(lively music)
- [Rob] It's just past dawn here on Pikes Peak,
a mountain in Colorado best known for the cars
that race more than 12 miles up to its summit.
(car engine roaring)
But the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
is over for this year.
(car engine roaring)
It is now three months later,
and veteran Hill Climb Racer, David Donner,
is on an epic run up the Pikes Peak course.
(car engine roaring)
The time he clocks in his Porsche 911 Turbo S
won't count as a record.
Records are reserved for race day,
but it will prove a point.
(car engine revving)
It's really cool for me to see, you know,
professionals doing something like this.
So much to learn, so much to absorb
and see how things are really done.
- Yeah, Rob, can I introduce you to Rick?
- How you doing, Rick?
- Tom, from...
- Nice to meet you. - Motor Sport.
- Hey Rob. - Nice to meet you.
- [Rob] If you're such a legend that they let you
close down a mountain for a private run,
you might as well go ahead and do it.
The reason I'm putting a helmet on
and test fitting the passenger seat of this car,
because I'm going to be riding in it.
You know, this is very first for me.
I've never been to Pikes Peak
and on purpose, I purposely avoided this
because I wanted to be here
for the first time doing something absolutely crazy.
I didn't realize it would be this crazy.
Setting a record at Pikes Peak,
even an unofficial one, means something,
because the stakes are so high.
A driver has 156 corners to learn.
There's no guard rails means no second chances.
Elevation and weather only adds
to the engineering challenge.
For those reasons,
Pikes Peak is also becoming a proven ground
for race teams and manufacturers.
A place to test and refine vehicle dynamics.
Kind of like the Nerve Brewing in Germany.
Only up in the clouds.
(bright music)
- [Rob] Yeah, oh, Donner's about to make his attempt.
(car engine idling)
I'm literally feet away
from the launching spot for this car.
My heart's racing right now
not just 'cause I'm about to watch this happen
but the atmosphere is thinner here.
Even though we're at the base, it goes much higher.
It's gonna get much thinner.
But my heart's been over a 100 beats per minute.
(laughs) Just in your.
I think his will be a little higher.
(car engine revving)
Do you know what time is he looking to beat?
- Well, yesterday he did a 9:50:18.
- Yeah.
- I'd like to try and,
we think it could get into the 9:48, I think.
- Okay.
- If it's a clean run time.
- He was 10.
- [Pit Crew member] Ten's been the magic to beat
for a production car.
He did that, but we think there's more in the car.
- [Rob] Yeah.
- Biggest fears is elk, deer.
There's big horn sheep up there.
- Oh yeah.
- So you just hope it's clear where you're not seeing
something on four legs...
- Animals, yeah.
- moving at you.
Now all they do is play. (car engine roaring)
(car engine revving)
- [Rob] So it looks like he
just made his way back to the base.
And then, we don't know anything about how fast he did
or anything like that.
So I'd be finding out that as well,
I'm suiting up getting into the car,
so they're going to go over a couple things.
So we'll be able to suit up,
and jump in
and strap in right here in front of their trailer.
But I'm so curious.
I'm so curious what he ended up doing already.
There he is.
(car engine purring)
What's incredible about this moment is
that I get to experience it.
He just did the record attempts,
but they put a seat in there,
harness for me.
They added a space for me,
to be able to experience what he experiences.
Maybe not the fullest 10:10,
but I won't know the difference.
And I get to do
some of the most iconic parts of Pikes Peak
with him as a passenger.
- [Pit crew member] You all ready?
- I'm ready.
(suspenseful music)
(laughs) Okay.
It's super exciting.
- Oh dude, you're going to have fun.
(suspenseful music)
- I'm excited.
They said they'll switch it up a little bit so
we get to go through the toll booth?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, that's such an iconic, like.
- That's it, yep, that's Glen Cove.
- Okay
- So we'll go through there
and then the next turn you'll see a rock wall
and then we'll go off one more
to the hairpin and turn around.
(car engine purring)
- [Rob] Here we go.
(suspenseful music)
- Okay, here we go.
- All right.
- [David] Are you ready?
- [Rob] Yep, I am ready.
(car engine revving)
(Rob laughing)
(car engine roaring)
- [Rob] Yes.
(car engine roaring)
- (laughs) Yes, yes.
- That's it.
- That's amazing.
Oh my god. (David laughing)
What a rush, man.
I cannot believe this is more or less
a production vehicle.
Time set during sanctioned events outside
of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb don't count as records.
They're in the books as certified course times.
Still, David was quicker than
the standing production car record on his very first run
and he kept improving.
His best time,
nine minutes and 54 seconds.
Oh, that was utterly insane.
I cannot come up with the right words to describe,
how that felt.
Because he obviously, he wasn't trying
to set a record with me in the car.
I was weighing him down and slowing him down.
But he was still driving with all intention, and oh my god.
Mad props to his driving skill
because I felt very confident watching him do that.
But there were some turns where you're like,
conventional knowledge says that that's way
too fast to come into that turn at.
