The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a famous race where cars and motorcycles race up a mountain. It's known for being very difficult because of the steep and winding roads.
A differential is a part of the car that helps the wheels turn at different speeds, which is important when going around corners. It helps keep the car stable and in control.
Shock loading happens when a car hits bumps or uneven surfaces, causing sudden stress on parts like the differential and axles. This can be tough on the car and might lead to damage if it happens often.
Voscholtz Racing is a company that makes custom parts for race cars. They design and build specific components to improve how cars perform on the track.
Carbureted means the engine uses a device called a carburetor to mix air and fuel. This is an older technology compared to modern fuel injection systems.
Ducati is a well-known brand that makes motorcycles, especially famous for their speed and style. They often compete in races and have a loyal following.
The Volkswagen ID. R is a special electric race car made by Volkswagen. It's built to compete in racing events and has set records for being very fast on certain tracks.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a new electric van that looks like the old Volkswagen buses but is powered by electricity. It's designed for families and people who want a spacious, eco-friendly vehicle that’s fun to drive.
The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is a famous race where cars and motorcycles race up a mountain. It's tough because the road is steep and high up in the mountains.
Slicks are special tires used in racing that have no grooves or patterns on them. They help cars go faster on dry roads but can be dangerous in the rain.
A turbocharger is a part that helps an engine get more power by pushing more air into it. This is especially helpful when driving in places that are high up, where there’s less air.
All wheel drive means that the car can send power to all four wheels at the same time, which helps it grip the road better, especially in bad weather or rough terrain.
Electric cars run on electricity instead of gasoline. They are becoming more popular because they can be cheaper to run and are better for the environment.
The Tesla Model 3 is a small electric car that runs on batteries instead of gasoline. It's popular because it can go a long distance on a single charge and has cool tech features, making it a great choice for people who want to drive an eco-friendly car.
ICE powered means cars that run on gas or diesel engines instead of electric batteries. It's a way to talk about traditional cars compared to electric ones.
An internal combustion engine is a kind of engine that makes cars go by burning fuel inside it. This is how most cars have worked for a long time before electric cars became popular.
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is a stylish SUV that offers a fun driving experience, almost like a sports car. It has a nice design and is good for people who want a mix of luxury and performance in a vehicle that can carry more passengers.
LIVE
Hello and welcome to the auto week podcast, the place where you get all of your car related
podcast needs.
Today, we've got a special episode that's right.
We are laying heavy on the pikes peak hill climb and that means we have the great Clint
Vasholtz talking with us, well talking with Mark Vaughn about what it's like to win the
pikes peak hill climb.
And after that, we've got Rob Holland, friend of the show, talking with Robin Warner about
his time on the hill and without any further ado, here's Clint Vasholtz.
We are here, we are honored to have with us today, the winner of the pikes peak international
hill climb, Clint Vasholtz, Clint, welcome to the auto week podcast.
Well, thanks for having me.
I mean, that's an amazing thing, I've been there a couple of times myself and of course
I've watched videos, I guess that's not the same thing.
But that is an amazing, amazing race, just flat out for 12 miles up a mountain.
What is that like?
Well, yeah, I mean, you only get one chance and it's not a lap after lap thing.
So practice week, you practice the mountain in three sections, bottom, top, middle, depending
on how you're situated by the hill climb organization.
For example, we were bottom, top, middle this year.
And so you get multiple runs during practice, you know, so you can kind of lap the track
in call it.
But on race day, there's there's one lap and you just got to read the road as it is.
And there's a lot of variables.
It sure looked like there were just just watching some of the in car videos, man, that is a
bumpy course.
Yeah, yeah, the bottom and middle are quite, quite decent.
The top is heaving, frost heaving, and you know, it's it's very rough up top.
So you got to be careful.
I assume that you knew from all your experience and from all your practice runs this year,
you knew where the bumps were and you knew what speed to take them, I assume, right?
Yeah, I mean, there's no rhyme or reason to the bumps on they, they, they're there are
a session of moguls that that have no flow.
