2018 Pikes Peak Hill Climb Event
Early mornings and changing weather conditions is what sums up the week of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb event. For this event we ran two Porsche Cayman GT4 cars in the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport by Yokohama division. For this event we were invited by Porsche to provide a car for CJ Wilson, former professional baseball pitcher for the Texas Rangers and the LA Angels of Anaheim. Our other driver for the event was Dr. Alex Marmureanu, heart surgeon at California Heart and Lung Surgery. Both drivers were rookies at this event, so our goal was to get both drivers as much seat time as possible to get them familiar with the 12.42 mile, 156 turn course.
After successfully passing inspection on Monday, our alarms went off at 2:00 am on Tuesday. We were on the mountain by 3:30 am, set up by 4:15 am and heading down by 8:30 am. This ritual would be the same for each of the practice days through Friday.
Our practice on Tuesday started in the middle section from Glen Cove to Devil’s Playground. This is a point and squirt section with the “Ws” as the most prominent feature. Both drivers were able to put a few solid runs in, even though we had the occasional red flag due to cars going off course or breaking down.
On Wednesday we ran the top section, from Devil’s playground to the Finish Line. This is a fast and flowy section with big drop offs. The day started off with an hour delay when one of the support trucks rolled just in front of us on our way up to Devil’s Playground. The start of the session was very cold and foggy, with temps close to freezing and visibility down to 50 feet. The drivers were able to put in a reconnaissance run in at a slow pace early on in the session. Later on the weather started to cooperate, the clouds started to lift and the sun came out, giving the drivers the opportunity to do a couple more runs.
Thursday was the day for the fast bottom section from the Start line to Glen Cove. This section also determines the driver’s starting position on Raceday. This day started off without any delays and temps were a much more comfortable 55 F. Both Dr. Alex and CJ were able to put in three runs after some delays to clean up oil. Dr. Alex had a big moment where he almost crashed the car, but was able to save it, you can watch the footage here: . Dr. Alex qualified in 40th starting place overall and 7th in class, CJ Wilson qualified in 32nd overall and 5th in class.
The final practice session on Friday gave both drivers some extra seat time on the middle section from Glen Cove to Devil’s playground. With a much smaller field on this optional day, both drivers completed 5 runs. Friday is also the the traditional night of Fan Fest in downtown Colorado Springs, where CJ Wilson represented our car at the Yokohama booth.
On Sunday it was finally time for race day! As this is a hill climb, all the drivers and riders start one by one with about a 5 minute gap between them. It is also the first time any of the competitors run the complete course from the bottom to the top. The motorcycles were up first and then it was time for the cars. It was a special feeling to be part of history when Romain Dumas set a fastest ever time of 7:57.148 in his electric 2018 Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak. After that run our wait began, with the tension rising every minute. Our start time was pushed back further and further after several red flags due to drivers going off course and breaking down on the way up. With weather coming in, so did the nerves.
CJ had a reasonably clean run up to the top, but was held at the start when his friend, Till Bechtolsheimer, crashed out at the second to last corner and landed on the cog train track. Dr. Alex’ run was a little more challenging when it started hailing ice cubes just after he started, sending everyone in the paddock scrambling for cover. He finished his run in hail and snow at the top. In our Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport by Yokohama class Travis Pastrana set the fastest time with a 10:33.897 run. CJ Wilson put in a fifth fastest time of 11:23.853 and Dr. Alex put in a sixth fastest time of 13:11.856.
All in all this was a great and memorable event and we are looking forward to next year!
