My GTI at Pikes Peak

My roommate and I drove some 30 hours to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this year. We had one of the best trips of our lives (being into motorsports and all). We had the incredible opportunity to hang out with some of the best race teams there and just an a blast.

I took a gazillion pictures with my phone, you can find a lot of them in the album posted below. Here are a few my roommate took/I took of the GTI at Pikes Peak! If I can post a link to my roommate's pictures I will, they are much better as they were taken with a proper camera! I'm also going to put together clips of video I took which I'll post later. If you're into motorsports take a look through the album!

http://sdrv.ms/12bUaKF

Just got to the hotel


The GTI and the peak in the background


GTI at PPIR



At the gates waiting to get on the peak prior to practice

Wow, that's awesome!

Jesus I live in Colorado and I've never been to pikes peak.... Kudos for making the long drive !

Sights and sounds


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsD6b4GbCzI

That's awesome! Cool you got to see the Peugoet piloted by Sebastian Loeb! How did you get up to the spots where you took video? It starts at over 12k feet right?

Nevermind, I noticed you could drive to certain parts of the course.

Do those huge wings actually help the car aerodynamics wise? Just curious to know... some of them are so big it almost looks ridiculous!

Seemed like an awesome event though! I would have loved being there

Visecough said:

That's awesome! Cool you got to see the Peugoet piloted by Sebastian Loeb! How did you get up to the spots where you took video? It starts at over 12k feet right?

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You can drive up to certain spots on the mountain before they practice or race. You have to be there by like 3:30 am, gates open at 4:00 and they close at 5:00 to make sure roads are clear for competitors.

BusinessAsUsual said:

Do those huge wings actually help the car aerodynamics wise? Just curious to know... some of them are so big it almost looks ridiculous!

Seemed like an awesome event though! I would have loved being there

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Most do but at the higher speeds. Some don't I'm sure but I would say most do in fact have a purpose. A lot of the cars there are build specifically for this event.

Erwan said:

Most do but at the higher speeds. Some don't I'm sure but I would say most do in fact have a purpose. A lot of the cars there are build specifically for this event.

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Wings, bigger they are, better they work at low speed(look up A-mod cars for SCCA Autocrossing). At the Pikes Peak since the altitude is so high, the air is less dense so you need bigger wing for the same amount of downforce at sea level....

RacingManiac said:

Wings, bigger they are, better they work at low speed(look up A-mod cars for SCCA Autocrossing). At the Pikes Peak since the altitude is so high, the air is less dense so you need bigger wing for the same amount of downforce at sea level....

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Right most wings on the cars at PPIHC are not A-mod sized haha some are but not too many. I'm pretty sure the wings on these cars are mostly only useful during the higher speed sections.