Pike's Peak International Hill Climb and Rally 2005

Keeping my streak of a new co-driver-for-every-event-in-2005 alive, I had yet another new co-driver lined up for Pike's Peak. Her name was Rebecca Greek and she helped right away by making hotel reservations and talking to her friends about altitude tuning. Her local knowledge, friends and experience with the event would continue to be very valuable. When we finally met at registration, her first words to me were, "wow, that really is a rally…truck". I don't think she was very impressed.

Every Rally in the championship has it's own unique quirks that define it's unique personality. One of the unique things about Pike's is the very long schedule that requires almost a week away from home, with stages on Wed, Fri, and Sat. (and practice on Thurs). I would have preferred a more compressed schedule that would have cost less motel nights and vacation days, but we were hoping to make the best of all the down time in the schedule by making this rally more of a vacation-like trip, since Colorado is so beautiful, and we had at least one friend there we hoped to visit. Unfortunately, we were to have no down time…

The event started uncharacteristically well. Pre-event prep and transportation went smoothly. I arrived at registration so early they weren't open yet, so we grabbed a prime service spot (in the Target parking lot) and started working on the minor stuff we didn't get done at home. I set about making my altitude adjustments (changed carb jets and idle mixture), and put on event graphics. We made at least three strolls across the parking lot to Target for stuff we forgot to pack (sun screen, wrench, socket, water, tarp,…)

It would have been nice to have the truck all ready to go before arriving, so that I could have spent Wednesday afternoon doing recce, but in the end, it didn't matter.

Tech inspection went fine, other than the long wait and extreme sunburn I got.

Driving the rally truck around Colorado Springs (6000 ft) was a bit ominous, since my normally cool-running truck (160-180 degrees in MN) was running temps around 190-200 just driving slowly on the highway and around town. I was puzzled and concerned, since my O2 sensor showed I was not jetted lean. Perhaps I didn't have enough cooling capacity for this altitude? What a bummer it would be to put all this effort into this event only to have to putt-putt up the mountain!

The first stages were Wednesday starting at 7:00 PM. These were short, run on the mostly tarmac sections of the road around 8000-9000 feet (the lowest we would run all week) and evening temps were reasonably cool, so this would be the most gentle part of the week on the cooling system. Stage 1 was also very short (~3 miles), so if it over heated here, I was in BIG trouble. Well, I was in BIG trouble… The results did not bode well for the rest of the week: Temps started climbing immediately after the start of Stage 1 and reached 230 degrees at the end of the stage. Stage 2 was scrubbed when one of the first cars rolled. Stage 3 was a real bummer. This stage was longer (~5 miles) and a bit higher on the mountain. About half way through the stage during a 2-1 downshift a heard a now-familiar "clunk". I commented to Rebecca "there goes another CV joint". I shouldn't have said anything, because about 2 miles from the end the temp hit 240 and started spraying steam on to the windshield such that we couldn't see. I'm guessing she was quite unimpressed with my truck at that point… Pike's is it's own famous event (the Pike's Peak International Hill Climb) at which the rally is sort of a guest. There are a few differences that we rallyists need to deal with; one is that the PPIHC staff are afraid of passing situations on their course, so they will red-flag (DNF) cars that are slow or stopped. With temps pushing beyond 230, and "Knowing" coolant mix doesn't boil until around 260, and not wanting to risk a DNF on only the second stage run, I backed off a bit and pressed onward. Pike's peak is called "race to the Clouds", and since the sky was clear, we brought our own clouds to the finish of stage 3, finishing in a huge cloud of steam. I was stunned. I'd expected my cooling system to hold to well over 240 deg. I had neglected to take into account the reduction of holding power of radiator caps at high altitude (low outside pressure). I was very worried that I'd hurt the motor and didn't have many more things I could do to try to get the truck to run the whole 12 miles of the hill climb. Once back to the motel, the work began. Wednesday night I changed brake pads, changed jets to a couple sizes richer (to try to cool the motor), and made a duct tape CV boot to try to get it through practice Thursday morning (since we'd have all day Thursday to work on it). I brainstormed a list of everything we could possibly think of to reduce over heating, and plans to do it. Rebecca went to Home Depot for grease and various sprinkler system parts needed to build a water sprayer system. She also set up delivery of some race gas from her friend's shop.