So you know, like really one of the rough parts is is down it's going up in the 19 miles
straight away and there when you you're executing out of corner with multiple bumps in a row,
the cars very much shock loading the rear differential and axles and such.
And then when you go up Cogcutt and you're going into the actual Cogcutt corner up 19
miles straight away, there's multiple lines, right, left, center, but there's just not
a good way through them.
So you just go and find what you can and then you can't let off through that stuff because
it you know, the super fast guys are, they're not going to let off, they're going to take
it as it is and you just go for it.
So it's almost like off-roading there kind of you're going from top of a bump to the
top of a bump.
It sounds like yeah, yeah, definitely.
It's it's it's like mogul session that just like when you're skiing through moguls, you
got a preferred sort of line.
Well, this is if you were just going over the tops of all of them straight down the black
diamond and you know, hoping the heck you don't cross.
That is crazy, man.
Now on the race day to add to all that as if that wasn't enough race day, the surface
of the track, it was a lot colder.
They delayed the start of the whole event by an hour while they waited for ice to clear
off on the top.
I mean, describe what the course was like this year.
So when you practice, that's a good question that comes back to when you practice, you go
from sunup, which late in August that it was this year is like six o'clock till nine.
And that's your that's your time frame.
And so that's the, you know, the asphalt temperatures that you get and the lighting
and where the sun comes out is always a visually bad problem in certain corners.
But so with the delay, I was assuming I would be taking off as the third car in the second
program at nine 30 and it ended up being 1130.
So because of the ice melt, so the, you know, the conditions were much different than
than any practice.
So with that being said, the road, you just never saw it in that in that state of traction
or distraction.
And so heating tires became a, you know, a ball game or chess game and tire pressures.
And then, you know, car temperatures because, you know, you're not going to get hot at 58
degrees when it's now you're starting at 72 degrees.
So you got to just kind of weigh all that in.
Could you kind of tell, like I would assume the parts of the road that were in shadow,
were they more slippery than the parts that were in sun?
Yeah, there's so much of that up there.
You know, there's some areas where, where, you know, sun only will hit in the afternoon.
But it did seem to me as if the, you know, the spots, which is like the W's were, in
my opinion, the slickest part of the race course.
And it got sun all, you know, when the sun starts coming up, it's above Timberline.
So there's, there's really no shadows other than when you crest around the, you know,
candle back of the mountain.
And, you know, that was quite slick.
And I, and I think it was just, it was a little bit more greasy because keep in mind,
it's not a prepped race course.
And you have personal vehicles going up there every day.
And there might be four days, six thousand cars a day.
And, you know, there's out of four to six thousand, you know, unmaintained
personal vehicles, there's going to be a lot of oil and trash on it.
That I, some of them are leaking oil.
Exactly.
I think that was coming out in the, in the super hot parts of the road.
So the shady parts, in my opinion, were better.
Oh, really?
That's interesting.
When, when, when, when you win Pikes Peak, what do you, what do you get?
Is there a trophy?
Is there a big pile of cash?
What is it?
Yeah.
So you get a king of the mountain trophy, which is a, you know, it's a nice, very
nice Penrose engraved, the Penrose trophy engraved in a big block of really nice
glass see-through.
You get a watch, a very nice watch.
It used to be Tag Howard.
And I don't remember who it was.
I just picked it up yesterday.
It's an unfortunate one.
And then, you know, as far as cash goes, obviously, I think it was down a bit this
year, but it, it, it paid right at 10,000.
That's good.
I didn't, I didn't realize that you get, you get money for it.
And you get a watch just like when in Lamar or Daytona or something.
Yeah, exactly.
That car that you, that you're running, you and your dad have essentially built that,
right?
Yeah.
So it, it goes back to 2005 when that car, so John Wells, everybody knows
that the Wells, Kyle, you know, the big open will giant that build cars.
He built my very first stock car, which I got a lot of wins out of.
We did a lot of the suspension and body mounting and such on it.
