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DJ
19th July 2009, 06:00 PM
Wow! What a day. Unfortunately, shortened for us by a 2 hour drive to get home and a nasty lightning/thunder/rain storm. But what a neat event to attend.

Pictures and a bit of video to come soon. Vintage class was interesting and was taken by a 1963 Ford Falcon that sounded really sweet. Results in the unlimited class as follows.


Tajima took first with a time of 10:15 missing his record by a significant amount. Said the track was really slippery.

Gronholm finished in 11:28 with engine trouble and a rear wheel on fire! Amazing to watch him drive. Bet he's back next year.

Rennison finished in just over 12 minutes. Apparently 70 liters of Nitrous Oxide wasn't enough.

Eriksson went into the trees with a DNF.
The big disappointment for us was that the damn video helicopter was right overhead during the unlimited class starts and we couldn't hear the cars starting off the line. This caused us to miss video of most of the runs by Rennison and Eriksson and ALL of Gronholm's run by our spot. And because we were focusing on getting video, neither of us had our still cameras at the ready either. :mad:

The upside was because I knew I had missed Gronholm's video, I was able to watch it in full view instead of through a camera lens. And it was freaking amazing! I saw him coming around the first turn, then he was in front of me, then he was gone around the next turn. He came off the line and past us significantly faster than anyone and I can imagine that if he had turned in a clean run, he may well have taken the day.

Here's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaxnrZwv7Ok) a decent YouTube video of Tajima's start that my son took with his iPhone. Pay attention to the crowd on the left side as he starts to slide towards them. Gronholm came through this section much tighter and faster.

All-in-all, a fantastic day with the son.

DJ
21st July 2009, 10:23 AM
Here's a link (http://gallery.me.com/djrichards#100116) to my photos from Pike's Peak. I'll get them moved into the Lancisti Gallery as soon as I can get it migrated to the new software.

shaun pond
21st July 2009, 11:19 AM
DJ, thanks for posting the link to these pictures. Very cool.

I got a bit homesick looking at the pictures; I went to this event twice when I was growing up in Denver. Looks like it's still a pretty unique motorsports event.

I also developed a strange urge to have a Firedrome 8, but I'm sure that will pass if I lay down for a while.

Regards and thanks again.

DJ
21st July 2009, 11:23 AM
Here's some additional YouTube vids taken near the starting line. We were positioned right at the apex of the slight curve where the cars first come into view in most shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irz4LroGb9w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEM1ziZtgWc

Team Ford videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQOCW68Pjx0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMvkfHT_sMA

1,6 HF
21st July 2009, 08:14 PM
Thanks for the links. Great stuff.

prorallycodriver
21st July 2009, 08:33 PM
I've codriven Pikes Peak twice, 2005 and 2007 I think. Among my favorite motorsports memories.