Pike's Peak Hill Climb Race ~ Pike's Peak Or Bust... It Was A Bust 22Jun25

Matt & I arose at 3am to grab our fan bus to Devil's Playground at ~13Kft elevation on Pike's Peak. We grabbed P1 on the first bus out. We chose the highest vantage point from which to view the race due to the large number of turns visible from that point. It was very crowded in the line of cars, and a few buses, to get up the PP Highway to parking spots before the race began ~ I slept a bit on the ride. We liked that we didn't drive and wear out clutches. We arrived and quickly gathered our packs with extra layers and the beer and food coolers for the long day of racing. We hustled out and found a spectacular viewing position.

Unfortunately 80mph winds through our area and @ the peak made it cold and uncomfortable. Nonetheless we stuck it out for hours in all the clothes we brought. We secured our site eventually and went back to the bus to learn of many start time delays due to wind. I get it, the PPHC cars are light and have huge wings and driver safety had to be their greatest concern. Ultimately though the race was shortened to about 50%, finishing at Glen Cove about 5 miles down the mountain. And we, at Devil's Playground were basically stuck without a view of the race. The bus ultimately did leave during about the 3rd class of cars to race; but not with us! They were ultimately only going down 3 miles to a huge queue of vehicles ~ a move to "get closer" to the action, but not much. Matt got a hitchhike ride down and caught up with the bus to drop stuff off and I hiked down and eventually got a short ride to the lineup; I caught up with Matt at the bus and we headed down along the big queue to "view" spot #2. We could only really get to the point a mile after the finish line in time for some of the race and grabbed a seat near the after-drive lineup of cars. Some of them knew the day was shot for race fans mostly and did burnouts in front of us.

We did see the Porsche 911 GT4 Car champ across from us and did see the ultimate winner in a garishly air winged and diffused Mustang E bespoke car idle by. Loni ended in 3rd in class but the turbos weren't as differentiated from the naturally aspirated cars with the course and elevation shortened. And from our un-viewing spot we did meet some cool folks from NE and ND ~ at least Matt & I only drove 25 min to get here.

I did snap a pic of the starting line as we finally left the racecourse as we headed back to our cars. I understand the cautions of shortening and delaying the race... I less understood the need to abandon us and have us hike to the bus. Maybe we'll try again but the mountain always has the last say.

I also will add that I did have to go to the Porsche shop in COS for a quick fix and went into the showroom to see what they had. WOW! This is best inventory of cool Porsches I've ever seen ~ no comparison to others. There were 2 $425K 911 GT3RSs, a yellow Singer of unknown high value, and a 918 Spyder hybrid worth about $1M.