But anyway, so back to the car that, that I currently ran this year was built by
a guy through John Wells is stable through for a guy by the name of Jerry Brady.
It was a copycat of my dirt car, my Mustang dirt car.
And it ran until 10 and he, he just got out of it.
Well, there was some real weird setback rules and such because I ran a V six on
my dirt car in that this car was based around a V eight.
So we purchased that vehicle from, and he's a great friend.
And my dad built all of his motors and we, I built all the shocks for, for that,
for a lot of people back in the dirt days.
But anyway, so that car was bought in 10 and it was basically just a Mustang.
So I ran that car in 11 and 12, set the record in 11, the last dirt record
with a Mustang body on it and then in 12, the course was shortened and the
stock car division got one way.
So in 13, we transformed it into what you saw, which was the open little car and
a lot of other facets to it to make it, you know, legit for pavement like
swimming bars and such.
So, so you said now this is, this is basically started as a Mustang.
Yes.
Yeah, it was a, it was incredible.
So afford Mustang one pikes peak, you could say.
Yeah, it's a taxi car with a Mustang body, but yes, it's on.
So that car actually holds two records.
The, like I said, the last bit of dirt in a Mustang chassis and then
obviously the current overall or open world record.
All right.
That's, that's amazing.
What, what is that chassis like when you're driving it?
Is it, is it really stiff or is there flex so that it can absorb those bumps better?
Or what's the chassis like?
Yeah.
So it's a chromoly chassis with, you know, Coleman suspension on the front
and then homemade rear suspension with some 90 ish any car, you know,
stubs and single bolt wheel on, uh, transformed and then built, you know,
built around that as a custom fabricated by us at Voscholtz racing.
And there's, there's just a mixture of really good parts that are kind of
manufactured and then, and then customized to fit the vehicle.
But back to the statement or the question.
So it is got quite a bit of movement in the chassis.
And then, you know, I'm running about close to five inches of actual
shock travel where the McLaren that I drove the last two years is a brick.
The McLaren handles much better in the high speed and the good surface portion
of pike speed, but my car rock and rolls it through the, through the moguls.
And, you know, so I do get quite a bit of flex.
I'm constantly breaking rear end parts because of that engine is carbureted,
but it makes 880 horsepower at the crankshaft.
It's a 402 cubic inch.
We can join that if you, if you want, how that evolved.
That's, that's incredible.
So folks for folks listening, the last two years, Clint drove a McLaren 650,
which is a completely different setup from this.
Just an amazing range of vehicles who've been out there.
Now you started on motorcycles and when you started, I believe it was 1992.
That was all obviously dirt.
What was that like?
Well, back up just a bit to really fluently answer that question.
I was a Camel Pro, AMA, Camel Pro National Dirt Track Writer.
So, you know, I was used to going around miles and half miles and short tracks.
So when I raced on dirt, I had a prepped Ron Woods motorcycle for dirt.
But yes, the dirt on a motorcycle, you know, you, you would just carve in
out of the ditches where the cars were making, you know, good grooves
with their front tires to hang on to the road.
And, and then you just slipped slide all the way up.
And, you know, it was it was quite fun, actually.
Really? So you put you put the inside boot down on the ground
and just basically power slid the thing out kind of sideways out at each corner.
Yeah, yeah.
Basically like a like you would see in a dirt track or even a speed
late version of it. Right. Right.
Like at Ascot or someplace that's just did that for 156 times and you were done.
Yeah. Yeah. Do you miss the motorcycles?
Oh, I do. You know, I still, I still ride with my son.
I don't actively compete other than I try and hit one ice race a year out here.
That's a kind of a local fun thing.
But I do trail ride quite a bit and, you know, at my age, which I'm 49,
I'm super happy that I'm in a cage.
That's a lot easier.
Now, your son, Cody, he races at Pike's Peak.
Is he on motorcycles or what is his what does he do?
Yeah, so he's he's only been on motorcycle.
He's won three wins, a 250 and then a middle weight
and a 450 title.
He currently, the last two years had ridden with Factory Ducati.
