Anyone else going to Pike's Peak this weekend?

High's in the 40's, solid chance of rain/snow. I'll be there rocking a GRM beanie. Holla if you see me!

U already in town? I'll be somewhere up there. Not sure where yet. Holler if you want to grab a beer. I moved up here a year ago.

Is Audi or VW bringing an electric car this year ?

Not this year. They brought a Bentley this year. 

So a wild but also tragic day on the mountain today. Carlin Dunne left us when his bike shot off of the road near the top of the mountain at Cog Corner. Dunne was a veteran of the race and 4 time winner. May you rest in piece Carlin. 

Then the afternoon went a little nutty as all of the delays added up and the mountain weather started to kick up. Hail and Rain started about 1:30 so most of the cars didn't get a clean run which was a shame. Then the lightening got so bad up top that they brought the cars and bikes down from the top and they moved the finish line to right before where I was at. It was cool to be able to meet all of the drivers. Had a good talk with Randy Pobst and Peter Cunningham along with Travis Pastrana and Rhys Millen. 

I give Randy a ton of credit. He was doing a demo drive for FCA in the new Charger Widebody. It was raining and Hailing and he still put on a great show. 

All and all an interesting day on the mountain. As usual, it was as unpredictable as ever. 

Not this year.  I went once.  1995.  The only year (well the first at the time) when they shortened the course due to weather.

Picture of Carlin's last ride.

Randy wheeling the Charger

The overall fastest time of the day. 

Paul Dallenbach running the family special.

And one last one.....Only the best Hill climbers Rock the GRM sticker

We caught video of Dunne likely a minute or two before his accident, as he passed Devil's Playground. He was absolutely riding the wheels off that bike and I believe he set class records in the first few sectors.

To whomever had the blue WRX wagon with the free GRM stickers under the wipers, my beer fridge thanks you!

One of the people over on the Garage Journal forum is a photographer and was friends with Carlin.  Ducati had hired him to do a photo shoot of Carlin riding the Streetfighter V4 just prior to the event:  https://www.ducati.com/ww/en/bikes/streetfighter-v4 

Very sad, he sounded like a cool guy.  https://www.ducati.com/ww/en/news/tragic-accident-at-pikes-peak

In reply to stuart in mn :

Followed the link to the Ducati page, and was surprised they hadn't changed that after the accident. Decided to check their front page before I got indignant.

Class move, Ducati. Sorry I ever doubted you.

I was there as well and it was a real emotional rollercoaster of a day. First rider of the day went down, leading to an hour long red flag, which sort of put an ominous feeling in my head. Then the fast riders started setting new records, and then Carlin Dunne went by and he was really flying. I think they estimated he would have run a 9:32 if he'd made it. Then the reports from the summit came in, confused that he hadn't reached the finish line yet. They were very careful in talking about the situation, not wanting to make assumptions. But I had a bad feeling, for sure. That feeling was sadly confirmed later on.

I didn't know him, and only learned about his history of success afterwards. But I mourn his loss just the same. Pikes Peak truly is one of the most dangerous events left in motorsports, and yet who are we to try and stop those brave souls from trying to tame it?

And then the cars started going, and that sort of lifted the mood as we had some fast (but not electric VW fast) runs early on. One high point, IMO, was the electric Palatov getting under 10 minutes, and then, the weather started to turn. Suddenly there was rain and sleet/hail at Glen Cove. Travis "Pastrami" Pastrana came past with a big rooster tail from the wheels of his Cayman, followed by several others. Rhys Millen hauled the mail in the production-spec Bentley. But it wasn't too long after that when the red flag came out again. Potential lightning at the summit, and a shortened course for the rest of the day. They raced to Glen Cove, supposedly, but the finish line was just out of view down the hill from us. The racers who came around the bend towards us did so at a crawl, then turned around to prepare to go back down. Some revved the engines or gave us a wave as they did. Andreas Bakkerud, the last competitor of the day, gave us a show with a rally-style 180 whiparound. Somewhere between the last few cars was when we got the official announcement of Carlin's passing. It was cold, wet, and somber.

Those who did reach the summit began the "parade of champions" down past us, and we exchanged high-fives and thumbs-up with them as they went. Then a long and slow descent in the rain for all of us spectators, thoughts weighing heavy on my mind.

Sad to hear about Carlin. That looks like a beast of a bike to ride.

Slowbird,

Were you up at Glen Cove? I was at Cove creek and the parade of champions stopped there for a good long time. Got a chance to talk to everyone at least for a little bit. It was actually one of the highlights of a really weird day.