Pikes Peak International Hill Climb- Sport Compact Car Magazine

With all that happened at last summer's 79th annual Race to the Clouds near Colorado Springs, Colo., the most significant event is also the most tragic. Chandler Bruning, Super Stock Car driver and five-year PikesPeak competitor was killed qualifying to race in the class his father had won eight times before. It was a troubling end to an impressive week of practice on the 14,110-ft mountain.

Bruning went off on the same corner where Nobihiro Tajima did during last year's race-about three-eighths of a mile from the starting line and the first turn, which all but the fastest cars take with serious speed. The tragedy cast an aura over the event, which both competitors and spectators alike will never forget. It was just the beginning of a series of events which made this year's Pikes Peak Hillclimb a lasting memory.

Despite the tragedy, superb road conditions the week before the race left most competitors anxious about race day. And, in fact, when the dust settled, records were broken in eight of the Peak's 14 divisions. The overall record, however, remains intact.

Perhaps most significant was Rhys Millen's stunning performance in his Mitsubishi-sponsored Lancer Evolution VI in High Performance Showroom Stock. Setting a record pace everyday in practice, Millen blazed up the hill on a set of BFGoodrich's latest drag radials-a new, very soft compound tire, which gripped the Peak's hardened surface with a vengeance. Due to confusion over that tire's official release date and protest from fellow HPSS competitor Jeff Zwart, Millen was unable to use the drag radials on race day. He was forced to step down to BFGoodrich's harder g-Force KD, which, although still a very capable tire, didn't provide the grip of the drag radial and likely slowed Millen's time considerably.

It didn't matter. Millen dusted the existing record in HPSS (which he held at 12:04.61) by more than 6 seconds with an 11:58.53 run. Jeff Zwart was second, passing the finish line quicker than he's done before in his Porsche Turbo at 12:22.68.

Pikes Peak Open, the class for very highly modified rally cars, was a mixed bag this year. With Per Eklund's record-holding Saab rallycross car the favorite during practice, nothing is certain at the Peak until the checkered flag flies at the top of the hill. Eklund had tranny troubles and flatted a tire (see accompanying sidebar), which relegated his sophisticated machine to second place. Winner Jean Pierre Richelmi of Monaco drove an ex-works WRC Toyota Corolla to a quick, but not record-setting 11:34.51.

Also troubling at this year's race was the absence of current overall record holder and the man most likely to lower the mark, Rod Millen. Millen's Unlimited Class Toyota-sponsored machine was put to rest after last year's race when Toyota ended funding to focus its motorsports dollars in other series. But since Millen still controls the car, a last-minute decision to tackle the hill wasn't out of the question.

"Rhys (his son and fellow PPIHC competitor) called and gave me constant updates on the very fast road conditions after every practice day," the elder Millen said. Pikes Peak racers practice the road in thirds over three days leading up to the event, then qualify on the fourth day. By qualifying, Millen was convinced the road was in good enough shape to justify hauling his car to the Peak and making a record attempt. At Pike's Peak, it is primarily road conditions which determine whether records will be broken and this year the road was fast. However, it wasn't to be for Millen.

His last-minute effort was denied by officials, but Millen's unexpected presence on a hill he has dominated for years may have come as a welcome and unexpected surprise to fans and competitors alike. However, there's another story to be told. Since Millen's funding was cut off last year, Suzuki, which won the overall title in 1995 and has had a significant presence on the hill since the early '90s was out in full force with impressive machinery, drivers and plenty of Japanese executives.

Millen would have started with the other Unlimited Class contenders Nobohiro Tajima and Yutaka Awazuhara both driving radical, purpose-built Suzukis capable of breaking the record. However, without practice time, he would have been at a decided disadvantage. But, Millen's 18 years of experience on the hill, his 1,000-hp, composite-bodied car and quick road conditions might have given the hill a new record.

And, as it turned out, that may have been exactly what race officials didn't want-at least from a car which didn't say Suzuki on the side. With a lack of major sponsorship and a loss of annual funding this year, the Pike's Peak Hillclimb finds itself in a tight spot. In Suzuki, race officials may have found new hope for possible title sponsorship and a much-needed influx of cash.

Tim Bergsten, Pikes Peak media coordinator, told a slightly different story. "No driver will ever go up our hill without several days of practice under his belt," Bergsten said. "The decision was made to not accept any late entries in light of Bruning's death." With safety an obvious concern after the loss, Millen's absence on the hill is an even bigger quandary.

If Millen had shown at the last minute, beaten the Suzukis and gone home with a first-place Unlimited Class trophy and possibly a new record, it would certainly have made coaxing a title sponsorship out of Suzuki difficult. It didn't happen. Millen didn't race, the Suzuki's didn't break the record and Gary Lee Kanawyer's Open wheel class car went on to win the overall title this year with a run of 10:39.76-about 34 seconds off Millen's record-holding run from 1994. There's always next year.

