Tuesday 14th July 2009

1150bhp RS200 Guns For Pikes Peak Record

Essex-based team aims to be the first to complete Pikes Peak in less than 10mins

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With 1150bhp, you'd need all those wings

Ford might be aiming to give the Fiesta some major publicity when it tackles the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this weekend in an 800bhp Fiesta with rally ace Marcus Gronholm at the wheel, but Ford is facing some tough challengers, not least from its own past.

Essex-based Mach 2 Racing is entering a Ford RS200 packing a genuinely terrifying 1150bhp in an attempt to be the first team to crack the 10-minute barrier.

The car, driven by former double British Rallycross champ Mark Rennison, is gunning for current record holder Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima, who set a time of 10m 01.408s back in 2007 at the wheel of a 1000bhp Suzuki XL7.

Essex boys aiming for a record-breaking run

The Mach 2 RS200, which has been developed specifically for the Pikes Peak run, puts 950bhp through its Avon tyres courtesy of some very high-octane fuel and a Garrett turbocharger. A 70-litre nitrous tank takes the power up to 1150bhp.

Rennison is confident that he and the RS200 can be the first pairing to finish the 12-mile 156-turn course in les than 10 minutes: “If everything on the day goes right and the weather conditions are good beating the 10-minute barrier shouldn’t be a problem. But strange things happen at Pikes Peak, it’s a unique event.”

Practice for this year’s Pikes Peak hillclimb runs from 15-17th July, with the single timed run up the full course on Sunday 19th July.

[chuntington101]

stunning car! was in CCC some years ago. to stop the turbo stalling they vented he BOV air into the exhaust. when combind with the anti-lag there was NO lag!

and now they have N2O on top! lol

Chris.

[chazwozza]

WOW!!!! Good luck lads.

[GravelBen]

Now thats a proper weapon!

[White-Noise]

Sounds amazing - is this on TV or online anywhere? Definitely an event I am interested in - bonkers!

[drewcole81]

White-Noise said:

Sounds amazing - is this on TV or online anywhere? Definitely an event I am interested in - bonkers!

Just what I was going to ask, anyone know if it is on TV?

[wab172uk]

Good luck guys.

[fatboy b]

that rear wing is a tad chavy

Edited by fatboy b on Tuesday 14th July 12:40

[flattotheboards]

Good luck. I would love to go to watch the Pikes Peak event.

[ukaskew]

Amazing machine. I'm all for confidence, but they make it sound a little easy! I'm sure there are many reasons why the original record stood for 13 years and has only been broken once.

Best of luck to them, really, really hope it can be viewed on the TV/web somewhere.

[E4UAN]

A bonkers car for a bonkers race.
I love it!

[308mate]

Is that an exhaust at the back or a parachute?

[militantmandy]

Presumably it's well under a ton too!

[Ikemi]

Specialness! One of my favourite cars, but proper fast!

[Pixel-Snapper]

yes where can we all watch this event sky/digital/www come on someone must now?

[p17fld1]

Taken from their website :

"MDV Specialist Engineering have considerable experience with RS200s and earlier this year they stripped the car down to the bare chassis. Their main task was to loose as much weight as safely possible. Using all their race and rally experience they managed to beat their target of 100 lbs. The 2009 car now weighs in at 2,315 lbs (1,050 kgs) ready to race, with a full fuel tank and with the driver on board."

[T89 Callan]

drewcole81 said:

White-Noise said:

Sounds amazing - is this on TV or online anywhere? Definitely an event I am interested in - bonkers!

Just what I was going to ask, anyone know if it is on TV?

Yep, same here. Would love to actually watch some of the runs live.

Anyone got an answer?

[Pixel-Snapper]

google comes up with nothing regarding coverage...

Might have to just wait till it crops up on youtube?

[NotNormal]

Its nice to read that they are going and what they hope to achieve.....








...... will be even nicer to read a report from them when they return as to how they got on over the weekend so come on PH get it sorted and make sure this story gets followed through

[PILCH 23]

Best of luck to Mach 2. It has been while since it was in CCC. I was reading that article a couple of days again. It would be great to see more footage. I'm sure it will feature on You Tube after the event if it gets a few timed runs. It does not get much coverage on www.rs200.org but i will email Justin Smith to let him know about this story.

[Stevie Mojo]

What a beast!