Betim Berisha / What the Mountain Takes
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Concept
Pikes Peak 2025
Pikes Peak is a big racing event where cars drive up a mountain road. “2025” just means the version of the race that year, and it’s tough because the course and conditions can be demanding.
Brand
Porsche of Colorado Springs
“Porsche of Colorado Springs” is a Porsche dealership/service partner that the team worked with as a technical home base. Dealer-backed support can matter for race logistics—parts availability, experienced technicians, and coordinated vehicle prep.
Concept
GT4
GT4 is a type of race category. The cars are built to race, but the rules are designed to keep things more affordable than the top pro classes.
Term
gearbox
The gearbox is what changes gears so the engine can stay in the right power range. If it’s having issues, the car may not accelerate or shift properly, which can cost you a lot of time.
Concept
weather
Weather can drastically change grip, visibility, and cooling, forcing teams to adapt setup and strategy. The speaker links weather to being “cut short,” suggesting it directly impacted race operations and performance opportunities.
Concept
up above 10,000 feet
Higher up, the air is thinner and has less oxygen. That can make engines feel weaker and can change how the car behaves overall.
Term
air-cooled car
An air-cooled car keeps the engine cool using air flow, not coolant. The speaker is saying they want that classic feel even if they update other parts of the car.
Concept
compliant chassis
A compliant chassis means the car can handle bumps without losing control. It helps the tires stay planted so the ride feels confident even on rough roads.
Concept
extended the wheelbase two and a half inches
Wheelbase is how far apart the front and rear wheels are. Making it longer can make the car feel more stable at speed, but it can also affect how quickly it turns.
Company
FCP euro
FCP Euro is a website/store that sells car parts. The hosts are saying they ship quickly and have real people behind the business who care about cars.
Concept
free shipping
Free shipping thresholds (like “over $49”) are a common e-commerce incentive that can affect when you place an order. For DIY maintenance, it can also influence how you bundle parts to minimize total cost.
Company
on X off-road
OnX Offroad is a navigation app aimed at off-roading. It’s relevant to car enthusiasts because it helps you plan routes, find trails, and understand land access—reducing the risk of getting stuck or accidentally entering restricted areas.
Term
offline maps
Offline maps mean the app can show directions even if you don’t have cell service. That’s important when you’re out on trails far from reception.
Concept
public and private land boundaries
Land boundary awareness is a key part of legal off-roading. Apps that show public vs. private boundaries help drivers avoid trespassing and choose routes that are permitted for camping and exploration.
Term
investment dollars
It just means money from investors to help a business grow faster. For car projects, that money can pay for building parts and making prototypes.
Term
analysis paralysis
It means you think and plan so much that you get stuck and can’t move ahead. Instead of making progress, you keep reviewing everything and it takes forever.
Concept
pulling data
“Pulling data” means recording what the car is doing while it drives. Engineers use that information to figure out what’s working and what needs tuning.
Concept
tube chassis
A tube chassis is a custom frame made from metal tubes. It’s often used in builds where the original body/frame is removed and replaced with something stronger or easier to customize.
Term
bespoke
“Bespoke” just means custom-built for that exact car. Instead of using off-the-shelf parts, they made special pieces for this project.
Term
high performance all season tire
It’s a tire meant to work well year-round, but with better grip than regular all-season tires. The goal is to help your car feel sure-footed even when the road is wet or a little sketchy.
Term
55,000 mile warranty
This is a promise from the tire maker about how long the tire should last in miles. If the tire wears out early, the warranty may help with replacement depending on the rules.
Company
the common gear
The Common Gear is a service/app that helps you keep your car’s receipts and records organized. It turns your scattered paperwork into one easy-to-find history.
Concept
digitize everything maintenance receipts build photos
Instead of keeping receipts and photos in random places, you store them digitally. That way you can find your car’s service history quickly later.
Term
aneurysm
An aneurysm is a weak spot in a blood vessel that balloons out. If it gets worse or ruptures, it can be life-threatening, which is why it’s a big deal in the story.
Concept
dealer license
A dealer license is the legal permission to sell cars. It means the business can handle vehicle sales, not just repairs.
Concept
paint booth
A paint booth is a special room for painting cars. It helps keep dust and fumes under control so the paint job comes out cleaner.
Term
heart attack
A heart attack means part of the heart isn’t getting enough blood. It can be dangerous, so doctors treat it right away in the ER.
Term
ER room
“ER room” refers to the emergency room, where urgent symptoms are evaluated immediately. In situations like a heart attack, ER teams typically stabilize the patient and start diagnostic work.
Term
chassis engineer
This is the engineer responsible for how the car handles. They help adjust the suspension and balance so the driver can go faster and feel more confident.
LIVE
Take me back to like hearing that for the first time over the radio, like, hey, you know, it's where it's where it's off
Like what did that what was going through your mind? Oh, that was crazy. So
it was such a
such a hard one because
Usually I can hear the car at least three and a half miles up the road, you know through through the canyon
And I hear him take off and then also I don't hear anything
You
Hey guys, what's going on Chris here for Overgrass podcast and I usually don't do a little bit of an intro with these
I usually just roll into the interviews. However, I wanted to introduce this one a little bit
But Tim Berisha is on the podcast today
And he's the founder of BUI and hunted at beach. He built some of the fastest Porsches on the planet goes to pikes Peak
We built the Luna Pegasus as many of you will recognize from the social media and amazing films and content that's been
released around that
He's been going to pike peak for over 10 years
Thing is but him has been on the podcast before
The first episode is an origin story
Street racing in Washington state of Washington
Sleeping in his car. I mean the guy just absolutely
Grounded to get BBI started and if you haven't heard it
I'd go listen to that first one. I'll link it in the show notes. It's these two episodes are family. They really belong together
This time we're talking about what happens after the origin story
We kind of got his backstory on the first episode now
We're gonna kind of continue on and you know, but Tim had a massive heart attack
Two and a half years ago, and he nearly didn't make it
And then he came back and has done more than he's ever done five cars of pike peak
Pikes Peak new company type 99 a whole new chapter in his life and this conversation is about that distance
Between almost losing everything and going right back to the edge and what it does to you. It's a really really good episode
I hope you guys enjoy it again. Many thanks to the Tim for coming on the podcast. Thank you
Appreciate you guys. Let me know if you guys would like a little bit more of an intro of why I
Chose to interview somebody I can I can do some more of these. All right, ladies and gentlemen the Tim Berisha
Mr. Bitim man, how's it going man? It's really my pleasure to have you back again second time two-timer
Right, right. Yeah, Chris. Good to see you. Awesome to be on
Yeah, how's how's life man? How's work? What's new? What's what's cooking?
