Friday 25th June 2010

Hyundai And Suzuki Join Battle At Pikes Peak

Magic 10-minute marker could fall this weekend on the famous Colorado mountain

---

Could this be the year that the famous Pikes Peak hill climb is finally run in less than 10 minutes? Rhys Millen, with his brand-new Hyundai challenger certainly hopes so.

The Hyundai Genesis PM580 might look like an oddly proportioned refugee from Le Mans, and it might not have the most glamorous badge on its nose, but the bizarre Hyundai ought to have more than half a chance.

It's powered by a 750hp, turbocharged 4.1-litre V6, weighs a smidgen over 860kg and has enough aero trickery to keep it pretty glued to the ground.

On the other hand, Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima - who took the overall record away from Rhys's father Rod Millen back in 2007 - might have something to say about that.

Tajima is desperate to be the first to break the magic 10-minute barrier, and this year he's bringing the latest version of his Suzuki SX4 special. This has a whopping 910hp 3.1-litre twin-turbo V6 and a newly wind-tunnel refined body, although it does weigh-in at 225kg more than its Hyundai rival.

So: Hyundai vs Suzuki vs a 12.4-mile, 156-turn hillclimb. Should be a pretty close fight then, and one that will be resolved this Sunday in Colorado.

[PascalBuyens]

Ohhh... Shame there's no footage over here of that

[soad]

Oh, so they'll have a battle on their hands - I reckon those (upcoming) youtube videos will be a blast to watch.

[CliveM]

Damn that should be good to watch.
Is there anything like this in the UK? I thought hillclimbs were a tad more sedate here....?

[drb5]

Nothing viewable over the internet at all?

[ManOpener]

CliveM said:

Damn that should be good to watch.
Is there anything like this in the UK? I thought hillclimbs were a tad more sedate here....?

A tad more sedate? Some of the singe seaters and Sports Libre racers can do incredible times. 1.5KM in 49.1 seconds is the record at Harewood.



Eep.

-EDIT-

Edited to say- there's a lot of quite long straights on the Pikes Peak. The longest straight on a UK hillclimb is about 200m!

Edited by ManOpener on Friday 25th June 13:33

[sootyrumble]

The videos of rhys driving are crazy both he and Tajima are phonemonaly talented drivers i fancy the hyundai to do it though :-)

[The Trig]

Looks a crazy weapon

Video of Testing

[keith2.2]

ManOpener said:

CliveM said:

Damn that should be good to watch.
Is there anything like this in the UK? I thought hillclimbs were a tad more sedate here....?

A tad more sedate? Some of the singe seaters and Sports Libre racers can do incredible times. 1.5KM in 49.1 seconds is the record at Harewood.



Eep.

-EDIT-

Edited to say- there's a lot of quite long straights on the Pikes Peak. The longest straight on a UK hillclimb is about 200m!

Edited by ManOpener on Friday 25th June 13:33

Whilst I'm a fan of sprints and hill climbs, and I do take your point, I can't help feel that you're comparing parallel parking to prodding a sleepy lion with a spoon.

[sootyrumble]

keith2.2 said:

ManOpener said:

CliveM said:

Damn that should be good to watch.
Is there anything like this in the UK? I thought hillclimbs were a tad more sedate here....?

A tad more sedate? Some of the singe seaters and Sports Libre racers can do incredible times. 1.5KM in 49.1 seconds is the record at Harewood.



Eep.

-EDIT-

Edited to say- there's a lot of quite long straights on the Pikes Peak. The longest straight on a UK hillclimb is about 200m!

Edited by ManOpener on Friday 25th June 13:33

Whilst I'm a fan of sprints and hill climbs, and I do take your point, I can't help feel that you're comparing parallel parking to prodding a sleepy lion with a spoon.

brilliant and i agree with the sentiment, watch a video they have huge drops near the top it must take balls of steel to do

[dgmx5]

http://www.usacracing.com/ppihc/ppihc_live

Live coverage on Sunday from 9am (presumably CST?) so I expect about 4pm GMT.

Not sure about race schedule, but looking at the competitor list I was surprised to find that there are more bikes than cars and in terms of serious competition for the 10min mark I would think there will only be the Hyundai and the SX4 (I doubt the other entry in the unlimited class will challenge as it's a 1999 Chevy).

Perhaps the open wheel class is very competitive, but generally there's a distinct lack of exotica in the field.

http://director.usacracing.com/ppihc/files/pdfs/co...

Edited by dgmx5 on Friday 25th June 14:06

[ManOpener]

sootyrumble said:

keith2.2 said:

ManOpener said:

CliveM said:

Damn that should be good to watch.
Is there anything like this in the UK? I thought hillclimbs were a tad more sedate here....?