Yeah. So he was Carlin Dunn's teammate last year.
Unfortunately, when Carlin passed and that was very sad.
Yeah. The Ducati great for Cody and, you know, they still do things with him.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, those are great motorcycles.
He's lucky to be with that team.
You can't can't ask for anything better than that. Yeah.
Now, your dad, obviously, you grew up.
Your dad, Leonard, was a racer for since the 70s.
He's retired now.
What was that like growing up as a kid?
Every year, you guys went out to Pike's Peak and watch you get rock.
Yeah. So he was the, you know, the first timer for Voschold's racing.
And so you saw a lot of ups and downs and hurdles and such.
I was quite young in the very beginning, but I went up, I'm sure, every year.
Even when, you know, I was in diaper, for sure.
The neat thing about it was is, you know, you get to see your father succeeding.
And so what a mentor that is.
But you also were able to totally learn how Pikes is ran on the dirt and the setup
and, you know, the execution and then just the overall hard core
that Pike's Peak is with every morning and then, you know, work until late.
And, you know, just the preparation and everything was just, you know,
if you were to just do it on your own or first timer without a team
or somebody that knew, you know, you're going to have a rough year.
Right. It's you can't just show up there and win.
I mean, unless you're like, you know, Dumas and his ID Volkswagen IDR electric car.
But for almost anybody else, you just, you cannot just show up
and win there, no matter how good you are.
Yeah. I mean, you can, but you better have the right staff that's already
been there and good, you know, like Jeff Sword coaches, a lot of the Porsche teams.
And, you know, when you have a coach as Jeff Sword, yeah, you can,
you can get up there and take advantage of it.
It'd be like learning offfields, coaching anybody also.
You know, you just there's things you got to know on Pike's Peak.
And if you don't, you're going to have issues.
So you had the best coach you could ask for, right?
I did. Yes. Yeah.
So with your win now, I assume you're not going to retire.
You're still pretty young.
You still got to you still have a very strong car.
What are your plans for the future?
Yeah. So many years back, I said kind of when I think it went out,
it was right around 18.
Well, I surpassed my dad at 18 wins on.
And so when I surpassed that, I came up with the goal of, you know,
I really want to get 25 wins before 2023.
So I'm at 24 now, 25 wouldn't necessarily be a retirement date for me.
Hopefully I can get it before 2023.
But, you know, that's when I would, you know,
stop just really focusing on no matter what it, what car or what it takes
to to race the mountain.
I'm going to do it to try and achieve that win at that point.
You know, I'm looking for anybody that that wants to take a I call myself
a decent driver and a very level headed driver.
So anybody that, you know, wants to do something like that as Toyo and
Flying Lizard did, you know, I didn't win for them two seconds in a row
in a McLaren, but I didn't throw the thing off the mountain or even damage it.
So, you know, I'm happy to go wherever I definitely want to be in a car
that can win if everything goes perfect.
All right. So you hear that McLaren Ferrari, all you guys,
Clint is ready for you whenever you're whenever you want to bring a car to
bike speed. That's that's a good statement.
Well, Clint, I can't thank you enough for your time and it was thrilling
watching you heading up that hill and just, you know, local guy wins big.
It was a great story.
So I appreciate that.
I appreciate your calling in and all the best, best of luck for the future.
Well, Mark, thank you and thank Leslie.
And I also would like to thank you.
Yokohama tires for getting me into the summer.
It is really fantastic to welcome back to the show, a long time touring car
and sports car racing driver and several time Pikes Peak Hill Climber who just
competed in the recently COVID delayed but not stopped Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
Rob Holland, Rob, how are you doing?
What is that, buddy?
I am doing pretty well, a little exhausted, but but otherwise well.
I suppose that you were dealing with some thin air for a little while,
but you just finished the 98th running of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
You finished 15th overall with a time of 10 minutes, 51.423 seconds.
And I already know that this is worlds better than last year when you only made
it halfway at the mountain.
You're setting the bar pretty low there.
When it's amazing what a lot of rain can do, right?
But how was this year compared to last in terms of weather?