Work is work is crazy
We're pushing hard on on a few projects and life is life is good. The family is good my boys growing up and a
lot faster than I thought
And yeah, everything's going it's going well. It's a cliche, right?
Everybody's always like man, they grow up so fast here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
Yeah, but then it's just you just can't even fathom it unless you've experienced it
Yeah, a thousand percent. Yep, you you're so right and that's like every time I was real this time passes by quick
Enjoy it. You're like, oh, yeah, and then all of a sudden you blink. You're like, oh, yeah, there goes ten years
So yeah, I'm starting to get into the stage really kind of like
Five years ago. They well, they're they're 10 and 11 and 12 now
I think and even when they were like seven if I would have went
Do you want to come with me to go and then fill in the blank? It could have been anything
It could have been any task any any place any home depot. They should grocery store. They were there now
It's like well, no, I'm just gonna stay home. They don't want to come. They don't want to do stuff anymore
It's kind of like oh man those days are over. I mean, it's happening now even yesterday
I was um
Yeah, coming to the downtown shop here and my son's just showing I'm like, hey, why don't you just come down with me real?
Well, I don't know and like he's nine years old it became a negotiation
I'm like, okay, you can you can run around the shop and spray paint something, you know, it's like
So yeah, it's gonna be like a learn of their own time like the value of their own time
They're they're starting to become aware of it speaking of value of time
I want you to take me through a pikes Peak 2025 which was
five cars
Three divisions all done by an independent shop. I'm wondering what pikes Peak looked like for you that week that must have been
Insane literally insane. It was yeah, okay
So it was insane last June was actually is like, you know, like a three months leading up to it was pretty pretty hairy, too
And the way things like kind of progressed we ended up teaming up with Porsche of Colorado Springs there
So they're they're always our home base and they're always our our like technical partner there and
We we work well together. They got a great crew. We got a great crew
We once we start wearing all the same jackets and shirts. It's kind of like this one organism, but we had
North of 40 people staff drivers everything we had five trucks
thousands of gallons of diesel
You know, we had cars at two different shops throughout the the month of June at the mountain
You know and and getting
The everything organized so we could do some resource sharing with the two classes that are the similar like, you know
Ta one and and open and then or so we had two two and gt4
We had two in open class and one in ta one and that was like
It was it was
Kind of cool to watch everybody on the team
Kind of chill just everybody kind of knew what they had to do
We had staff meetings every day and where are we at bounce them back and forth, you know, almost like we had individual teams
But all kind of operating under one common goal
And how do you gather the right kind of people like that though? You know, that's tough man
I mean you're managing 40 people all you know, they can't just be can't just be the Lord of the flies out there
You got to like manage them. How does it just getting the right people together? Or how does this? Yeah?
Yeah happen it really comes down to the having the right people and
The the team the guys the girls everybody on the team just just crushed it. It was like
They didn't have to talk it just things went well, right?
And and when they didn't go well everything got handled and you know people took responsibilities for the things that they needed to
There was none of like, oh, I thought he had it. I thought she had it
It was like are we there are we not and then you know, we had a movement scheduled daily and
But it's a team. I mean and to answer your question. How do you find those people?
I think it just comes from years of doing this and years of
Going to Pike's Peak and kind of vetting out the right people and saying hey
Oh, wow that person's really shines under these conditions or this this person's really good back at the shop
You know and then and just make a note of it
and when we set out to do the five cars this year really it was only supposed to be two and then
Yeah, we were supposed to run basically the R2 cars the 992 and the 993 and
Lonnie was gonna well she did she drove the 992 and Jeff drove the 993
and that's kind of what we were gonna concentrate on and then when
Amelia came down and said hey, I'd like to do a program
You know with the GT4 stuff. We we kind of got thrown in the mix with
With mobile one they said well then we want these guys to kind of like watch this program
So Porsche Colorado Springs and us did Porsche Colorado Springs really took the reins on that project pretty pretty heavily
Which was great. So that alleviated some stress and then my buddy Steve
he's like hey, I would like to run in GT4 also and
So we went he got an acid Martin and because we looked at the rules and said hey
Well, I mean here's this thing's a beast of a car
I think we could do something with AMR, you know
And so it was it was kind of cool to work directly with the factory in that respect with them oddly like I have four portions
There and I don't work with the factory at all and then the first time we do a car outside of Porsche
They jump on you know, so it was it was cool to be with AMR
And you know, they're they're technical skills and ability and then they sent a couple good engineers down with us and made it made
it really nice for us to work, you know work the mountain and
You know change change mapping when needed or whatever needed to happen, you know with chassis and everything
But that was that was good and then Donnie you and his TA one car
they we had problems with the gearbox this whole the whole time and
Somehow that guy squeaked out a second place and it with a respectable time. Obviously, we were cut short
Due to weather this year, so that was a big bummer, you know race come race day we
You know, we're doing all this you were doing all this stuff and
gear it up and weather weather seems to be looking good and we end up end up having to
Run half course which was
Kind of heartbreaking and devastating, but we
I went and why is it heartbreaking? I mean because you know, it's like
Yeah, I mean it is apples to apples, but you know, we
We had a couple of I think
Moments where we could have set some records there. We were on pace to do really well
With with Lonnie and even with Jeff in the 93
so we had a lot
But you know every team there had that same issue, right?
