Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2007

Day –3, Departure, Friday July 13, 2007

We were supposed to leave at 5am today, but due to an airsoft BB to the eye two days prior the driver ended up going to an emergency care facility because of increased pain. No damage, just trash which needed to be flushed out, but 3 hours spent in the ER waiting. We end up leaving town around 3-4PM, crashing in North Texas south of Dumas.

Day –2, Travel, Saturday July 14, 2007

After eating a hearty breakfast in downtown Dumas, we visit one of our crewmembers grandparents house which turns out to be quite interesting as grandpa is a craftsman of many things, including gunstocks, knives, and various leather products. We finish our visit with a Coke and a Snickers and finish our day at the RV park which will be our HQ for the next week in Green Mountain Falls, CO.

Day –1, Sunday July 15, 2007

We spend the day getting the car “ready” for the event, starting with technical inspection which will be on Monday. Our to-do list is long, and we discover today the car we purchased a month ago (and spent a month getting ready) that was “ready to go” is missing a sub belt. Half-*** fix includes a stop at the local speed shop for some Simpson belts which we discover are 6” short of the shoulder bars welded almost in the trunk (damn Europeans) and therefore will do us no good. Onto plan-b…

Also, drive up the mountain for the first time in the recce car with the crew onboard. The 2 of us that are Motorsports inclined take notes which turn out to be surprisingly accurate considering what I know about stage notes consists of various languages in WRC footage, and the other crewmember co-drove at Paris last year which uses route books (whatever that means… I wasn’t kidding when I said I know incredibly little about rally).

Day 0, Inspection, Monday July 16, 2007

Inspection day. We finish up the necessary things to get our sticker and myself and the crew take the car over so we can get registered. Inspection goes smoothly, and we get our sticker. There’s a video on YouTube that includes a picture of the driver of #725 standing next to the car in line… it’s actually the crew chief.

With sticker in hand we finish getting the car ready, which includes getting tires mounted on our only set of rims for the week and doing suspension setup in the wavy, decomposed granite RV space. No wonder toe was about an inch too much. Driver goes to sleep early after reviewing notes with codriver, and the crew goes to bed late around midnight.

Day 1, Practice – Middle Section, Tuesday July 17, 2007

We get up at 3am to load the truck and head up the mountain for our first practice day. At this point its important to mention the car has been driven for probably 5 minutes since purchase a month prior, with only about 2 minutes of practice after nearly completely redoing the car. First session out, we keep popping ECU fuses. This problem is fixed by putting in a 20A fuse and covering up the new bare-ended wire found in the cockpit. We’ve also got an overheating problem… and a backwards running fan. Second run to the top reveals the car is overboosting – about 13psi, to be exact. The crew for the previous owner recalls the Stack info and boost is cranked down. Overheating is reduced, but still a problem.

After practice the team heads back to camp for some much needed rest, then off to Denver to pick up and drop off some needed parts, pick up our “expert” “crew chief”, and make a run to the dyno. Trip to the dyno ends up being nearly completely useless, as we adjust fuel pressure manually and ignore the Autronic ECU thanks to our high-rev tuna. We also learn that chances are high we have stretched head studs and/or a blown headgasket from the overboosting, and purchase replacements of each. Our expert crew chief says he’s going to change head studs tonight and we’ll have the headgasket in case we need it. Get back to Colo Springs around 9 and part of the crew and the expert crew chief stay up “working” on the car until 2, at which point they attempt to load the car on the trailer by revving it to 5k and killing it, getting the front wheels on the trailer and giving up. Net car change: installed new sub belt on navi’s side, reinstalled foot plate, made half-*** intake separator which was not installed.

Day 2, Practice – Upper Section, Wednesday July 18, 2007

Crew again wakes up at 3am to head to the mountain for practice. We finish getting the car loaded, back the truck and trailer up to turn around, and discover the left front truck tire is completely flat. At this point it’s about 3:45, which is about when we’re supposed to be going through the toll booth, 15 minutes away. Driver and crew give up and go to sleep after the truck is backed up to our paddock.

