The days start early at Pikes Peak. Whether you’re climbing it on foot or in a car, it takes time, even if you’ll be doing big portions of it at over 100 miles per hour, as Dai Yoshihara did in his Acura. This year, the automaker was gunning for the production front-drive record at America’s Mountain, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, America’s Most Dangerous Race, or whatever you want to call it. No matter what, it means an alarm shaking you from sleep before dawn.
Pikes Peak Requires Patience Above All Else
Chase Bierenkoven
Chase Bierenkoven
Chase Bierenkoven
To get even just to the base of the course, you’re driving nearly an hour from Colorado Springs. The road winds its way up a narrow canyon carved by snow runoff over millennia, eventually opening at a reservoir where most spectators will park. From there, it’s a shuttle ride up to the “paddocks.”
These are scattered near the start line, more trailers with easy-up shelters than the solid pits you’d normally see in motorsport. The rest of the year, this is just a road for tourists. Today, it’s a race track. In the morning, the smell of what breakfast teams have packed up the mountain mixes with the unmistakable smell of gasoline and rubber.
Morning hours are filled with waiting. After unloading their entry for the year, a slightly modified version of their SRO TC America racer, the team rests near the Type S. Some make breakfast or coffee, while others are unpacking the myriad of tools, cameras, and sensors they’ll need for driver Dai Yoshihara’s attempt at the front-drive record later that day. Until then, it’s all about patience, and the odd glance at passing cars rushing to the start line.
The Car: Acura’s Integra Type S Racer
The car itself is fielded by Honda Racing Corporation, the motorsports arm for both Honda and Acura. The Type S normally participates in the top class of SRO TC America, but got a few updates for Pikes Peak. For one, it has acquired a six-speed sequential transmission since its last run up the mountain.
For another, the engine is an upfitted version of the Integra’s factory 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder K20C8 engine. The racing version of the engine, co-developed by HRC US and HRC Japan, makes more than 360 horsepower – a lot for a car without an interior. All of its power runs to the front wheels, which are upgraded with larger brakes and lighter wheels and tires. This year, Acura is running with slicks.
Pre-Race, The Garage Comes Alive
There’s a baseline level of activity in the Acura trailer before Dai’s attempt. Chatting with the mechanics and watching the car go through its checks is mixed with a little bit of hanging around, watching other cars go by, and talking shop. Most everyone here is easy to talk to because we’re all here for one thing: speed.
Chase Bierenkoven
Chase Bierenkoven
In the hours before the race, driver Dai is focused and quiet, shooting me the odd nod or smile as I hover like an annoying camera-laden bee around his car, his paddock, and his team. As the team warmed up the Type S’s gearbox before Dai’s run, I asked how he felt. Nearly drowned out by the car’s gearbox whine, Dai replied. “Good, no nerves,” and chuckled. We’d spoken the day prior about nerves. Yoshihara says he doesn’t get them, at least not before the race.
Chase Bierenkoven
When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. The guys I spent all morning chatting with all turned into a fleet of robots. Here, everyone seems to have that athlete’s gaze before the flag drops: total focus, completely unbothered or even unaware of anything but their goal. From Yoshihara to the crew, I saw it everywhere. It’s hard not to get energized by it, especially as I start sprinting to the start line behind the crew, huffing exhaust smoke and wondering why the hell I’m not driving today, too. At some level, I think, all of us at Pikes Peak want to be cinched into a tiny, hot metal box to hurl up a mountain.
Chasing Records
Chase Bierenkoven
I jump in front of the team and a field of marshals and police officers to get a good view of Dai’s start. For some reason, the cops get the best seats in the house at the hill climb, right in front of the start line. Short of being on the mountain yourself (which is an option), this is where it’s at.
Dai rips past, pegging off the rev limiter and lighting up the front wheels. The team is in contention with a few cars today: a GTI, fielded by a Polish team, and a Honda Civic Type R, also fielded by a private team. Both represent real threats. After his start, the team and I sprint to the live feed monitor to watch: even the teams don’t get a live feed from the cars up here on account of the poor satellite coverage.
Chase Bierenkoven
Dai crosses the line first, having out-qualified the two earlier in the weekend. The team seems relieved when he crosses, having had nothing but a small lockup on the way up. Here, even finishing is a real win. As the Civic crosses the line a few tenths off Dai, the excitement ramps up. A round of cheers and high-fives erupts from the team.
Chase Bierenkoven
Chase Bierenkoven
In front of us sit the Poles. Clearly a family outfit, their Civic Type R put up a solid fight, and with a rookie driver, Maciej Serafin, at the wheel.
The remaining threat, the GTI, sported aero elements that nearly totaled the wheelbase of the hatchback, making it a serious threat to Dai’s Integra. As the GTI climbed up, matching Dai’s pace in the first sector, we all stopped celebrating to watch.
Chase Bierenkoven
Motorsport Offers Up A Mountain Of Heartbreak
The GTI closes, and the crew gets anxious. Slower in the second sector, it’ll be agonizing minutes until the GTI crosses the line. Rookie driver Jim Morris is closing in on Dai’s record-setting 10:33.174 run. We’re all quiet now, glued to the timing board.
10:33.104.
Seven-hundredths of a second. Jim Morris and his 2014 GTI have a new front-drive record at Pikes Peak.
Chase Bierenkoven
While Morris’ crew celebrates feet in front of us, I head back to the garage with the team in a cloud of expletives. By the time I pack my camera away, the garage is half packed, even though Dai won’t come down until late that afternoon. Once at the top, cars stay there until everyone has run.
Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
In the end, a simple brake sensor was Dai’s undoing, even though he still smashed the previous record by more than 15 seconds. He battled the sensor to a record run he lost just minutes later. We found out after the race that the sensor was forcing Dai to brake much earlier than he wanted, lending Morris the advantage in some sectors. Heartbreaking, yes, but everyone at Acura had fire in their eyes when I left to head down the mountain. I have no doubt the team wants that record more than anyone wants for oxygen at 14,000 feet.
About the author
Chase Bierenkoven
Senior Editor, Autoblog