RE: Bikes vs cars up Pikes Peak
Monday 13th August 2012
The mid-life crisis motorcycle purchase is an established rite of passage, played out at a corporate level with Audi's acquisition of Ducati. Feeling bit grey, boring and middle-aged? Go out and buy a noisy Italian motorbike! Job done.
Tarmac means bikes now closing on carsNow to the marketing department to create that previously unrecognised brand synergy, the location for this four- and two-wheeled culture clash being ... Pikes Peak! So that was the reason for all that teaser activity before this weekend's race... The results of Audi's latest love-in with a racy Italian can be seen in the video here and very swish it is too.
Official Audi involvement limited to liveried RS5Which sounds dramatic but was nothing compared with the horrifying crash for Mitsubishi Evo driver Jeremy Foley and co-driver Yuri Kouznetsov, who cartwheeled down the mountain at Mile 16. There is footage and it'll make your blood turn cold but according to the Colorado Springs Gazette both occupants survived, Foley breaking his leg in the crash.
Bikes vs cars up Pikes Peak
Carlin Dunne's Ducati just seconds off the pace of overall winner Rhys Millen in stunning climax to Pikes Peak
Tarmac means bikes now closing on cars
But the real interest has been in the race proper, which took place over the weekend amid various weather-related stoppages. Happily for Audi and Ducati one of the big stories this year has been that the bikes as well as the cars have now cracked the 10-minute barrier, Ducati successfully defending its two-wheeled title and Carlin Dunne coming in third place overall - that includes cars - on his 1200 Multistrada with a 9:52.819, not far off the 9:46.164 winning time of Rhys Millen in his Time Attack class Hyundai Genesis. Romain Dumas in the 911 GT3 R was just fractions back, recording 9:46.181. Given that Dunne's class-winning time last year was 11:11.329 goes to show what a difference the new tarmac course has made to the times, the margin suggesting that an overall win for a bike may well be possible in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile the best the electric cars could manage was 10:15.380 and sixth place for Fumio Nutahara in the Radical-based Toyota EVP002 (a development of its Nurburgring record car), 'Monster' Tajima retiring after an electrical fire put his Monster Sport Pikes Peak Special out of action.
Official Audi involvement limited to liveried RS5
Two wheels or four, the racer the Gazette quoted as saying "the mountain was angry" sounded about bang on the money.
Full results here.
Discussion
tosh.brice said:
Wow!.. He did well to get out with just a broken leg!!!Get well soon!..
Dont know what you lot are on about with the video being boring. Gorgeous cinematography and scenery, great music, and a cool bike and car that i heretofore had no desire for, until that video. The new Multistrada doesn't really float my boat, former owner of 1st gen here, and i've ridden pillion on the new one with a fat man riding it (dont ask) but it looked cool as hell in Corse colours knee and almost elbow down up Pike's peak. And the auto-only RS5 doesn't really do it for me either compared with say the RWD manual Ford Mustang 302 or BMW M3 but it looked very cool in those colours barrelling up that mountain. Granted there was no drifting but I thought that everyone was over that fad after the 1000th Ken Block video came out and everyone in GG was whingeing about it 
Shame that the rest of the States isn't as pretty (in general) as Colorado
Shame that the rest of the States isn't as pretty (in general) as Colorado
slevin911 said:
Agreed,the future of Ducati looks rather dull.Look what happened when BMW took over husqvarna.Car makes should just stick to cars.
Yes because the post-R80 G/S BMW corp has been really dull I'd agree with you if you said that in the 80s or even 90s but not in the last 10 yrs or so. If anything they're much more exciting than Honda, Yamaha et al. The HP2 Sport, HP2 Megamoto and Enduro, R1200GS, F800GS, K1200R, S1000RR and HP4 are hardly "dull!"
Audi owns Ducati because Piech is a bike nut and probably wont have a huge amount of involvement in it. Hell, Harley Davidson owned MV a while back and i dont think anything changed at all
[quote=MC Bodge]
Didn't the faster 'unlimited' cars fail to finish?
