Quest for speed: Race to the clouds

Mankind has an insatiable appetite for speed and throughout the ages man (mankind) has bent a lot of effort towards going faster and faster; Whether it's on two legs, in the air, on land or the water it's that quest for speed that drives sportsmen and women all over the world to push themselves and their equipment to greater lengths in the hope of being crowned the fastest at their given sport.

As an avid follower of most motorsport, a sport combining human endurance, ingenuity and bravery one of the more extreme events I have seen is the worlds' most dangerous hill climb, Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. (Record holder VW ID R pictured.)

Referred to as the race to the Clouds it's a 20 kilometre timed climb (12.42 mi) into the clouds up to an elevation of 4300 metres (14,115 ft), with 156 turns, switchbacks and sheer drop-offs that presents an unrelenting and unforgiving speed-challenge to those brave enough to take it on.

First raced in 1916 the hill climb has brought many to grief on its dirt road surface, mountain passes and forested turns and, now paved, it continues to do so with many vehicles and drivers finding their limits and the end of the road on its twists and turns. Keeping the shiny side up on Pike's Peak is sometimes easier said than done.

The hill climb is regarded, in the motorsport world, the same way Mt Everest is in the trekking world...But not all drivers are willing to risk it all for the title. Challenge after challenge face the drivers, riders and technical crews not least of which is wringing performance from their machinery and themselves at altitude. (Altitude affects performance due to the thinner air.)

The video below is from the Pikes Peak website introducing the hill climb - It's worth a look.

Below are two different runs, both beautiful in their own way. One has to admire Ari Vatanen's one-handed work on the wheel whilst his other shades his eyes from the sun in the first. Close to the edge of disaster this driver pushes car and his own limits to almost the brink. In the second you'll see the fastest ever run. Roman Dumas holds the track record of 7 minutes 57.148s in an electric Volkswagen. You'll note the track is dirt in Vatanen's run and asphalt in Dumas'. Dumas puts in a stellar performance which looks almost effortless. Two different runs but equally impressive.

• 1988 - Ari Vatanen: Peugeot 405 T16 - Time - 10:47.77s

• 2018 - Roman Dumas: Volkswagen ID R electric - Time - 7:57.148s

• Dumas run from the air

I watched a documentary the other day by Guy Martin, that crazy bastard from Grimsby UK, who races bikes in the Isle of Man TT (17 podiums). It's about speed which he is addicted to; Unsurprisingly it's called SPEED.

One episode of the documentary revolves around his custom home made bike that he planned to win his class with at the Pike's Peak Hill Climb. If you get a chance to watch the doco I can recommend it. The video below shows his timed run of 11m 32.6s which beat the second place man Yasuo Arai by 1 second. Guy Martin only figured 24th overall of the motorbikes however. Still, an impressive class-win for a home-built bike that he had fuel-feed issues with at the top end of the rev-range.

• Guy Martin - Timed run 2014

Unfortunately the class win, and the event in general, was dampened by tragedy when Bobby Goodin crashed his Triumph just after the finish line where the asphalt changes to dirt (for some strange reason). Unconscious and airlifted to hospital he succumbed to his injuries. But that's par for the course in motorsport and the quest for speed. Not the first and won't be the last. It's just how it is, and yet they line up to do it.

It is unlikely humankind's quest for speed is going to end anytime soon. Records are made to be broken and broken again; That's the attraction of speed I think. There's no shortage of men and women willing to place their lives on the line for that ultimate prize. No matter how many die or are injured in the pursuit of speed, the combination of man and machine going faster than any before them, seems to be too alluring to resit.

I'll end with a quote from a man who never ran Pikes Peak but who genuinely lived life to go fast, and go fast he did. His pursuit of speed ultimately cost him his life, as with so many others, but he died pursuing the dream of winning and of finding ultimate speed, that was intrinsic to his being.

“On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit'. And as you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.” - Ayrton Senna (1960 - 1994)

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