A tad more sedate? Some of the singe seaters and Sports Libre racers can do incredible times. 1.5KM in 49.1 seconds is the record at Harewood.



Eep.

-EDIT-

Edited to say- there's a lot of quite long straights on the Pikes Peak. The longest straight on a UK hillclimb is about 200m!

Edited by ManOpener on Friday 25th June 13:33

Whilst I'm a fan of sprints and hill climbs, and I do take your point, I can't help feel that you're comparing parallel parking to prodding a sleepy lion with a spoon.

brilliant and i agree with the sentiment, watch a video they have huge drops near the top it must take balls of steel to do

Point taken- that said, Pikes Peak cars are generally multi-million-dollar manufacturer funded pet projects, whilst British hillclimb and sprint racers are usually built in sheds, from defunct Formula class racers or steel tubing, and powered by old Cosworth and Judd engines or tweaked production powerplants. In terms of not dying in a fireball, I know which one I'd rather be sitting in.

[sootyrumble]

ManOpener said:

sootyrumble said:

keith2.2 said:

ManOpener said:

CliveM said:

Damn that should be good to watch.
Is there anything like this in the UK? I thought hillclimbs were a tad more sedate here....?

A tad more sedate? Some of the singe seaters and Sports Libre racers can do incredible times. 1.5KM in 49.1 seconds is the record at Harewood.



Eep.

-EDIT-

Edited to say- there's a lot of quite long straights on the Pikes Peak. The longest straight on a UK hillclimb is about 200m!

Edited by ManOpener on Friday 25th June 13:33

Whilst I'm a fan of sprints and hill climbs, and I do take your point, I can't help feel that you're comparing parallel parking to prodding a sleepy lion with a spoon.

brilliant and i agree with the sentiment, watch a video they have huge drops near the top it must take balls of steel to do

Point taken- that said, Pikes Peak cars are generally multi-million-dollar manufacturer funded pet projects, whilst British hillclimb and sprint racers are usually built in sheds, from defunct Formula class racers or steel tubing, and powered by old Cosworth and Judd engines or tweaked production powerplants. In terms of not dying in a fireball, I know which one I'd rather be sitting in.

Ummm some of them but monster builds his own car and races it hes an ex rally driver and owns a tuning company, plus if you watch some videos of the open wheeled class they are exactly what you describe but with GM V8's instead. These two cars race in the "unlimited class" which is just mental but they have many more traditional style cars doing it

[nelly_h]

Is that British team with the 1150bhp RS200 back there this year (Mach 2 racing)? They appeared pretty keen after problems last time round.

Pikes Peak is an amazing event. I'm surprised (and disappointed) Motors TV or Dave haven't picked up a highlights package yet

Edited by nelly_h on Friday 25th June 14:21

[Sevenman]

ManOpener said:

Point taken- that said, Pikes Peak cars are generally multi-million-dollar manufacturer funded pet projects, whilst British hillclimb and sprint racers are usually built in sheds, from defunct Formula class racers or steel tubing, and powered by old Cosworth and Judd engines or tweaked production powerplants. In terms of not dying in a fireball, I know which one I'd rather be sitting in.

The Pikes Peak top racers are factory funded teams, but British Hillclimbing has some seriously quick cars which aren't all built in sheds... top teams use machines from companies such as Gould. Plus there are the home-built things, production modified, or road-going standard.

While the events don't have the drops pf Pikes Peak, the courses can be very tight and fast. Speeds coming into the bottom S at Shelsley can be near 150 mph, which given the width of track, braking zone and run-off gives plenty of challenge. And you can get close to the action.

lots of run-off

broken

start

quattro

Not as epic as Pikes Peak, but good British motorsport

[randombloke]

Would it be a first to request a Hyundai "pic of the week"?

[ManOpener]

Sevenman said:

quattro

Not as epic as Pikes Peak, but good British motorsport

I love that Quattro. Dialynx produce some mad stuff. Personal favorite having seen it a few years ago (mind you not Dialynx):




Phwoar.

Anyways, back on-topic: the RS200 that got run last year is back? Would love to see that running,

Edited by ManOpener on Friday 25th June 14:39

[davido140]

The Trig said:

Looks a crazy weapon

Video of Testing

[leon9191]

davido140 said:

The Trig said:

Looks a crazy weapon

Video of Testing

Oh my that is quite something.

I want one.

[sootyrumble]

This is a video of Rhys Millen when he broke the rear wheel drive record in the hyundai genesis coupe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfF55LIxZo4

[GingerWizard]

I would feel quite sad if Tajima was not the first to go sub 10min. Maybe its the reporting over the years, but in my mind he is king of that hill... no doubt.