So when they when they when they kind of reported to us that they've lost some porta-potties up there like lost them
And then rocks are going through the windows of the safety vehicles
They had to they had to make that that executive decision and call it. So is there a hard and fast rules for that?
So they're like, yeah, hey if the porta-potties leave
It's over. Yeah, I think it's like the porta-pottie claws
But it's no, it's you know, I this has happened twice since I've been
In going to Pikes Peak and I guess it's only happened like three or four times
But the last, you know, we've we've been 2021 they cut it short and then
And then and then this last year due to weather
But I mean, that's like that's part of the gig. That's that's
The crazy part of Pikes Peak we were there
The weather was beautiful the entire month of June and then obviously race day comes and and it takes a turn
You know, the winds were just, you know, 85 mile an hour sustained up above above 10,000 feet. Yes. Yeah
I thought it's so it's got to feel like a light wind though, right? There's no air up there. So 85 miles an hour is
This is different because there's no oxygen or what? No, it's it's still ripping right through you, you know
You know, you know, it's crazy is that all the the fans and spectators went up to the night before so they're camping out in tents and everything
So I don't know how that all went, you know above tree line. There's no real cover. So, you know, devil's playground
There's a lot of people up there and that's that's not a place you want to be when it's windy
Batten down the hatches, I guess. I guess that's the wall. I mean, it's got to be hard on everybody hard
Drivers hard on you hard on the team hard on the sponsors and the partners because you can't deliver what you want to deliver to your partners
I mean, it's just got to be tough all around
It is like absolutely cascading effect from there down where it were you you just
Yeah, it's at some point. Everybody just looks at each other shrugs or shoulders and like, well, we'll take what we can get right here
And everybody just is safe and kind of throws it out there and holds ass
Yeah, so the the Evo, which is the prototype for your type 99 program. Yeah, yeah
So so that you're gonna do 50 cars. It's a whole new company
How did that idea go from the back of your head onto a trailer to Pikes Peak to planning it being out on the road?
odd
you know the
It's kind of it's kind of funky because we were able to consult to a few other
Coach builders, you know locally and and and across the pond and as we were kind of looking at all this
I kind of what the Demetri and I said, you know, I
I wouldn't mind building our kind of dream 9-11 because you know, you know, you know, brownie. Well, right my little yeah
My SC that's one of my favorite cars to drive
But then I've also got to drive all of our Pikes Peak cars and shake them down and test everything out
so I've gotten it to be behind
Something that's like a maniac machine and then you mix like the 992
Front suspension with the rear geometry and then you have something that makes a lot of mid-corner exit grip
But then I didn't like how big those cars are so I was like, you know what if I could take and
Always feel like I'm in an air-cooled car a small
Nasty little car but run, you know late model suspension and technology and revise, you know weight balances and and
Just kind of tweak something the way we want to we started building kind of our dream car and then
Pikes Peak is such a nice place to go test because it's it puts you through a year's worth of testing in three months
You know and the other you're not gonna run in any worst worst testing environment in that right? No, no, definitely not
and
my weird school of thought is if you could build a car that
that
Delivers a confident driving experience to a client at Pikes Peak. Also, it is a canyon road, right?
So I
Would like to think that people are gonna use our type 99 cars in the canyons in track
Can do you know and so if you have unfavorable surface conditions that are ever changing
And you could still build a compliant chassis
And you can drive it at anger and still have something under you without you getting out of the car like saying what what diabolical, you know
So that's that's why you know this project kind of been born and bred at Pikes and I mean we have
Tremendous amount of track testing with this car. I mean
three or four different sets of dampers
Different gear ratios engine configurations camshafts
What is this thing man, what is this car? What is it? Oh, it's it's it's a car to enter the
Coach building arena, you know and throw our name in the hat and say hey we have
More of a very motorsport
well built I
Hate to call a rest of mod because this thing is completely redesigned from every aspect and
Not
Even down to engine placement, you know down to you know
Axle angles and we extended the wheelbase two and a half inches
So it basically it's to celebrate the 993 GT2 Evo, which is one of my favorite cars
And this is our interpretation of it. I'll send you some pictures of kind of where we're at right now
We've got the prototype going and actually car number two going right now and then the car
Three through ten will be more production-based
Meaning like we're setting up our shop to build these out in numbers of five at a time to get to the 50
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Do you feel like this is the natural evolution for VDI and what you well, it's obviously separate company now but
Technically is this the natural evolution for you guys? I mean is it do you feel
Why did let me rephrase question
Why did you feel like you needed to do this when you were when you were already succeeding in doing what you were doing at a
Shop level building race cars stuff like that
What is the leap to building like a coach built car? Is it just something else you wanted to do or?
Did are those even related with each other? How does you come to know good?
There's a great question to two schools of thought there first one is is like shower thoughts, man
What do you when you're in the morning? You're waking up and you're what are you thinking of that like okay?
