The 91st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

With wee warning, my husband woke me up at 5:15 am Sunday morning and said we had five minutes before we had to leave.  He and our French Interns had decided the night before that we were taking an all day adventure to watch the Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb.  So five of us climbed into the Ford 350 and headed south for an hour and fifteen minute drive.

We made record time getting there to find parking haphazard and unmerciful.  People were everywhere.  We somehow turned the truck back around and found a spot closer to the entrance before we hiked a mile toward the starting gate. We hauled a cooler and some food and found a seat on the side of the road, next to a boulder that might do as a shield from flying racing parts.   It was hot, loud and at times, downright scary. 

The scariest part was the high probability that someone would get injured. One motorcycle with a side car lost control and careened down the road backwards until spinning off the road and down the side of the hill before stopping. Fortunately, the duo maneuvered to exit the road between two poles holding the orange mesh fence they blasted through.  In retrospect, it was riveting to watch.  The noises those high powered engines can make were energizing.

Before Sunday, I had never heard of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. It started ninety one years ago when the road was made of dirt.  The twelve mile course, which has 156 turns in all, is now paved. The best part of the day was when French rally star Sebastien Loeb crushed the record by more than a minute when he drove the twelve mile course in a smidge over eight minutes and thirteen seconds.  He drove a fully customized 2013 Peugeot 208 T16 an average of 186 miles per hour to win the field in car racing. His handsome face and amazing driving made the ten hour trip worth every minute.

Who knew that a motor sport could be so fun?

Click on this link if you want to watch the race.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport/8863512/Sebastien-Loeb-smashes-Pikes-Peak-record