-The wining time was 9:46. Last year, Tajima did it in 9:51, partially on gravel.
What would John McGuinness on a faster WSB/MotoGP bike manage?
Exactly...if a manufacture came in with a pro driver/rider they would clean up. WSB or motoGP or LMP1, WRC would all clinically dissect the hill instead of messing about in clumpy road cars, hot rods or naked bikes. F1, GP2, hillclimb prototypes the list goes on they will come in time now it's Tarmac and so officially ruined.
The bespoke nature of the track previous was too much of a compromise for a committed race car/bike. It lent itself to high downforce, overpowered 4 wheel drive specials to pull the wings thought the air. Now less wing, rear wheel drive, mid engines prototypes will disappear into the sunset. Audi E-TRON into the 8's....surely!?
R.I.P pug 405T16, Quattro, Tacoma and all the history and legends that climbed to the top through dust, rain and rocks
Didn't the faster 'unlimited' cars fail to finish?
-The wining time was 9:46. Last year, Tajima did it in 9:51, partially on gravel.
What would John McGuinness on a faster WSB/MotoGP bike manage?
Exactly...if a manufacture came in with a pro driver/rider they would clean up. WSB or motoGP or LMP1, WRC would all clinically dissect the hill instead of messing about in clumpy road cars, hot rods or naked bikes. F1, GP2, hillclimb prototypes the list goes on they will come in time now it's Tarmac and so officially ruined.
The bespoke nature of the track previous was too much of a compromise for a committed race car/bike. It lent itself to high downforce, overpowered 4 wheel drive specials to pull the wings thought the air. Now less wing, rear wheel drive, mid engines prototypes will disappear into the sunset. Audi E-TRON into the 8's....surely!?
R.I.P pug 405T16, Quattro, Tacoma and all the history and legends that climbed to the top through dust, rain and rocks
Edited by Renomaxi on Monday 13th August 18:27
BlackPrince said:
slevin911 said:
Agreed,the future of Ducati looks rather dull.Look what happened when BMW took over husqvarna.Car makes should just stick to cars.
Yes because the post-R80 G/S BMW corp has been really dull I'd agree with you if you said that in the 80s or even 90s but not in the last 10 yrs or so. If anything they're much more exciting than Honda, Yamaha et al. The HP2 Sport, HP2 Megamoto and Enduro, R1200GS, F800GS, K1200R, S1000RR and HP4 are hardly "dull!"
Audi owns Ducati because Piech is a bike nut and probably wont have a huge amount of involvement in it. Hell, Harley Davidson owned MV a while back and i dont think anything changed at all
Seriously good times for the electrics in there. Even closer to the ice cars than ever and catching fast
The Toyota prototype was a full minute slower than its v8 counterpart round the ring. Now on a circuit 50% longer the difference between the best petrols is 30 seconds. Maybie next year
The Toyota prototype was a full minute slower than its v8 counterpart round the ring. Now on a circuit 50% longer the difference between the best petrols is 30 seconds. Maybie next year
I'd estimate the best time for cars be quite easily improved by some 15-20secs still if the weather just stays fine. This time bikes got to run in pretty much perfect weather in the morning whereas some of the cars suffered from rain up in the mountain. E.g Dumas lost some 10sec in the last leg alone against Dunne, while he was seconds quicker in each of the first three legs. Also Millen beating Dumas wasn't that big news as he ran later and did get better conditions up there, from what we heard and saw. But that's the nature of the event.
Also a pity for Tajima to suffer a technical failure. His pace seemed very strong, maybe even the strongest of them all. That electrical racer sure was quick and Tajima defnitely knows the track. Low nines next year?
An impressive event in every way!
Also a pity for Tajima to suffer a technical failure. His pace seemed very strong, maybe even the strongest of them all. That electrical racer sure was quick and Tajima defnitely knows the track. Low nines next year?
An impressive event in every way!
audi managing to make pikes peak look dull...
how it should look
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siKlrTF9Baw
yes its a public road but very, very slow speed limits
how it should look
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siKlrTF9Baw
yes its a public road but very, very slow speed limits
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