Aside from other things, but what do you think about in the shower like I I was always like man
I really think if we did and took everything we've learned the last 20 years and we
Put it together in an air-cooled envelope. I think we'd have something pretty special here
You know, and I've I've got to drive all the other
Restal mod car cars out there when I and I love them and I just thought that it is the map to me
I think it's a natural evolution for our group to
Finally build a halo product right utilize all the technology that's out there the man additive manufacturing generative design
Crazy materials and and when you're building parts look, I mean we build 3d printed ikanel
exhaust manifolds that cost half as much as my brown car
but if I can put all that stuff into one package and really start to
Build like a what I would call a halo product and you can really exercise a lot of a lot of neat things where
the market probably wouldn't bear some of this stuff and in
You know in a piecemeal form or a one-off build, you know that way you could you could scale it financially and you could scale it
From a production standpoint, so well somebody's got to do it first, right? Yeah. Yeah, so he's got yeah, somebody's got to
But I mean, you know look at all these other companies that are doing rest of my cars. They're doing such a great job on
Creating actually the market that we're entering in this is oddly kind of one of the first times that we've taken
more or less a
Backseat to being first
Where we got to study a lot look at look at
You know what we want to actually build and then put it down on a frame table and start hacking away out of out of 1993 and building something neat so
You know right now
How's that challenge feel to be you know up against it you're not you know as in the lead
It's I hate feeling
Like I'm playing catch up and that's what it feels like it feels like I'm I have this suffocation of like
We should be so much further along. We should be so much further along and every little process here is taking so much time
I mean even down to just setting the company up
You know as as a company that if we need to we could bring in
Investment dollars, you know and having that structured in a manner like just all of the the legality and the nuances of
Building the the foundation from the ground floor up in a in a manner that I don't have much experience at the I mean
We shoot I started BVI
as a side project almost 20 years ago now and
You know, it's evolved into something special with a with a great group of people but then when you go and start
You know, I'm sure a lot of your your listeners
Would would agree
But when you go and start something with all the lessons that you've learned all of a sudden like that brute force
Ignorance isn't there now. You're a little bit more cautious. You're a little bit more careful
You're like, I remember this happening. Oh, I did this. I did this. I want to make sure that this is set up right and then and
Trying to do all that without getting analysis paralysis and then also in parallel
Looking at what it's gonna be like to design tooling bodywork
Radiator ducting so, you know, all of that stuff is is to me the exciting stuff but setting up the company right now
I know it's
Taking a lot of you spent like 20 years
Building something in an iterative way, right?
Little by little by little by little by little and this huge curve now you're trying to take
Everything that was learned in 20 years and go, okay now we're doing this and your expectations for yourself are higher
Expectations on in the world are higher. I mean everything is just the stakes are you know, two miles high
Now you're absolutely right and it's it is intimidating. It's
It's
It's humbling I'll tell you that right now, but it you know, it's exciting and I you know between
Bobby rich Dmitri Amy everybody at the team. They're they're all up for it. You know, they're all you know, as we're starting to add and grow
grow the team
with the initial intent to develop a
Production line
It's it's pretty cool to see, you know, all the all the people getting together and starting to take little
Projects on on their own individually, you know along the way here for this project. What keeps you up at night with us like
financials the cult what's the cult?
financials. Yeah, yeah financials because
Did it cost a lot to
R&D like just going to the track. Yeah, even even we want to
We just did the ice race with fat up in Montana. It was yeah
we we solely use that as as
The cold start stuff throttle drivability sander was just pulling data data data, you know, and
We you know, I tried running them on accident
I ran one of the runs with the TC on and I I was like, man, this thing isn't making any power
And I'm just like flailing trying to turn the knob off all them out there
But I was like man, it is so seamless and he goes, oh, yeah, I'm glad you like the TC
So let's turn it off now. So, you know, but just a lot of stuff like that where
We were we're pulling a lot of valuable information out of because ideally
it's it's
it's a
Fully redone car that we're gonna have to throw somebody the keys and say to have fun good in New York and back or have fun
Go to the track and back and call us and let us know what do you think, you know, not like hey
I'm gonna send two engineers out with you and we're gonna make sure that everything goes well. So we're
It's a different mentality there
Is that thing still a 9-11 you think?
Yeah, kind of
So what is it? What is that stop like what where is the line?
I mean obviously put the engine in the front. That's the line
But like where is like the gray area where you know, you're taking something so far
I don't think you're there yet, but I'm wondering where you think that line is where it just isn't a 9-11 anymore
Yeah, I don't know. That's a great question because
Later on when you guys see what the you know, the final verdict of how this thing is going to be put together and the
Architecture and the structure of the car you might that might be when we raise that question again because
You know, I I don't I don't know. I think it will always have the soul of a 9-11
I mean like the soon a pig here. It's it's one of those one of those deals that I
I
Is it a 9-11 anymore? I don't know. It looks like one it kind of sounds like one
but
You know, it's it's it's it's a heart. It's hard to it's hard to say and
Quantify what somebody calls a 9-11, you know, like maybe it's an outlaw, you know, like how emory says it or maybe it's a
maybe it's just
I don't know some
Some iteration and some you know celebration of the 9-11 to a certain degree, but yeah
It kind of reminds me of this like I think of of when is something not something anymore
I think of this car, which is the the Micolobe R107. Have you seen this? Oh, yeah. Yes
It's it's like a trans amp car. That was right. Yeah, it's like a real deal. It's just like kind of this
Do some research. It's actually here in Minnesota. I've seen this car in person
I actually touched it but it's it's it's super dope and it has like a Mercedes v8 and stuff and still
But like everything else is gone like you can see like that's like this tube chassis stuff
there's like no
There's nothing really from like a a standpoint of car where this thing is actually
Still an R107 anymore. It looks like right
Nothing left like
All the intervention is bespoke like one off design and the engine is Mercedes and the body panels are just hanging on
So is this thing still a
Is this still it man? Is this still an R107 anymore? Yes, that's such a great good argument
I don't know. Maybe I mean we could call it a silhouette car. I don't know, you know
because it does celebrate all things the R107 right, but like
It's
Fundamentally, I mean the underpinnings
Like I don't know if the wheels are in the original locations, you know, like whether it's with or not with but whether it's tracked
you know length or
Like I keep looking at the Huna Pig because that's a hundred inch wheelbase now up from 89 and
But from a silhouette standpoint, it's still kind of
Like in a dark room, you look at those stuff. We go damn that's sick. So it must be close
Right, that's gotta be close. We're still thinking it looks pretty good. I know it's always it's always tough
So, um, so the evil went to pike speaking 2024, which was pretty faithful
And Zwort had by the way the film you guys created that we saw it lift was incredible. Oh, thank you
Yeah, Alex did a great job there. Yeah. Yeah. So Zwort had right like had no almost no seat time in the car, right?