Thursday was brutally early, with a 3:45 AM departure from the motel. Practice went ok: we ran in 2wd, the duct tape CV boot held, but the richer jetting wasn't helping the temps. Once back to the motel, we replaced the CV shaft (four hours of very hard work). We used another Rebecca connection to get some nitrogen to re-fill the shock (that had been drained to allow CV removal) while dad removed skid plates to get more air flow through the engine compartment. In the dark, I reduced timing 2 deg, made radiator shrouds with roll bar padding, built a water sprayer from sprinkler parts and the windshield washer tank and pump, made jetting even more rich, and rewired the radiator fan to run at higher speed. All this made for another late bed time Thursday and still no recce.

Friday began super early again with a 5:00 AM departure for the second leg of timed stages. We met Rebecca's friends with the race gas at 5:30, and put in 3 gal (all it would take). Three stages were run staring at 7:00. The good news was, we finally had the overheating under control! Even with all the changes, it still needed water spay to keep it cool, but the sprayer did the job. The water spray was a bit tricky, since I needed to drive one-handed to use it. The bad news was, our high spirits at solving the overheating were quickly dashed by yet another broken CV joint. We built another duct tape CV boot in service. I was now out of spare CV shafts, so after the stages I ran to NAPA to get a new one while Dad started removing the broken shaft. With nothing to lose, I decided to add some big washers to shorten the span of the CV axle (since the failure mode was pulling the inner CV apart). After a few trips to various parts stores, I found what I needed and returned to the motel to help Dad finish the CV swap. We also re-positioned the water spray nozzles to prevent it from siphoning the tank dry (before the stage even started), and dumped in more race gas (increasing the mix to about 30% race gas).

All the blood sweat and swearing earlier in the week were made totally worthwhile during the 14 minutes and 22 seconds it took us to complete the 2005 PPIHC. Rebecca and I were both giddy with delight by the time we got to the top. The climb has at least four distinct characters. The lowest section is "real" tarmac road racing. By "real" I mean no safety stuff like at a track. The road is narrow, there are curbs, drop-offs, trees, gravel in random spots, changing camber, varying shoulder width, and other elements that keep your heart racing and test your skills and courage to their limits. Next is the middle altitude "spectator" section. The spectators get crazier and more plentiful as you go higher. By the last few switchbacks where spectators are allowed, they completely line the course and cover the mountainside. The third section is beyond where spectators are allowed. Things become eerily serene here. The vision of sprawling valleys, peaks, and drops are gone, replaced with grey haze since you are getting up into the clouds (if the weather is at all cloudy). It feels like you drive up to see God with the devil in hot pursuit! This is where you hope the car tuning stays strong going and doesn't overheat. Ironically, the fourth significant part of the event is after the finish! The drive down the mountain is not only gorgeous, but the spectators climb down from their various perches to line much of the road down the mountain. It's not just a bunch of crazy drunks either. These are hard core fans who were genuinely thanking us for putting on a show for them to watch. People were holding out kids and dogs for us to shake hands with. One group had hot sandwiches wrapped in foil they were handing to competitors (after camping overnight at over 10,000 feet!) The tradition is that you stick your hand out the window and "high-five" almost every spectator on the hill on the way down. You could even hear emotion in some of their voices. I really felt not at all worthy of this treatment, but what a rush. We had not won anything, but we'd put down a respectable time (especially for a pick-up truck running on ordinary street tires and using 1960s technology), worked well together, pushed hard, and run strong and trouble free all the way to the top. PPIHC is impossible to describe. Even though it was the most expensive and the most work, this single "stage" is without question the most fun and rewarding I've ever done.