The team arrived back in Colorado Springs on Saturday, June 15th and we were greeted at COS airport by some really cool window artwork promoting this year’s race. After leaving the airport, we immediately headed over to our home-away-from-home: Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs and we were met with another fun surprise; this year’s “Signature” car, a BMW Z3M coupe and “Parade of Champions” car, a new BMW i5 M60 electric performance sedan. The liveries for both cars were unique for the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Legendary PPIHC Hall Of Fame Inductee, Clint Vahsholtz, was this year’s driver of the “Parade of Champions” car; which meant that after the race on Sunday he would lead all of the competitors down from the summit of the mountain back to the start-line. It’s an incredible honor, and I can think of no one better for the job considering Clint has raced Pikes Peak 30 times. And out of those 30 times, he’s won his class 24 times and he was King of the Mountain in 2020. Wow!
For race week, our wonderful friends at Winslow BMW hooked us up with an X5 and an X4 while we were in town. These cars are so much better than anything that we would find at a rental-car lot. We were so very appreciative of this, and very proud to represent BMW by having these as our support vehicles. Thank you, Gregg, Phil, Ann, Bryan, Derek, Josh, and team!
If you read my last blog, then you’ll know that we left our truck, trailer, and my race car behind at Winslow BMW after the first test weekend. So, once we got back to town the first thing that we did on Sunday morning was to get the E46 back on the alignment rack for a thorough once-over. We did a full nut and bolt in preparation for the next day: team registration, tech inspection, and driver-health screening.
On Monday, June 17th we headed over to the Broadmoor World Arena at our assigned time (by-class) in order to check-in for race week. The car was thoroughly scrutineered for safety and to ensure that everything was correct for the class that we would be competing in (Unlimited).
I also did a quick health-screening with PPIHC's Medical Director, Dr. Matthew Angelidis. He was happy about what he saw in terms of my medical history and general state of health, so I was quickly cleared to race! The process culminated in my helmet receiving an all-important sticker, our rain tires being stamped after they were inspected, and the car receiving both class stickers and tech stickers for 2024. Woo!
We went back to the mountain on Tuesday morning, June 18th for day one of practice. This time, the mountain was broken up into three sections: Lower, Middle, Top. Since there are 6 classes, they assigned 2 per section. Unlimited was paired up with the GT4 Trophy class, while Exhibition was with Pikes Peak Open, and Time Attack 1 was with Open Wheel.
We ran at the Top (from Devil’s Playground to the Summit) and of course I had to get my obligatory post-sunrise selfie once I got out of the car.
This week, we were joined in-person by Erik Ras, CTO and David Osterman, Senior Engineer. from JRZ Suspension Engineering Together, they worked closely with me to dial-in the PROactive dampers to better handle the extreme bumps in this section of the mountain. I continue to be blown away at how well these dampers work to control the Eibach springs which result in keeping the Toyo tires more planted on the ground. Through setup changes and damper tuning alone, we found 18 seconds by allowing me to keep my foot firmly planted in the areas where it mattered. So cool!
I recorded a 2:51.153 which would be the 4th fastest overall time run in this section that day, and 3rd in Unlimited class.
The next day, Wednesday June 19th was an important one because the GT4 and Unlimited classes were assigned to qualify this day, meaning we would be running the Lower section of the mountain (from Start Line to just before Glen Cove). I managed a 4:14.756 in slightly damp conditions which put me P6 in Unlimited class (0.0250 shy of P5). The cars in Unlimited that were P1-P3 were all prototypes: 2 Wolfs, 1 LMP3, and a Wraith.
After qualifying, we headed back over to Winslow BMW to get the car cleaned up. We also conducted a thorough once-over and then rolled it into the Service Center alongside Laura Hayes in her Toyota Supra GT4 (basically a BMW right?), and Clint’s “Parade of Champions” car. Together, we participated in a brief Tech Talk with folks from BMW North America. It was really cool to be able to share some of my own personal story, to talk about the car, and to hear the same from Laura and Clint!