So he he crashed that to start line
First DNF in his entire career, which is crazy that dude is such a legend
Take me back to like hearing that for the first time over the radio like hey, you know, it's where it's where it's off
Like what did that what was going through your mind?
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Oh, that was crazy. So it was such a
such a hard one because
Lonnie was up on a terror of a record run in Lucy and
They turned her around three quarters of the way up. She came back down
flipped her right around and then
She went again, and then we lost
An eGT sensor on the exhaust and then that burned through the wire harness and caught the back of the car on fire
So arguably she would have made it with great time if we didn't have that turn around but that there you go
There's pike's beak and then we waited all day all day all day all day
And then finally Jeff went last because he didn't have time to qualify because we were rebuilding an engine at the time
So he took off and I
Usually I can hear the car at least three and a half miles up the road
You know through through the canyon and I hear him take off and then all of a sudden I don't hear anything
and I was like oh
No, and then one of the track workers came over the radio said yeah, he spun and that was it he when he went off
the
There was a stump there when he went off the edge of the track and it like took everything off the back of the engine and rip
the suspension out and it was um, it was a big hit and so
You show up to pike's peak
Nothing goes right that day that day or that month really
Jeff has no seat time. I felt so bad for him and then he goes out and
Lights like you know
Yeah, it's it was all I think a culmination of a lot of little things that was that was that was pretty painful and then
You just how you then you take a pile of parts back home
You know on trucks with your head low because nothing happened there and you're already exhausted and smoked and
financially
financially just overly committed and blah blah because you have to fix the thing along the way and
It was crazy. It was the it was that that was a very very hard year
You know as crazy is that pikes?
it's I
Have harder years than not there, you know, it's there
You know, there's a highlight reel of like oh cool high five we did well, but not there should be a low light reel of
How how badly that plays beats you up?
But yeah, I think yeah, that was that was devastating. So then
We had to make the decision. How did Jeff react? I mean he was okay. So we got out of the car
I mean, obviously that's like the first thing raises is he's fine. Where'd you guys chat about like afterward like the car did this what happened?
Yeah, like that's that we we just had to unpack what happened. We looked at video with the data
We looked at him. We looked at everything. Luckily. Yeah, he was fine. He was okay. No injury at all
the cage and everything held up the way it's supposed to and
But yeah, it looked like there's just a combination of a lot of things the tires got cold
The TC wasn't there to catch it it ramped up
it, you know, so he went from second to third on a short shift and
The turbo's just lit off and just boiled the rear tires and you know, we haven't
You know, I don't think there's much you can do at that point, you know
Yeah, for sure for sure. So like I said, it was like
Cold tires because we were waiting so long. I think somebody was getting married at the top of the mountain or something crazy
Yeah, we're serious
Anything that could have like got in our heads that they did, you know, every end and then yeah
Who knows there's just like 10 little things that all came together throughout the entire month that ended up ended us here. So
We learned from it and
Yeah, shoot. What are you gonna do? Yeah, I mean come back next year again, right?
Yeah, so we did and
He he made it up the mountain. How did you
Was it was when did you decide that we're gonna go again? Is it he gets out of the car walks over?
He's like, I'm okay. We're gonna do it again. Or is it like a six-month-long later phone call like hey, man
We fixed we you know, we adjusted whatever we need to adjust and
Let's get you some more seat time. Like how does that process go to get get a guy back in the car?
But I know it's where it's a different kind of dude, right? You come to me. I'm like, dude
I'm never getting I'm never going anywhere near that mountain ever again. I
I'm not even gonna fly to Colorado, but you know Jeff was I imagine just like let's do it again
I don't know how that process go
Yeah, he so it was very very important for for him to get back in the car
so we rebuilt the car basically as quickly as we could and
We went to button willow and I called him. I'm like, hey, I need you out here. I want you to jump back in the car
You know so he did and then he really enjoyed it
We did a lot of changes to the chassis. We did a lot of changes to everything
Mechanically just even how throttle application happens boost ramp up everything trash control everything was touched
We regeared the car we put different dampers on it. I mean
So we changed
We learned a lot no matter what look and also you we got to crash test our car
There's a lot of like bonded components on that car like 3d printed structural pieces that are bonded to the chassis
And those all held up well. So I mean wheels bent. They didn't break
There was a lot of positives that we've learned and we got out of this but
Yeah, we got him back in the car and
Loved it. So let's go to pike speak. Let's do it again
right on um, so last time we talked
Every story was about going harder back in the day
Like I went back and I listened to our old episode that we had and it was
Cleaning bathrooms to get hired stocking Porsche sleeping in your car and your in your Volkswagen
And then you know 15 years and 16 17 years in your body finally said no
Yeah, yeah, tell me tell me about what happened
well, I um
I ended up having
um, I ended up having
Yeah, a heart attack about two and a half years ago. Um, this was like right at the beginning
beginning stages of
putting project Evo together um in type 99 and
it was it was
A crazy crazy wake-up call that came out of okay. I wanted to say it came out of nowhere because I had
The issue um
with uh
like
I guess when I was young I had what they said Kawasaki's disease and it ended up kind of compromising the
uh elasticity of my arteries and then I had an aneurysm that
kind of blew up and then
ended up um
Ended up letting go and then so that took me out for
Why lived by the way and it took me out for um
Unless you and I are both in the afterlife right now
Yeah, who knows? Um, you think we
That put put me out for about six solid months and then it took about six more months after that for me to
I think to get
mentally back on top of things and um and on kind of
Where I would say it was a good baseline again, but I you know, it was crazy from a
Cognitive standpoint how much that affected me. I was just my edge was knocked off
My personality was kind of muted. Um, and you don't you don't really know it while you're in it until you see yourself
Or you're like on a video or something like that and um, or you're with your family and
you know
But yeah, that was that was a that was a crazy thing. So that that um, did that stick with you?