Well, yeah, rain, hail, everything else.
Yeah, last year was was not not my finest moment at the hill.
That was actually pretty miserable.
We made it.
We made it to Glen Cove just actually a little bit past.
And it was like it was biblical.
I mean, there was just animals marching two by two.
It was it was incredible.
I ended up getting out of the car and hanging out with the spectators for three
hours while other people went up in rain tires.
I was trying to make that up in slicks.
So so yeah, so this year was was obviously miles better.
But unfortunately, the goal for us this year was the was getting back.
My front-wheel drive record from 2016 that that Acura got took for me a couple
years ago, and we were three seconds shy of getting the record back this year.
So so why didn't you go faster?
It was either that or go off the side of the cliff, right?
No, it was as you know, it's funny you look at it.
So this year, Pikes Peak every every year is a bit weird because
it the mountain just throws different things at you every year.
And no matter what you do to prepare,
it'll always do something different that you're not ready for.
This year, it was like beautiful all week long.
It was really nice.
It was warm up at the top of the mountain.
And even it was like in the forties, which is which is unusually warm
for the for the top of the mountain.
Well, and this is later this is later in the summer than usual, too.
So you had you had a little bit more time for the mountain to warm up, too.
Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Usually it's in the end of June and this was obviously the end of August.
But then the night before the race, it rained ridiculously hard
and the rain froze on the top of the mountain ice on top of the mountain.
And it they basically had to wait until later in the day for it to melt off.
And at that point, the road temperature had gone up substantially
and a lot higher than we've been when practicing on a lower half of the
of the road was just really greasy and had lost a lot of grip.
So on the lower two first two sectors, I lost about five seconds
or four seconds to my qualifying time and seven seconds to the time
I had set the year before.
So we had a lot of pace in the lower section that just disappeared.
But I was able to claw a bunch of that back by by the the third sector.
And we we entered the four sector, the fourth and final sector,
one tenth apart, one one tenth off of what the record was.
But this year, the upper section was so just ridiculously bumpy that I ended
up losing three seconds and that was the record, man.
Yeah, and it's it's it's the weird anomaly of Pikes Peak is like, oh,
it can be it can be wet, it can be dry, blah, blah, blah, whatever.
But we're talking about huge changes in tire,
entire behavior with track temperature and air temperature.
And obviously, air temperature is also critical in terms of air pressure
when you're that high above sea level.
So you can still have a vastly different track in terms of performance,
even if it's dry both years or something like that.
That's a massive, massive difference.
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, that's that's one of the things that the experienced guys at the Hill do.
I mean, it's you kind of monitor everything.
I mean, it's it's dealing with temperature, barometric pressure and,
you know, and and road conditions.
And it's just there's a huge number of things that we try to monitor.
But, you know, it's like it's mother nature, you know, you try to monitor mother nature.
And she just figures out another way to screw you over.
Yeah, she has a couple of variables of her own to play with.
Exactly. What what was it like at the mountain with covid looming?
How did that change the mountain or did it change it much?
You know, during practice and stuff, it didn't really change all that much.
I mean, obviously, everyone was was was doing their best to be, you know,
social distancing and wearing masks and stuff, which was which was good.
Made it a bit hard to tell who everybody was.
I mean, everyone's kind of suited up in jackets and hats and then masks.
And so you see like these, you know, two little eyes poking out and you're trying
to find who that was.
But other than that, you know, the practice side of things was was not not too different
because obviously there's no spectators allowed during during our practice days.
But then obviously it comes to race day and it was completely different.
I mean, we're using used to having thousands of fans up on the hill and
especially kind of in and around the the paddock, you know, and when we're going
off the line and you're missing that that energy and it's it's a bit of a bummer.
And then and then honestly, the big one was coming back down when we come back down.
We usually the tradition is that the drivers that have made it to the top
come down and they they high five all the spectators as we as we head down the hill.
And yeah, it's it's it's one of those things where it's it's it's a great tradition,
you know, and it's it's as hardcore as the drivers are making it up the hill.
