The World Drifting Champion Rhys Millen recently raced his new highly modified RMR poweredHyundai Genesis coupe up the 12.4 mile hill climb course that consists of over 150 turns, many of which have no safety barrier and the consequences of running wide is a quick trip down the side of the mountain. However the multi disciplined driver had no prooblem tckling the hill, and broke the record for a 2WD Time Attack production based car in his 17th attempt conquering Pikes Peak, reaching the finish line in 12 minutes and 9.39 seconds.
The blue oval recently introduced a highly modified version of the Ford Fiesta that competed in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with rally aces Andreas Eriksson and Marcus Grönholm at a press launch in Colorado springs back on June 14. Neither driver was bashful about showing off what the lightweight all wheel drive Fiestas could do with their 800 HP turbocharged 2.0 Liter four cylinder engines.
Both the Finnish two time World Rally Champion Grönholm and the Swedish Eriksson then stepped out of their cars and took off their helmets to say a few words to the crowd, the conversation mainly focussed around the team’s tight 3 day training schedule. In a recent conversation with the Fiesta Brand Manager Sam de la Garza, he was most excited about the whole program came together so successfully in such a very short period of time. You can expect to see a pair of caged Fiesta’s competing in ESPN’s X-Games 15 a little later on this week.
Just last week, classic racers were screaming up the hill outside Lord March’s estate at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Have a look back at a previous year’s festival when the Pikes Peak champion Rod Millen brought his record setting Toyota Tacoma race truck to England.
Here to help you get through the beginning of the work week and just in time for a lunch break, we here at Top Speed bring you the award winning short film, Climb Dance. The video features rally legend Ari Vatanen in the Peugeot 405 T16 climbing Pikes Peak in a way that you have never seen before. Enjoy!