I mean, or is it like the edges were rounded off and and and now you're kind of back to old form?
Or is it something that has really stuck with you and and you think about it often?
Yeah, I think about it a lot um
Because I always even that before that I always
Tell my friends and family that I want to leave this place better than I found it one way or another
um, and so that that kind of said, you know, like everything's finite and
You know the tomorrow that you're going to go do something, you know, it's not not terribly guaranteed
I mean, I'm not even close but
That's like we all say that right like oh tomorrow's never promised but like what it you know, you've actually lived it
You know, I think about all the time like I'm like, oh, I'm 45 years old
That means I always do this math in my head. I'm like, okay when my kids are this age
I'll be this age when what I won't be around anymore
How many years have I got left and I think about this stuff all the time
But like it's all nebulous and not like I don't have any way to contextualize it. Whereas you do
Yeah, no, it's it's it's an absolute trip when when
You get effectively called on your shit of time like you think that like what your it's good
I was just thinking this the other day. I was like, wow, my son's nine, you know, by time, you know, he's out of the house
I'll be 55 whatever it may be
Or will I I don't know, you know, that's that's so you
Here's the bad part about that so
I was supposed to take it more chill afterwards
Um, ended up buying another company which I'm sitting in now our service shop downtown, honeyton beach
We got a paint booth here now and um a dealer license
So we're this is more like a little mini dealership
bbi's is continuing to grow and then type 99 for full throttle on that so
navigating luckily i'm navigating three companies with a lot of good people but
luckily they're all
They all work together. Well, they're they all have a
Purpose and it's part of the vertical integration plan all the way through but um
Yeah, I just I don't know. I'm doubling down on that. I'm trying not to stress as much. Um, I'm working. I'm working less
Um, spending more time with the family and but I have to be a lot more effective with my time
So I I would say maybe before my heart attack. I would squander more time off even though I might be working more
Am I being effective? So I always have to question that am I effective with my time right now? And
Is this worth not spending time with my family, right? So
We all have responsibilities. Everybody has jobs. We all have to do that. But
now I have to really weigh out that
I guess I have to say no to a lot of things now too
Yeah, saying no is hard. You know, it is it is hard to say no and it's it's uh, it's hard also not to set
I look at myself all the time. I'm like, I'm trying to set a good example for my kids too
I want them to know that if you work hard and and you can make things possible you can do it you can
And so I'm always kind of walking that fine line of like, uh, you know, I don't want to you know
Helicopter my kids and all this other stuff. But at the same time, you got to be there. It's it's a fine balance
It really is it's um, it's a trip that I I still don't have that that balance
I I
There's another thing that this whole thing did teach me is that there is no such thing as balance. Um, I mean
that's like
And so I'll probably get a bunch of shit from this but that's what rich people who ever you made it said say, you know
It's like I hate to say it
But like that's when they achieve and find balances when they can pull their foot off the throttle a little bit because
No matter what I do no matter what I do. I'm missing out on something else if I'm busting my ass
um
At at bbi or whatever. I'm missing time with my family if I'm with my family. I'm I'm
Something I'm leaving on the table or upsetting somebody that I'm not there or whatever it may be
I'm okay with that. I but I have to be very conscientious of the fact that
If you are going to highly focus and be
In a position to be very effective you have to
Shut some things out
And you and you will not do it all well and there is no balance, you know when you like it is for me personally
I don't other people probably do a better job of it. But it's it's what I found is it's a light switch for me now
When I'm home, I'm home, right when I'm like it's when I'm at work
I try to be at work like even even us having this call right now
I I missed two or three phone calls that look like panics, you know, but they're not
It's give me 45 minutes. I'll call you back. Everything will be fine, you know, but it's it's um
It's just a weird weird thing to navigate and here I am
In my mid 40s, like you trying to figure some of this out that I think I should have probably
Paid more attention to or figured out in my 20s, but
I don't know. I mean, it's
I was too busy fucking off back then. I know
Well, this is this is interesting all of this because when I listen to the episode that you and I did you talked a lot about
Your investor. I think it was Jeff. Was it Jeff? Yeah
Eman who bought bought you the building taught you business
Um, he died. You told me he died at 56 years old from a heart attack
Right. I mean that's I mean have you thought about that? Is that did that start all the time? Like holy cow, man. How crazy?
Yeah, uh, that that was very very crazy. Um, and then my old boss great floridall who taught me a lot prior to
Leaving washington state. He ended up passing away from heart complications as well
um, a few years back as well and like
Yeah, it's
it's no joke. Um
You know as we do get to this age
You start to see that more and it becomes more and more part of your your daily life is that you're you're attending funerals and you're
um
I don't know it's it's it's it's a trip and then
So what do you do you you try to eat better you try to stress less you try to exercise, you know and
I
That's what i'm trying to do and I
You know you go to like here's the other thing that's crazy that you go to your cardiologist
Yeah, well, how how long does my double bypass last? Well, I don't know
10 15 years maybe for the rest of your life. Well, am I gonna have another heart attack?