SAAB Returns To The PeakAn Up-Close Look At What It Takes To Make 380 Hp Per LiterPer Eklund made a few changes to his record-setting Saab 9-3 Viggen for this year's Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, but the car is basically the rallycross car described in our Race of Champions coverage earlier this year (June '01). The biggest change involved the suspension. Last year, Eklund used a rallycross set-up, a fairly short-travel suspension with Avon bias-ply tires. This year he chose a long-travel rally type suspension, again supplied by the French concern Donnere and Michelin rally tires. While not the ideal tires for the paved sections, the Michelin radials have much better grip in the loose gravel off the racing line in the dirt sections and provided Eklund an extra margin of safety. The changes seemed to work as practice times were good, but a tire puncture and transmission troubles qon race day relegated Eklund to a second-in-class finish.

A miss in the back-up rallycross car during practice for the April 15 Race to the Sky (add a .com and check it out), hillclimb in Queenstown, New Zealand was traced to a broken end-bearing stud. The crank end was moving more than 5mm, throwing off the crank sensor. The engine held together, but the crank was damaged. With engine-man Tommy Karlsson and the primary rallycross car in Sweden, the Pikes Peak car still in the States, spares spread over three continents and a two- or three-month wait for a new crank, the only solution was to plug in the spare engine and build a new Pikes Peak race engine once the team (and the container from New Zealand) arrived in Colorado Springs. Weird circumstances that allowed us a look inside an engine that pumps out 380hp per liter!

Of course, the big question is, "How do you get 760 hp out of two liters using a stock block?"

"Use a big turbo," said a smiling Karlsson. "You must have the right pieces and there must be a little common sense!" Indeed. Karlsson used Garrett's T04S turbo, which utilize a commercial diesel-type ball bearing cartridge in an air-cooled center housing.

With the big Garrett turbo supplying 2.2 bar (32.3 psi) of boost and enough flow for 850 hp, Karlsson values strength over lightness. He machines the block and makes custom main bearing caps that support the block as well as hold the stock(!) Saab main bearings. Six 12mm hardened steel studs run entirely through the block (the four end-cap studs thread into the block) to provide tremendous clamping force and make the head, block and custom sump effectively one unit. Machined out of 60-mil aluminum, the sump is a work of art and further supports the block. The four-valve head is a modified factory casting with water passages that are slightly smaller, making for a stronger head. Karlsson buys blank valves, stainless-steel intakes from England and BMW F-1 exhausts and machines the valves and their aluminum/bronze seats himself. The valves run in special bronze guides and are closed by a set of double springs with titanium keepers. The computer-designed Piper cams (England) with adjustable gears (made by Karlsson) are driven by a stock Saab timing chain.

Doug Kidde Engineering (England) machines the crank from a steel billet. DKE supplies many of the top European teams and woe to the team who doesn't order early. Omega (yet another English firm) supplied the forged pistons and rings which sit atop Autoverdi (Sweden) forged connecting rods and ride in Nikasil cylinder liners. Prodrive now supplies the wrist pins, the original batch actually bent, presumably due to flexing of the nearly skirtless pistons, when Karlsson turned up the boost during dyno testing.

Early dyno runs also revealed some overheating problems. The headgasket burned through at the water passages and the resultant blow-by would block the flow of coolant through the head. Karlsson now assembles the engines without gaskets! Grooves are machined in the Nikasil cylinder liners and hold aluminum O-rings. All the water passages to the head have also been grooved and are sealed with more O-rings. A small relief cut has been machined into the block. If the combustion seal fails, the notch provides a safe escape route for the expanding gases.

The engine, with a 92mm bore and 77mm stroke, sports a 9.0:1 compression ratio. The rod ratio is 2.05:1, a "nice" number Karlsson said, which doesn't generate any extreme rod/crank angles and keeps the power going to the crank and not through the side of the cylinder. At 32 psi and 8300 rpm, the engine produces 760 hp. The torque peaks at 540 lb-ft at 6500 rpm. Normal redline is 9300 rpm with useable power from 5500 rpm through 8500.

When the transmission packed it in and left Eklund with only second and fifth, the General Engine Management System (GEMS) system recorded a downshift at 10,592 rpm. The engine held together, but just barely. Karlsson later revealed the exhaust valves hit the pistons at 11,000 rpm. The GEMS system is a prototype engine management system, which has the ability to control the car's active differentials as well as maintain control of all engine parameters and act as a datalogger. After about two hours, the engines are torn down, everything is double-checked and new bearings and valve seats are installed. You can learn more at Karlsson's Web site, www.trollspeed.com, which will be up and running soon.