Pikes Peak - Does anyone really care?

[Tomi]

Tomi - Rod Millen & Monster Tajima not real drivers?

Neider 1 is a top WRC driver in my opinion, to create some interest to some village event I think it would be good to bring there many world level drivers at the same time, the place is not the thing that makes an event great in my opinion its the level of the competitors, same goes for all sports.

[xavier]

Maybe if some proper drivers would do those hill climbing events at the same time people would get interested, 1 real driver every 10 years cant keep people interested is my guess.

I think it's pretty arrogant to assume that unless a driver is competing in the WRC they are not real drivers....

Are the French or Finnish driver competting in their national championship not real driver? You dont go see local rally?

I am surprise to read the reaction about pikes peak, the track is challenging, the site is nice, the car are pretty beefy!

Are you guys reacting that way on the assumption americans don't and can't know what rallying is?

[Tomi]

I think it's pretty arrogant to assume that unless a driver is competing in the WRC they are not real drivers....

Are the French or Finnish driver competting in their national championship not real driver? You dont go see local rally?

I am surprise to read the reaction about pikes peak, the track is challenging, the site is nice, the car are pretty beefy!

Are you guys reacting that way on the assumption americans don't and can't know what rallying is?

The question was, why are not people much interested in the pikes peak. French and Finnish drivers in their national championship is national level drivers, i dont think it would help much if national level drivers would go and drive there, to get people and media interested you need world level drivers to compete.
Offcourse i go and see local rally, but im not very surprised if someone in Vanuatu is not interested in our local championship.

[sollitt]

Neider 1 is a top WRC driver in my opinion............. to create some interest to some village event..........

Tomi, you truly are a ****er!

Rod Millen holds the all time record up the mountain. Faster than your precious WRC drivers in their GrpB rockets.

The event, rather than being a "village event" was one of the world's premier motorsport events. It was names like Andretti & Unser that made it so, not Rorhl & Vatanen. They were mere interlopers who really added no colour whatsoever.

[Tomi]

Tomi, you truly are a ****er!

Rod Millen holds the all time record up the mountain. Faster than your precious WRC drivers in their GrpB rockets.

The event, rather than being a "village event" was one of the world's premier motorsport events. It was names like Andretti & Unser that made it so, not Rorhl & Vatanen. They were mere interlopers who really added no colour whatsoever.

The keyword is still "was" one. Records are made to be broken so whats the point.

[Josti]

Tomi, you truly are a ****er!

Rod Millen holds the all time record up the mountain. Faster than your precious WRC drivers in their GrpB rockets.

The event, rather than being a "village event" was one of the world's premier motorsport events. It was names like Andretti & Unser that made it so, not Rorhl & Vatanen. They were mere interlopers who really added no colour whatsoever.

Doesn´t matter who´s faster, as Tomi said records are to be broken. Your quite wrong to say that cars like the Quattro S1 and the 405 T16 did not added any colour. I can´t help to remember even Bobbie Unser was overexcited about the S1. With all do respect, most people will refer to Vatanen, Röhrl and Mouton instead of Millen, Andretti or Unser. Nothing strange when rallyfans get interested when actual top WRC drivers enter the event.

[Bjorn240]

I've done the event 2 or 3 times. 2, I think. It's totally forgettable. Quite poor organization who seem to think they're running the Monaco F1 race. Road wide enough to spin a TIR tractor and not go off. And totally dull in anything but a 1200hp force-fed tube-framed rocket. So care to watch it? No. I couldn't bear it from the co-driver's seat - following results on the internet doesn't seem more exciting. Though it would save me the lectures from the organizers, I suppose.

[WRXedUSA]

Never been, never will.

When it was part of the USAC crown, and during the '80's, it was.

Today it's not.

After Tajima breaks the record this year, they should retire the race. There are just too many problems to mention with it.

Leaving on Thursday though...

[jeffy]

Ran it 3 times (02-04) as part of the SCCA rally division, and the hill itself is fantastic (It truely is sad that green nazis have dictated it being paved).
My first rallydriver (Colin McCleery) is running it this year in his Ford Sierra turned XR-8.
Everything else that Bjorn240 said is spot on. Slow car = total boredom.
Organizer is a pompous *ss, and does little to respect the backgrounds of other racers. IMHO the hillclimb has inbreeding issues in respect with entries, that and with the way 95% of Americains want to view motorsports (Full view ovals). I think it's doomed. Very sad.

[WRCfan]

Pikes Peak has recieved a lot more publicity since Andrew Hawkeswood took his "mitsubishi evo skin" monster to the mountain. 700BHP spaceframe with bolt on panels. An impressive piece of kit it is! Seen it in New Zealand drifting on a dirt oval, the noise, backfiring and overall presence of the car left the crowd with their mouths hanging open. He won his class from memory too.

As well as having the Queenstown Race to the Sky hillclimb which Rod Millen and Monster Tajima frequent. Also having Possum Bourne killed in preparation for the event all rally fans know about hillclimb and love it because of Possum's passion for the event. A true hero was Possum.

WRCfan