The fans are equally as hardcore just hanging out all day long.
I mean, they're, you know, a lot of these guys camp overnight and it's,
you know, they deal with the same conditions that we do.
I mean, it's, you know, could be 30 degrees and raining all night long
or even all day long and these guys are committed to being there all day long.
So for us, it's it's, you know, we want to salute the die hard fans.
And so not having that this year was was was definitely weird.
And it was it was definitely missed by all the competitors.
And also knew for this year was no motorcycles again.
They've they've kind of come and left the mountain over multiple times
over the history of the hill climb.
But after after what happened in 2019, motorcycles were banned again.
What was it like just having cars, not motorcycles?
Yeah, I mean, it's super tough.
I mean, you know, with Carlin Dunn's death, you know, that was felt because obviously he was,
you know, probably arguably the best motorcyclist there.
Right. And a and a veteran there.
He'd done it several times.
Yeah, absolutely.
And for, you know, for all of us, you know, the drivers that are there,
you know, we all have this kind of, you know, thought process in our mind
that, you know, we're invincible, you know, we're good enough behind the wheel
that we're not going to do anything, you know, silly and throw the car off
the side of the mountain or anything.
And then you look at Carlin, who's arguably the best guy out there.
And, you know, even he can make a mistake.
So that his loss was still felt.
All of the all of the car guys ran a sticker in his honor on the car.
And there was a, you know, there was a memorial in his honor at the track.
And then his mom was actually the wave, the green flag this year.
So no kidding.
Yeah, that's touching.
That's nice.
No, it really was.
And all the drivers, you know, were there to watch the first car go off, you know.
So all of that was really, was really deeply felt by the, by everybody there.
You know, just in terms of the race day stuff, it was a lot.
Well, it started off being a lot different because the cars went off
at 6 30 in the morning and we usually are having to wait for the motorcycles
to do their runs.
Right.
But, but yeah, we went off, they were, they sent the pace car up early
to see what the conditions were at top.
And obviously with the ice and stuff, it ended up being delayed until, you know,
10 30 anyway.
So we really didn't notice too much in terms of the running, but, but all the
motorcycles that were, you know, that are normally there every year, you know,
it's, it's even though it's a, it's a different sport.
I think we all, all say or share the same camaraderie knowing that, you know,
it's, it's, you know, us versus the mountain type of thing.
And so to not have those guys there again, that was, you know, another thing
that was a bit different about it.
So I mean, there's a lot of stuff.
I mean, you've missing the motorcycles, missing the spectators.
It's different time of year.
It's, you know, everyone wearing masks.
So it definitely had a bit of a feel.
And then the last bit that was a bit bizarre was the fact that there had
been some massive forest fires in, in Western Colorado.
And a lot of the smoke from the forest fires had settled in over, over the front range.
No. Yeah.
So all through practice, it was super, super hazy.
Like, I mean, hazy in the sense that, you know, normally we come up through a
couple of sections and you kind of have to put your hand up to block the sun
early in the morning because it's directly in your eyes.
And this year, the sun was right in the same spot.
And we didn't have to block it at all because the haze was so, so heavy
that, you know, it just didn't affect us.
And if you look at a lot of the pictures from earlier in the week,
you'll be able to see the haze in the sky.
It was that, that dramatic.
So, yeah.
So it was a bunch of things this year that were just out of the ordinary.
So what about the car?
This is the exact same car you've been running a few times now, right?
Is it, is it literally the same car?
Is it the same type of car?
No, same car.
So it's the same car we ran last year.
So same team and everything.
Same team.
So the guys at Blue Water Performance brought me on to help them develop a
car and then also run that car as well.
Great guys there.
I met them some last year.
They were all super excited, had interesting things to say about managing
turbochargers at altitude and all that kind of stuff.
Super sharp, good guys.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Yeah, it's Gabe and then also Jeff from United Motorsport, who did a lot
of our tuning last year.
All of, all of those guys were, you know, are, are still involved with the program.