On Thursday morning, June 20th we were originally assigned to run the Middle sector of the mountain (from Glen Cove to 16 Mile, just before Devil’s Playground). Unfortunately, when we woke up at 230am we saw a notification from PPIHC officials saying that practice in the Middle and Upper were canceled due to dangerous weather conditions. My buddy, Derek would later let me know that they saw over 1.5 inches of ice on the road up. Doh! As such, we decided to take advantage of a rare “day off” to sleep in and then go to the mountain together as a team. We got to walk around the start-line and see everything start to be set up ahead of race day.
On Friday, June 21st we were able to make up the Middle sector that we missed the day before. However, the mountain once again had other ideas in terms of weather. When we went through the gates, the skies were clear. By the time we got up to Glen Cove, it started raining heavily. So at 5am, Dan Skokan (Director of Competition for PPIHC) told all of us during the driver meeting that we would be required to run rain tires for the day. As such, we threw on a special set of Toyo wets which featured a really soft gummy compound with big tread blocks for evacuating water. They worked great! I was able to do two runs and satisfy my requirement as a rookie for “practicing on every section of the mountain ahead of race day.” Afterwards, we decided to load up since it wasn’t worth pushing any harder; only to risk damaging the car.
After we got down from the mountain, we once again gave the car another thorough once-over and a bath. Then we headed over to downtown Colorado Springs to load-in and setup for Fan Fest. It was so much fun hanging out with over 40,000 fans who came out to see all of the 2024 Pikes Peak competitor vehicles on display.
The event also featured a motocross demo, car show, beer-garden, and the Optima Batteries “Fast 15” which recognizes the fastest 15 overall qualifiers for the race each year; regardless of class. And guess what? I found out earlier in the day that I had made the list! My qualifying time put me 13th overall out of the 70 car field this year. As a rookie, this was certainly unexpected but also a very pleasant surprise.
Needless to say, Fan Fest was an absolute blast. I loved meeting so many people and finding out that they had been following my progress all week long. So many folks stopped by to say hello, wish me luck, and to grab a signed hero card along with a die-cut sticker of my Pikes Peak BMW M3. My car was parked in the Toyo Tires booth, along with all of the other Team Toyo drivers this year. The event started at 5pm local time, and at 6pm I was escorted to the Optima Batteries main stage for a special one-hour autograph session alongside the other members of this year’s “Fast 15.” Optima created a special poster with all of our cars on it and every fan that waited in line was able to get a poster that had all 15 drivers’ autographs. So cool!
On Saturday, June 22nd we began the day with a very special Pre-Race Event at Winslow BMW. Over 250 BMW enthusiasts showed up for a car show, food trucks, and to see my E46 M3 on display. It was such a fun send-off ahead of the big race. Our team had the opportunity to grab another group photo, this time with our framed “Fast 15” award in-hand and the car that represents a tremendous international team-effort behind us.
The event ended at 1pm, which gave us just enough time to get over to the mountain by 2pm for final race day setup. We were pitted along race row with fellow Team Toyo competitors, just in front of the start-line and the Optima Battery Pits. We finished just before 5pm and went back to the Airbnb to sleep early, because we would be headed back at 2am on Sunday, June 23rd for the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Spoiler alert: I made it to the summit! It was so awesome to be greeted by my buddy Derek, who has the very important job of waving the checkered flag for all competitors crossing the finish line. I also did an interview for the Mobil1 YouTube livestream, and another one with the local ABC7 news affiliate.
Afterwards, I spent the next 9 hours hanging out with all of the other competitors. PPIHC provided all of the drivers with lunch, and I finally got to eat some donuts! If you didn’t already know, eating a donut from the Summit House at the top of Pikes Peak is a time-honored tradition once drivers reach the top of the mountain.
Oh, and did I mention that I also attended an impromptu wedding towards the end of the day? A huge congratulations to both Kendall and Mary for making it up to the top in each of your cars, for getting married, and for having all of us in your surprise wedding! That was definitely the cherry on top of an already unforgettable day.