You know, it's hard to say I don't know so it's all these I don't know so then now you're like
cool so
So now what
Now what yeah, so you just do your best and and try to how you guess enjoy the life, right?
Yes, I mean what else can you do?
I mean, you know, I always think of it in terms of my whole life now revolves around
As a father like the perspective is as a father like what am I leaving?
What am I building where they think about what I'm building?
How can I make it for them and obviously I love overcrest what we do
I'm building that too, but I think it all kind of boils down to fatherhood
Um, how did this and how many kids do you have you have? I know you have a son
Of one nine-year-old. Yeah one nine-year-old son. How did I mean, how do you deal with this stuff with him? Like, how do you like?
you know, it's
I don't know. I'm just I think about this stuff too. Like what if something happens to me and I'm, you know, acutely aware of it
Yeah, um
Well, he was there when when I was having my heart attack. So he got to watch he had a front row seat to the whole thing
Um, we had to we had to talk to him like an adult
I remember when he he asked me he was dad. Are you gonna die and I was in the ER room?
I was like, uh, no, I don't think so. I think I got this
Yeah, I had no idea to be honest, but the the conviction
And the belief that he had he was like, oh, okay good, you know, he was just like cool
I believe you, you know, and then
That was a trip and then we had to teach him about it and you know, and then
you know, and then my wife she's
amazing she's uh
You know very very in tune with all this stuff and you know, if if it if I do pass like what
What to do? What do we got going on? You know, we're you know, we've got the
trust and everything kind of set up for that which is
you know, the wheels and everything which is
Not the most comfortable thing to do, but it's it's a must, you know, um, and
But yeah, it's it's hard to navigate
With a nine-year-old because that's all you want to do is be there for him as a father. Um, and
Everything kind of you like what you you said it best. I mean it kind of revolves around that really, you know
And you're just not like type 99 is is is great. It's fun. Bbi's fun. This is fun. It's great. It's you know, it's all
Work, but hopefully I have something to leave to him, you know when this is all said and done
If not a bunch of good lessons and hopefully
Uh, I my wife and I did our part to raise a good human
So
Yeah, of course, you know, that's that's our contribution of the world, man
Yeah, that's it. You know that it's that's
I mean, I always feel like all of humanity is kind of like this
Um, just this organism and we're just continually contributing to this organ organ organism year after year, you know generation after generation
This is hey, this is what I'm giving everybody here you go for better for us. Yeah, that's what else can you do?
um, so you've been going to the mountain for
You know what over 10 years now, right? Right?
What does it give you that you keep going back, you know, that's it sounds like it's just pain
With a little bit of brightness, you know, why do you keep going back? What is this mountain giving you?
What is this place giving you?
you know, it's it's
I love being I mean, I grew up in Washington States. I grew up in the outdoors
And I was always in the mountains
And to be able to go and race a car up there
I love a few things about there's a lot that I love about it
You know, I still consider us a privateer grassroots team no matter how it looks from the outside. That's what we are
And we could still go and rub elbows with the factories. Uh, so that's a pretty cool platform to do so
I I I love being at 13 000 feet
Changing tires on a car when it's 15 degrees out. I think it's crazy and it's
and then
you know, and then
You try to compile all that, you know, I like them the mayhem
The psychopath nature of that whole thing. I think it's great. Um
you know, it
It's also probably some like
weird unresolved childhood
I got something to I got something to prove
um, and that's been a pretty cool spot to
Go try to prove out what we can do as a group personally physically mentally
um
Everything, you know hardware
Everything it's a it's a good backdrop to put yourself up against the what I would call the nature. Um
But they you know this year we're not going back. We're going to take a break
um
so
And
There's a number of reasons last year was too much. Um
And I hate to say this but if bbi goes back to pike's peak, you know from a business standpoint and we do well
It's not going to change anything for us. It's not going. We're not going to get this influx of sales or
Oh, I want to do this this this or
I don't think it's going to get us a factory
program
We we have a lot to focus on here. Um last year showed me how big
Of a distraction pike's peak is to the rest of the businesses, especially now that we have the downtown shop and
um, and we have uh
type 99 in full full swing and r&d right now
um
We're going to focus we're going to stay back and focus all that energy on type 99 and these and bbi and you know
And just really knuckle down. We've got some cool customer car builds that are finishing out at bbi right now that
Hopefully at air water. We'll we'll show some of them
and
I feel fine about it. I feel fine about taking a break
Well applying everything you've learned over the years through all that pain and brightness and
you know ons and offs is
Funnily that into something that
Is different that you can still continue to learn and grow
I mean
That sounds like about the right thing to do
Yeah, yeah, I think timing
Is right for us to take a step back as well. Um
Just the way things are transpiring here with with which I'm really excited about with type 99 and
um, obviously the other bbi and everything but um
Yeah, I think
Pikes is an amazing thing and hopefully it'll always be there and you know, if we get another
Another run run at it, you know back to what we talked about really there long after we're gone man
Long after our gone. That's one of the best parts about it
Is there anything likes peak like pike's peak that you'd like to do are there any other?