And, you know, the car is, was an Audi, started life as an Audi S3 Emsa car
from Compass 360.
They were running it as an all wheel drive car in Emsa.
And they, they sold it to Gabe and basically converted it into a Pikes
Peak car using a bunch of the factory TCR parts.
Because, you know, it's the Audi's kind of got it figured out with that car.
So it was, you know, why reinvent the wheel trying to do something better
than the factory?
And, you know, so I helped them develop that car for, for last year.
And, and to be honest, we, so we got halfway up, we brought the car back
once that, that race was done.
I think it did some grid life stuff and that was it.
Like then it literally got put in the back corner, got a cover put over it.
And, you know, honestly, they dusted it off in the spring and, you know, really
just basically went in, serviced everything, tuned it up and sent me back up the hill.
Cool, man.
And, and it felt as good as it, as it always has.
Did they make, were there any like specific things about this year that they
wanted to try any clever bits like that?
Or was it largely unchanged?
Just try to get up the hill on scale.
No, it was largely unchanged.
I mean, then there's a lot of things you want to try.
But the issue was, is it was a few things.
It's, it's, you know, first of all, it's time, you know, just because of with
with everything going on with COVID, they, they, you know, they didn't have full
staffs, they, you know, there was, there were, you know, things that were, you know,
that basically took their energy in terms of just staying open as a business.
And they've obviously done that and done, done very well with it.
But for a while there, like everybody else in the, in the world, it was, you know,
we don't know what was going on next.
So, so they didn't really put as much effort as we wanted to and to try
to do some, some upgrades and stuff.
But the bigger thing is, is, is that, you know, we really wanted to try some,
some power upgrades and a few things in that direction.
But the, the issue is, is that we were concerned with the roughness of the,
of the course this year that, you know, you're trying to put, you know,
basically 600 horsepower through the front wheel.
And, you know, when the track is really rough, like it was up top this year,
you're concerned with the amount of load that the axles and the, and the drive
train can take.
So as opposed to doing something and pushing the car that much further,
and it's out of its operating range now, then, then, you know, we ended up
having problems.
So we thought we had a car that was capable of breaking the record.
So we just figured we'd send it up as is and just, and just focus on,
on reliability, which is a, which is a huge thing at bike speaking.
It's definitely something that a lot of, of people overlook.
For sure.
For sure.
For sure.
My last question for you, I'm sure you have to go off and do
superstar celebrity race car driver things.
I'm not taking a nap.
I'm tired.
Well, I think that counts as a superstar celebrity race car driver thing.
Well, the thing is, here's the thing is that people don't realize is that we have
to be up on the mountain and practice at, at 4am.
And so you're up at, yeah, but that's, hold on.
I'm going to interrupt you right there.
That's 4am mountain time.
Come on, man.
That's nothing.
Yes.
Absolutely.
4am mountain time.
So you're right.
And it's 3am Pacific coast time.
So there you go.
No, but yeah.
So it's, it's, uh, it's tough.
I mean, you really, you get up and it just like your schedule for the entire week just shifts.
So you, honestly, you're just really tired and kind of groggy.
And then you get through the race itself and you're, you know, once you get up early,
you're on the mountain all day long, there's all the prep, there's all the focus.
So you get into the race and you're just, just exhausted.
So, you know, it's, um, and it's one of those things.
And then, you know, you kind of get done with that.
And then, you know, you come back on a Monday, you know, and I've got all of our sponsors,
you know, like, you know, Motul and, and Bluewater and United Motorsports and Hoosier
Tires and, you know, Alcon and all these guys that, that are all wanting social media stuff,
you know, so you've got to then go through the pictures and edit and do some posting.
And so that takes up all of Monday.
And then like, you realize you get to Monday night and you're like, I haven't had a normal
night's sleep in, you know, 10 days.
I'm gonna, seriously, I'm gonna go take a nap.
Well, before you do, I, I'm quite curious to hear your opinion.
There was another electric car running up the mountain this year.
This time it was Randy Popes in a Tesla Model 3.
