Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile and motorcycle hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, a distance of 19.99 km (12.42 miles) over 156 turns, climbing 1,439 meters (4,721 ft) from the start at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway at 2,862 meters (9,390 ft) on grades averaging 7% over both gravel and paved sections.

The race is on the FIA International Events Calendar and has featured competition from United States rally sanctioning body SCCA ProRally in 2004 and Rally America in 2005. It has taken place since 1916 and is currently contested by a variety of classes of Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles and Quads. There are often numerous new classes tried and discarded year-to-year.

The first running of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb was promoted by Spencer Penrose. Penrose had finished widening the narrow carriage road into a much wider "Pikes Peak Highway." He decided to encourage tourists to visit by creating a race to the clouds.

On average there are 150 competitors. The oldest current class is the Open Wheel division which has been run since 1916 and has been won by such names as Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, and Robby Unser (the current class record holder, achieving 10:05.85 min in 1994).

The overall record is held by Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima from Japan who clocked a time of 10:01.408 on July 21, 2007 driving the 1000 hp mid-engined Suzuki XL7 Hill Climb Special, breaking the previous record (set in 1994 by Rod Millen) by less than three seconds. The winning time in 1916 was 20:55.40, set by Rea Lentz.

In 1989, an award-winning short film about the 1988 event was released by French director Jean-Louis Mourey. The film, titled Climb Dance, captured the efforts of Finnish former World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen, as he won the event in a record-breaking time with his turbocharged Peugeot 405 T16.

Current Racing Classes

Car and Truck

Unlimited - "Anything Goes" This class is for anything assuming it passes technical inspection.

Open Wheel - The traditional Pikes Peak race car. These range from Indy style cars to buggies.

Mini Sprint - Small bore Open Wheel category. Smaller and lighter with no more than 220ci (3.6 L)

engines and no forced induction.

Super Stock Car - Traditional tube-frame stock cars. Must be less than 10 years old.

Pro Trucks - Purpose-built tube-frame off-road pickups and SUV's.

Pikes Peak Open - Cars or trucks that look like a stock vehicle from the outside, but retain little of the original design.

Time Attack 4wd - Production based AWD or 4wd vehicles

Time Attack 2wd - Production based 2wd vehicles.

HPSS (High Performance Showroom Stock) - These are stock performance vehicles with upgraded safety features.

Exhibition Car/Truck- Cars and trucks that don't fit into standard categories. Often these categories feature advances in alternative fuels or technologies.

Vintage- New category for 2008

Motorcycle and Quad

Motorcycle 1200 CC

Motorcycle 750 CC

Motorcycle Supermoto

Motorcycle Quad 500

Motorcycle 450 CC

Motorcycle 250 CC

Motorcycle Quad 450

Motorcycle Vintage

Motorcycle Sidecar

Motorcycle/Quad Exhibition

Pikes Peak Course Map

Winning Car 2010 - MONSTER SPORT Suzuki SX4 Hill Climb Special (Record Time:10 Min 11.490 sec)
Driver - Nobuhiro "MONSTER" Tajima