June 26: Peaking on Pike's Peak

Just your average peak, Pike's Peak, that is. A nice little hill of average height in Colorado. Just under three miles (or just under 5 kms for us Canucks) in elevation, but with a wicked switchback road to the summit. Just the locale to test your nerves with a death defying run to the top on a road without barriers. Fall off and we never hear from you again, at least not without a medium's help.

Since Everest doesn't have a road to the top, what better place to trot out your skills once a year in June?See how quickly you can run to the top and rise to the top in the opinion of others knowledgeable in what have you accomplished. Run against that one thing that you cannot change......time.

How serious is this run to the summit? Take a look at the purpose built machinery that has tried it..........

........and the manufacturers that have affixed their names to that machinery and you can get an idea of the esteem in which this event and the winners are held.........

Nothing like this will ever be found in a showroom, but the hoped for result is apparently worth all this effort. Kind of strange, since this little subculture of motorsport doesn't hit the main stream media and often isn't even bragged about by the companies involved. Let me know when you see the fastest suv prize shown in a Bentley ad........

But each year nutball drivers test their nerves against this unforgiving piece of geography. Knowing that a wrong turn could be their last turn..........

2018 proved to be a milestone event. How so? VW came to the mountain with millions invested in the biggest gun they could engineer and made it electric, the I.D. R . Can't get any more cutting edge than that, electric and a name that rolls off the tongue like a hulk of lead.

Did it pay off? That might be an understatement, as this electric missile cruised to the summit in just under eight minutes, breaking the five year old record by sixteen seconds! In a sport that measures accomplishments in tenths of a second, that is breaking down the door in incredible fashion. Like taking a bazooka to a knife fight.

Now, what to do with whatever info they have gained? Look for other mountains to climb? Whatever, it shows the importance of this relatively unknown event (at least to the general public).

By the way, this road is open to the innocent year around weather permitting. So next time you and the family vacation in Colorado, try a little run up the hill. Remember, 7 minutes and 57 seconds is the number to beat.

Until next time......