Do you yourself see like a wave of electric powered cars coming to the mountain?
Is that a trend that you think is going to pick up speed?
Well, yeah, I mean, well, first of all, there were three electric cars this year at PikeSpeak.
There was Blake Fuller, there was Randy Popes, and there was another guy whose name I cannot
remember. That guy actually crashed in qualifying and went off at Engineers Corner.
And that car was too badly damaged to continue.
And then Randy had his Epic Off, which was a permanent off.
Honestly, as many views as his videos have gotten on that, I don't think anyone has ever
stated correctly how close he came to literally going off a thousand foot cliff.
Wow.
If he had been 10 feet, maybe 15 feet to the left over that wall is, and I'm not kidding,
like within four or five feet, the other side of that wall is a sheer thousand foot drop off.
There is no passing go, no collecting 200. You literally will not hit the ground until you
get to Manitou Springs. Like it's that, that big a deal. Like it is, but it's the only corner
on the entire mountain that I actually, I will admit it, I break just a bit early for just to
make sure that I've got the car slowed down for it. But anyway, to get back to your question,
yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think electric is the way for many reasons. First of all,
the manufacturers, obviously, they're all going in that direction. And I think that
racing went on Sunday, someone Monday, that still holds true. And I think you're going to see
a lot of manufacturers that are going to want to test their electric EV technology on the
mountain because it is definitely the biggest test for any type of car, regardless of whether
it's EV or ICE powered. I think that's the big thing. But then on top of that, just because
of the nature of what Pike's Peak is, it is built for electric cars for a number of different
reasons. Yeah, exactly right. No loss of power. No loss of power. And then on top of that, you've
got all the acceleration, you've got multiple hairpins and having torque from 0 RPM all the way
through maximum torque, they're launched out of the corners is just phenomenal to watch.
And it's a limited distance. You don't have to worry about battery energy quite as much as you do
in other fields. Yeah, I mean, so it literally goes on and on. Like if you were to make a list,
and we've done this because when you attack Pike's Peak, you look at the mountain as a series of
problems, and then you say, okay, well, what's the best solution to that problem? And the best
solution to that problem is electric motors by far, 100%. Yeah, well, there you go. So we're
going to see you in an electric car next year, maybe? We'll see. Who knows? I mean, honestly,
the only problem I have with electric is that I don't know it very well. And the guys who I
have worked with for years are internal combustion engine guys. And I mean, they're very smart guys,
but when you tackle something like Pike's Peak, you need guys who know, you know, that that side
of technology inside and out. So yeah, I would love to be able to take an electric car at Pike's
Peak. It's it's just finding the right opportunity. Absolutely. Well, Rob, always a pleasure to talk
to you. Always appreciate your insights. Thank you so much for talking with us. And congratulations
on another successful Pike's Peak hillclimb. Thanks, buddy. Always great chatting with you.
Well, I think that's a good place to wrap it up. I'd like to thank Clint and Rob for talking with
us. And thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to head over to the Apple podcast store
or wherever you listen to this bad boy and drop us a review. We do read them. Don't forget to check
out Quick Spin. It's still going this week. We have Patrick Carone talking about the Alfa Romeo
Stelvio, but and I can't thank you enough, but thank you so much for listening.
About this episode
Clint Vahsholtz and Robb Holland share their thrilling experiences from the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, discussing the unique challenges of racing up the mountain. Clint reflects on his victory, detailing the rough terrain and unpredictable weather conditions that made this year's race particularly challenging. Robb recounts his own journey, the impact of COVID-19 on the event, and the camaraderie among competitors. Both drivers highlight the growing presence of electric vehicles in the race and the future of motorsport at Pikes Peak.
This week the Autoweek Podcast does a Pikes Peak Spectacular. Kicking off the show Mark Vaughn talks with this year’s quickest man up the hill, Clint Vahsholtz, about the car that carried Vasholtz up the hill quicker than anyone else.
Later in the show Robin Warner talks with two-time Autoweek Podcast guest Robb Holland about his adventure competing in the hill climb.
