Pikes Peak Day 3

Another easy morning, up at 6:30 for breakfast before hitting the road for tech and registration. Everything went smoothly at registration as everyone now has their credentials. Tech followed suit and no major hiccups meant we were ahead of schedule for the rest of the day. First on the agenda was a trip to the local Brakes Plus where we got our suspension aligned to suit the road conditions, tires and new suspension. A few overly-rallied parts made adjustments a bit tough but we managed the settings we were looking for eventually. While aligning, our California contingent arrived on the scene with a truck full of scooters and the pieces of our Subaru engine we've been waiting on for 2 years. It may be in pieces but at least it's on its way back home. We split them up and sent our rally tech Roy off with Paul C and Wes to Denver to get the car dynoed. The remaining 3 cali techs went off to the campsite to get settled in while we made our first trip up Pikes Peak.

The handful of us left from the campsite for the mountain and made it up to the toll booth only to realize I had about 1/8 of a tank of fuel to get to the summit and back. A trip to the nearest gas station followed. As this is my fourth year up the mountain, everything is extremely familiar and it's starting to feel like I was just here yesterday. Just driving the car along the start line, I start to feel the excitement of race day and the pressure from the mountain. I have three guys who have never been on the mountain who are quietly taking it all in while I describe each corner in detail along with the driving line necessary not just for the corner but to properly set up for the next corner as well. I know most of the 156 corners, a few I still mix up but overall I'm prepared to climb the mountain for the second year without a co-driver. We struggled last year on the top section with an extremely loose gravel surface we weren't properly prepared for. I spent a good deal of time studying the surface today and will do the same every day up until the hillclimb noting any change. After the climb, we did lunch at Mildred's cafe at the bottom of the mountain who we learned serves one of the meanest cheesesteak's the world has to offer.

While I was studying for the week ahead, the car was on the dyno in Denver putting out impressive numbers. A few adjustments to the air/fuel ratio among other things brought us horsepower that is significantly improved from last year. Barring any unforeseen problems (at the mountain's discretion), we are looking good for a significant improvement on last years time of just under 13 minutes.

While the car was on its way back from the dyno, I left the guys to clean up camp and went into town for the drivers meeting. The usual was covered.. parking, new regulations, timing transponders, etc. Nothing too exciting and as usual my name was called as "Dave....Ca..Cara....... Dave C?"

Back at camp now, a new master cylinder for our handbrake just arrived and Wes and Roy are at work on that along with a few other adjustments in preparation for our first practice in the morning. Paul C is working on preparing dinner and has a handful of people filling fuel jugs, loading tools, lighting fire for BBQ and making service lists.

That's a wrap for day three, more to come tomorrow morning after practice.

Pikes Peak Day 2 Morning

Camp was quick and easy to set up last night, no complaints from any of the crew. Paul C made a fire while everyone else cleaned out the cargo area in the trailer and set up air mattresses. Wes, the king of snore opted, for the sake of our friendship, to pitch a tent. After sausage wraps and salad, sleep took everyone out quick.

Most people were up and working by about 7:30, some people as late as 8. Pancakes fried with bacon and eggs got people moving. A team meeting gets everything into full swing and within minutes tarps, tools, canopies and tires are organized and the site is ready for a week of work.


The brakes on the car have been squishy and ugly for a while now and we've narrowed it down to a few remaining suspects. Some of them are expensive and impossible to source before race day, some are easy. After some deliberation and experimentation, an adjustment to the brake bias along with a few secret adjustments brought a rock hard brake pedal. So far it has stayed firm, we won't know if we've found a cure or a bandaid until we hit the mountain Wednesday.

The new turbo we just put on the day before leaving hasn't been run at full operating temp or under load yet so we found some leaky crush washers and a few hands under the hood get it fixed quick.

Paul C is back with our flatbed Uhaul we'll be using to transport the car around town for the week and everybody is breaking for sandwiches and carrots. Good timing as the first sprinkle of the daily Colorado showers is beginning to come down.

Pikes Peak Day 1

Pikes Peak Day 1

Departure was a miraculous 6 am, just an hour behind schedule. Other than bags and food, only a handful of items had to be packed last minute. Apparently planning works fairly well.

The drive was nice and smooth at first until our mechanic Wes noticed tire noise around Dallas. Nobody put it on paper and as we learn, if it doesn't get put on a list it doesn't get done. So we cruise a while longer, the truck getting worse than expected fuel mileage. At the next stop, a kick to the passenger inside dually tire revealed a flat. We poked along to the next town and lucked into a podunk tire shop who happened to be open as a trucker had called an emergency service call in for the same reason as us. We chatted them up for a bit, made some new friends and got the truck back together. While waiting in scenic Quanah, Tx for our tire to be patched, we see a familiar truck go by and of all people it happens to be our good buddy Jeff from Boulder Creek Farms. We've spent the past two weeks testing with him and were apparently trekking the same highway as his family.

Back on the road, we get all the way from Quanah to Dalhart, Tx before a trucker waves us down to notify us of another flat.. this time on the trailer. We bring the trailer into Dalhart with a beautifully shredded tire and back the rig up so the flat axle is hanging over a curb and we swap out for the spare. We're now out of trailer spares and managed to forget the truck spare and luck doesn't appear to be on our side. It will be a miracle if we make it the remaining few hundred miles.

With a good deal of luck and careful driving, both truck and trailer make landfall at camp in Cascade, Colorado at 9pm local time.. Our exact scheduled arrival time. Take into account leaving an hour late, the hour we gained in mountain time and two flat tires, that's pretty darned good!