Once everybody gets up, we start working on the car. Header/downpipe get wrapped with heat wrap, intake and charge pipe are wrapped in fiberglass and aluminum tape to look like breakfast tacos, and a new intake separator is fabricated. While wrapping the downpipe, I discovered it was up against a solid object so tightly I couldn’t fit a piece of paper between them, must less the heat wrap. Upon closer inspection, I realize this solid object is in fact the oil pan. A little info about the car: 1999 Mitsubishi Evolution 6.5 (Tommi Makinen edition) with Evo 8 engine/turbo and anti-lag. Exhaust when anti-lag is turned on is probably in the neighborhood of 7-800 degrees. Head studs still not changed. At some point during all this, we make a trip to town to get some various spares like a water pump and thermostat, in case we need them to fix our overheating problem. While at the Mitsubishi dealership (thanks Rick and Bob!) we decide to forego the thermostat and see if that helps fix our problem. Then we head to the Hyundai dealership down the street to get an alignment and tire swap. Ed. Note: laser alignment machines are awesome.

Day 3, Qualifying – Lower Section, Thursday July 19, 2007

Same routine, up at 3am to get to the mountain for qualifying. First session out, driver reports overheating is extremely reduced but still a little hot – 220-230 by the end of the section. Car handles great, even if our settings are counter what Mitsu people say. We run a 5:43.097. Change tire pressures and jack up the rear coilovers to try and reduce tire rub and head out for session 2. Almost 10 seconds faster, at 5:33.467 – and, less than a second slower than Rhys in the 2wd Time Attack class. Car feels fine, no real reason to go out again without changing things as driver reports he was pushing the car as far as he would in practice/qualifying. I advise a shock setting change, to 4 from 2. Last session, go out and run a 5:31.158. Rhys doesn’t go out for 3rd session, so we end up qualifying on pole for Time Attack 4wd a second and a half ahead of Rhys Millen in Time Attack 2wd. Hey everybody, look at the band of badass 20 year olds from Texas! (we forget to mention our balding 40’s crew chief and financier)

Qualifying on pole for class means mandatory attendance at Fan Fest downtown tonight for an hour, starting at 5PM. It’s at this point I reveal a tiny part of the behind the scenes story, and that is great turmoil and pissing and moaning, but beyond that I won’t expand because it isn’t necessary. Driver and I leave early to relax and de-stress while crew brings car to Fan Fest under the thought that time apart will allow everybody to relax. By the end of the evening, we realize this had the opposite effect as the other side spent 6 hours stewing and creating stories which did not exist. Fan fest was a success, signed many autographs, set off the anti-lag next to a downtown building for 15 minutes sending children and women running and screaming. Head studs still unchanged.

Day 4, Rest, Friday July 20, 2007

Friday is supposed to be a day of rest for those with their **** together, or in our case, a day of work for things left undone. After the previous nights festivities (not talking about Fan Fest…) head studs get changed and run in, we groove the tires for the gravel, and enjoy a delicious dinner. Early to bed even though we get to sleep in until 5am for race day.

Day 5, RACE Day, Saturday July 21, 2007

Get up the mountain during sunrise and get our paddock spot. Race day is pretty insane, people walking everywhere, constant car traffic up the mountain even though hundreds of people come in the night before and camp overnight, and all the race cars sitting around getting warmed up. First car at 9am, we’re the second run group and opted to be last car. Myself and crew hike up a couple turns into the mountain to watch, and pick a pretty good spot. A Right 5 after a short straight another Right 4+ (or 5, I don’t remember). After all the other Time Attack cars come through Dave comes in making tons of noise (anti-lag on and working), clips the corner, and flings dirt and asphalt onto the track; crowd cheers wildly. We have some little FRS radios, and after watching a bunch more cars make it through including Lisa Klassen’s 2 cylinder Evo 9 (or 8, whatever it is) we hike a little further up and make radio contact with Dave, who tells us he made it in 12:54 and in second place. Second place?! Apparently the yellow WRX wagon that was 11 seconds behind us in Qualifying had an excellent run, and despite being 4 seconds behind us at 16 mile, ended up 5 seconds ahead of us at the finish. Not too surprising once we saw in-car and discovered the top gravel and car were so loose Dave didn’t have enough confidence to run proper lines or push the car through turns with insane drop-offs. Even so, the crew and everybody were stoked as all get-out because we were the fastest car all week up to 16 mile on race day, and put on a damn good showing.