Alright, let’s get to the moment that you’ve all been waiting for. The full run in-car video and my finishing time. Before you scroll down further, I want to acknowledge something first. They say you’re only a rookie once. And while that may be true, I know for a fact that the mountain still has so much to teach me and I have a lot to learn. So I am proudly sharing my very imperfect footage (recorded on the new AIM Sports SmartyCam3 Dual) because watching similar videos from PPIHC veterans was an integral part of my own preparation, and now it’s my turn to try and pay it forward.
After the first official test weekend, we realized that a sub-11 minute run was actually possible. But I also recognized it was an ambitious stretch goal; since many drivers and teams take many years and multiple attempts at Pikes Peak to join said club. It took me 10:31.372 to reach the 14,115 ft summit in my first-ever Race To The Clouds; which is impressive for a few reasons. First, the car only makes 535 whp and 375 ft-lbs at sea level while weighing 3,050 lbs with me in it and fuel. And second, I did this time on a DOT tire; the new Toyo Proxes R (the same tire that I’ve been helping to test and develop with Toyo since last Spring).
My time was good enough for P17 Overall (out of 60 cars in the entire field that took the green flag) and P7 in Unlimited (out of 17 in class) this year. In talking with Lisa Haight (PPIHC’s Historian), I learned that I am now the 4th fastest driver of all time in a BMW up the mountain behind James Clay (9:20.433 in 2023), Tim Hardy (9:59.709 in 2019), and Rhys Millen (10:12.024 in 2023), in that order. Wow.
Looking at data after the race, I see a 10:1X is possible; had I not made a few mistakes and when we eventually resolve a power-steering issue that pushed me wide (I dropped a tire at Hansen’s Corner, which could have resulted in a very nasty crash) early in the run; this same issue also forced me to reduce my steering angle input in all of the tight hairpins from Brown Bush to Devil’s Playground, which compromised my corner-exit speeds.
Anyways, enough excuses. Sit back, and enjoy the ride. I know I did. And yes, I am already thinking about next year!
Lastly, because I always save the best for last, I want to give huge thanks to these amazing people for their support in making this effort and result possible:
Mike, Jon, Matteo, Nate, Lamson, and Vic at Trackspec Autosports
Karl, Cameron, Dionne, Stan, and Steve at Toyo Tires
Mike, Robbie, Roger, and Bryc at AIM Sports Data
Mark, Vittorio, and Ian at Eibach
Erik, David, Bertram, and Tom at JRZ Suspension Engineering
Jei at Blacktrax Performance
Ben and Nick at EMtron
Eddie and Jimmy at Titan-7 Wheels
Bart and Ruud at Drenth Gearboxes
Tony at VAC Motorsport
Martin and Willy at Supertech Performance
Nate at Steeldust Machine
Karl and Craig at Active Autowerke
Casper at Rotrex Superchargers
Aaron at Radium Engineering
Mikko at MRT Engineering
Ryan at Motorsport Hardware
Dominik at Flossman Motorsport
KC at APR Performance
Alli, Shareef, and Sean at SS Customs
Fabryce and Max at Alpinestars
HaoMing at WSGlobal
Nick at Cahill Films
Austin at VisuallyRapt
Jem Quesada for safely bringing the car and everything we needed to/from the mountain
Marc David for your willingness to jump in and help with anything needed
Edgar Molina for your epic still-captures
Brian Walker for your awesome BTS photo and video work with the guys
Thelma and Al Capinpin for taking such great care of us at the Airbnb
Robb Holland for your mentorship and guidance
Clint Vahsholtz for your sound-advice and mentorship
Alex, Lisa, Dan, Randy, Josh, Matt, Melissa, and the entire team of volunteers, stewards, officials, medical, and safety crews at PPIHC — you guys are such a world class organization
Gregg, Phil, Ann, Bryan, Derek, Josh, and the entire team at Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs for making us feel so at home and a part of the family when we were thousands of miles away