You know proverbial mountains you'd like to climb. Um, well, there's motorsport obviously type 99 is a mountain all its own
right being able to do that is
um arguably well
Probably patently a lot harder
um
In a bunch of different ways, but are there other things you want to do like from a motor sports perspective or the automotive world?
you know, I
Yes, um, I actually oddly I want to I'd like to go compete at mount washington because that looks pretty hardcore
um
Yeah, the other thing is like down the road. Maybe
I know we talked about time but
If there was ever an opportunity in 10 the next 10 years to actually go to lemal and maybe compete at a certain level
um
That's what I was thinking. That's that's why I didn't want I didn't want to plant the seed
But that's where my brain goes. It's like, why not go to like go do some pro
You know gt stuff at lemal. Yeah
That that's my you know, that's that's always in the back of my head
you know, that's kind of where
I mean, it's been a long time, but that's where I kind of cut my teeth and then endurance racing
Circuits, you know as a as a crew guy or going over the wall or being electronics engineer, but
Is there a marker? Do you think which is harder that or pike speak if you had to if you had to say which one is more difficult to
Maybe not win, but even finish
I don't I that's a hard one because they both are so different. Um
I
I think from a financial standpoint and the amount of like if you look at a crew now at at lemal
um
It's insane. You have like 14 just electronics engineers one person looking
Just at tire tanks and pressures, you know, it's like back when
I was in the circuit
It wasn't like that. It was like you had one electronics engineer and you had like
A team of over-the-wall guys a chassis engineer a strategist and a team owner and a couple drivers
And that's to me that was that was awesome the way it was there
I don't I don't know if I would even do well in this that environment anymore because it's changed so much. Maybe
Maybe I want to do well in it. I don't know but
It'd be it's always
Fascinating to see and look at
I just like team sport. I like
especially in the motorsport world where you have to have
a group of people all marching in the same direction and
The dance happens like the the the communication slows down and the
I just know what I have to do happens and then everybody start, you know
I love that
Shealing when people gel together and just just kill it
So you think that you have to do have to you have to be able to win at it
Like does it need to be one something that has
An endpoint that you can grab and seize victory from do you need that?
That's a great question. Yeah, I think so. I think
I think
I I don't
Well, yeah, yes, I don't like showing up
I don't like showing up, you know with with the possibility of a fourth or a fifth that
you know, like
But I I don't I like to try to prepare to to go in. Yeah
That's it seems like you man. It seems like if there if it's if it's worth doing
It's worth doing at the absolute peak level. There's just like no watering it down. No dilution whatsoever
God's very yeah, that's that's it. And that's you know, maybe
And maybe you know, like maybe pikes peak has given me the opportunity to do that
You know, I don't think I could go to lamar right now with our team
We'd have to have some heavy heavy funded
backing but like
It would be a number of years before we started. I think performing well there because
So I don't know it's what's the minimum requirements for going like what do you have to do?
Do you have I mean, do you have to buy in like how do you get to go?
Do you know what the yeah, it's it's an invite thing
you would have to you'd have to buy into
Either a team who has a card or a
Shoot I don't you have to perform well at a couple a number of like I know seabring is a big one
You know, we're at Atlanta. Okay. I think you have to perform well at those to for the aco to even look at you
So there's it's like an allocation for a gt3. You got to do all these other things first
It is a lot like that. So I think more or less it's um
It is if you are going to go to Lamar. It's probably a four-year run, you know to to
From start to finish to get there. I think to do it right sounds like a rich man's game. It really does
Yeah, yeah, so maybe I'll do it. Maybe
I think you should finish brownie. I mean, I've been every time I see you. I know what's what's up with brownie
Does it run? What's going on? Why is it not coming in an overcrest rally?
Like what's going on? What is the deal? Where's brownie right now? Tell me why so I sold the three liter out of it
To a customer so I could help remodel this place
and then and I started building a 3-8 for it and
Ended up selling that to help fund this business here at HP speed shop. So it's
It's like my Mustang man my 67 Mustang that's I still have I I remember when I first started bbi
I sold the engine and the transmission out of it to make payroll once and then it just sat for since then
so I'm not going to let brownie happen like that, but it's
it's uh
It sounds like a roundabout way of saying that you haven't done anything
No, I haven't touched it. Yeah, it breaks my heart too
I love that car, man. I remember the first time I came over. I think I was with I think I might have been with Whipple
Yeah, he and I were driving around. I came over. I'm like, oh, do that brown sc is sick and he's like, oh, yeah
That's bitumes. I'm like, dude, great. And then I remember I think you were gonna bring it on the rally
Yeah, I was yeah, and then maybe that's when you sold the engine it might have been around that time of like
I think it was right in that same time frame
But what did I do, you know, what are you gonna do? She's still there in spirit
Decided well someday one again. Yeah
Yeah, but Tim, thanks for hanging out with me today, man. I uh, I'm really really
Really inspired by you
um, I look up to you a lot and what you've built and uh
You as a human being and a man and a father is really impressive what you've you know
I don't we're we're not like super close or anything, but I I can see it
I can observe and I can see and you know people talk and I hear things and
It's it's really inspiring, man. Um, you should be really proud of what you built and and keep after it
You're too kind. I appreciate it chris. I want uh, can't wait to see you next
You're welcome. See see it air water, man. Oh, yeah. See you next month. All right, man. Take care of yourself. All right
You too. Take care chris. Thank you
About this episode
Betim Berisha returns to talk about what comes after the origin story: the grind of Pikes Peak 2025 with a five-car, multi-class effort, managing 40+ people, and the brutal reality of race-day weather that cut the event short. The conversation also covers the Type 99 “Evo” program—building a halo coachbuilt Porsche-inspired car using modern tech and extensive mountain testing—plus Berisha’s near-fatal heart attack and how it reshaped his priorities as a father and entrepreneur.
Original notes
Betim Berisha is the founder of BBi Autosport in Huntington Beach, California. Porsche tuner. Engine builder. Pikes Peak veteran. He and his team at BBi built the Hoonipigasus for Ken Block, developed the new Project Evo, launched Type 99 as a coach-built 911 program, and have taken cars up the mountain for over a decade alongside drivers like Jeff Zwart and Loni Unser.
This is his second time on Overcrest. The first episode is the origin story. These two belong together. Start there if you haven't heard it.
Check out Type99 here.
Support this show:
https://www.patreon.com/overcrest
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Kris Clewell / Overcrest
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