stay for the awards ceremony which was held near the starting line in a pretty fancy tent. It was great to hear all the thanks and speeches that everyone gave again adding to the great experience that is Pikes Peak and the free “beverages” from title sponsor Budweiser didn’t hurt either!

Conclusion

Going into the race I had three goals:

Stay on the Mountain.
Finish the race.
Obtain a sub-14 second run since race times should be a little lower than practice.

I’m glad to report that I obtained all three. I finished with a 13:52.188 time ending up in 5th place only 14 seconds off of a podium finish. Bob Kline killed it in our class with a 12:44.870 and Coburn set another record, this time in the Quad 500 class with a blistering 11:44.460 setting another PPIHC record. In fact, everyone in my group improved their times significantly from last year including the other local AZ rider from Precott, Michael Taylor, who finished 3rd with a time of 13:38.583, improving on his prior years time by over 35 seconds, so congratulations to Michael and everyone else.
In conclusion, several things surprised me about the race. First, when you read the specifications you see that it has 156 turns in about 12.4 miles which led me to think it would be a very technical race. For me it was not highly technical. To me this race was all about horsepower and having the guts to use it and go 90+ mph on the mountain, just pinning it in 5th gear for most of the race. To put it in perspective to even achieve my time, one would have to average 54 mph. There was a wider age range of racers compared to say motocross and I think in a lot of ways this was because one must dump a lot of money into their bike (mostly into the engine) to be competitive, which doesn’t include all the travel and entry fees, making it truly a “rich guy’s race” in my opinion, therefore lending itself to someone already professionally established. If I was to return with my bike I would definitely need to ask Rudy about that “20 hour motor” to get into the top three!
Secondly, I already mentioned the range of ages that compete on the hill. The youngest in the race was 16 and the youngest in the quad group that I met was early twenties. There were certainly older competitors but there were many approaching 50 that were winning classes showing that anyone can race PPIHC with the right attitude, skill, and equipment.
Lastly, I found that I was not as physically as tired as other styles such as endurance or MX which surprised me a bit. About the only issue I had was pushing the throttle by the end of the race but I think the only reason that was an issue was because I was pushing too hard on the throttle trying to get every last bit of power out of the bike. Someone quoted that you lose ~40% of your power by the top of the mountain and I would believe it as I felt as though I was riding a stock bike by the end and mine is no slouch.

The Future

If I decide to run the race again next year some TT specific changes would certainly help my times improve. The biggest change would be more power and a higher top speed whether through gearing or due to the added power/RPM. All of the other competitors were running Hoosiers which appear to be much larger in size than the Goldspeed’s I was running. Even though the compounds appeared similar I’m sure the extra footprint helped. All the other bikes were significantly lower so a TT specific setup would work better in the turns than my long-travel MX setup but this probably wouldn’t equate to a huge time difference in my opinion. Finally, just having experience would help drop my times drastically. This can be seen from 2009 to 2010 since as noted before all the other riders times dropped as well. I think this is where I would gain the most time and that is just with experience.
I would definitely like to race it again and I even thought about doing it in my race car in 2012 when it is completely paved but we’ll see.
One idea I am considering is building an electric quad for next year to circumvent the altitude considerations but I’m not yet sure how technically or cost feasible this is but it hasn’t been done before that I know of and with my professional background this is definitely appealing. I will be looking into this in the coming months.
All in all, it was the best racing experience I have to date and I would suggest that any serious racer add this to their “bucket list”. Since I pretty much threw some tires and a sway bar on my MX bike it goes to show that anyone can race this and place well. It certainly takes some preparation but in the end it was well worth the effort and I met many great PPICH volunteers and officials and many other great competitors.
Thanks again to everyone and to my 2010 sponsors: Houser Racing, Dirt Fiend Racing, Pro Armor, O'neal, DWT, Dubach Racing, SMX Optics, Race Tech, ASV, Durablue, Motor Tabs, Live Wire Energy, Risk Racing, Renthal, ODI Grips, AMSOIL, MyoGenesis, GoPro, Hinson Clutch, Team Big-O Tires

Jeff Wright

#81 2007 Honda TRX-450R - MX, Supermoto
#81 2007 Suzuki LTR-450 - Off Road