And I knew he clearly knew it way better than me.
And so to feel that rush
and this is, this is just the beginning for me,
my obsession with trying to drive.
And so, I've got a lot of questions for him
and I think we're going to be able
to go back down to his shop
and I'm going to pick his brain on camera and off camera
and take a look a little bit closer at the car.
(energetic upbeat music)
I'm in love with Pikes Peak, (David laughing)
with what you did, with what this car did.
I am enamored.
You've been driving this road for how many years?
- Many years.
- Yeah. - I mean like 25 years.
In the days that it was gravel,
I won it on gravel,
and then tarmac and gravel,
and then all tarmac.
It's been fun to go through the evolution
of different types of cars
and open-wheel cars and GT cars and obviously Porsche.
I've had the most success on the mountain with those cars.
- That's what is very interesting to me
is I see some of your past.
- [David] Yeah.
(energetic upbeat music)
- Instantly, I know that from
the name of this show American-tuned,
I see MoTeC here
and that's tuned.
- [David] Right. - [Rob] That is tuned.
So I know we want to talk about this more,
but my heart also is in building something crazy like this.
Could you run me down what this is?
- [David] Sure, well it's a car that was built in this shop.
It's based off an IndyCar
to where the tub stops right here.
- Okay.
- The engine is a stress member
so there's no frame or anything.
So it's exactly like a '90's IndyCar.
- Yeah
- It's a space frame with carbon fiber reinforcement.
This is basically a NASCAR engine, in that day.
780 horse at sea level.
You know, as you can see in the photo up there,
it's a large wings, you know
just 'cause there's so little air on Pikes Peak.
It was a handful in the day and that was all on gravel.
So you think crazy today this was.
- I can't even imagine.
- Yeah, but I learned so much from this car and car control.
In speed of reactions,
where you don't need that with this car.
- So, coming from me building cars,
not to this level yet but in this emotional range,
I wonder what it feels like for you
who's got experience with this,
to then switch to something more production?
- [David] The biggest thing was that
this thing accelerates incredibly quick.
There's no wheel spin.
This thing you, you know,
before attraction control. - [Rob] before 4-wheel drive.
- So you have to, you know, throttle it really easily.
It's just got a good feel that's well-balanced where
this is more of a prototype
and you have to fine tune everything to get it
to where fits best for your driving style.
But it's, it would get annihilated by this car.
- [Rob] So we've definitely established repeatedly
that it is stock or it's production vehicle.
- [David] Right.
- I'd love if you guys could show me.
- Absolutely. No, we'd be happy to.
We'll lift it up and let you take a look.
We'll get Vic in here and have him show it to you.
(energetic upbeat music)
- So this is the original Porsche Parts' symbol.
So before they had the Stuttgart,
the actual horses and everything on the cars.
This is what it was.
So if you look at any part on this car,
it'll have that symbol.
(energetic upbeat music)
- You know, I'd love for you to tell me more about this car.
And I'm not a Porsche guy.
- This here is stock pad set up.
Nothing fancy, nothing special according to the rules.
- I was gonna said the Pikes Peak team has rules.
- For the production, you know, so I mean, like
we really get into it, you know
everything that we see pretty much under here
is all factory stock.
This car does have basically an active sway bar.
- [Rob] Oh. - This is a hydraulic unit.
- Yeah.
- That as the car sees roll
from the different sensors in the four corners,
it actually, the sway bar is actually
trying to keep the car centered and stable.
- [Rob] Same thing.
- [Vic] So, if we go to the back.
Yeah, the same thing on the back.
The rear sway bar is exactly the same way.
Works off the same principle.
You know what we did do modified-wise here
which we were allowed through the rules,
is we changed the exhaust.
- In my mind I'm thinking of full exhaust
but this is a rear engine car.
- [Vic] Right.
- [Rob] The exhaust is?
- [Vic] The exhaust is very small, yeah.
- So the one thing that did catch my ear is,
that you guys mentioned, that the ECU was tuned.
- Yes.
- But it's not all that meets the eye,
what's the deal with the tune on this car?
- Because we are racing at altitude,
the car again, heat, altitude is,
air is thinner as you know, like,
you want to be as dense as possible.
Colder, denser air.
You're packing more air in there.
Getting more horsepower. - Yeah.
- Whereas the car goes up the hill
we lose horsepower, but then when the car actually starts
adding fuel, but we're losing air, so obviously
we have to change the tuning to compensate for that.
- [Rob] That makes perfect sense to me.
(energetic upbeat music)
The term production car,
at least as it pertains to Pikes Peak,
what were some of the things
that they required you to change,
or they allowed you to change?
Roll cage?
- Safety equipment. - Yes.
- The safety equipment is the requirement.
A roll cage and a fuel cell,
which was a big undertaking.
No one ever put a fuel cell in one of these cars before.
I think even the previous generations,
no one really had one built.
So it wasn't like I could go into, you know
the parts to fish and pick up a fuel cell
from Porsche Motorsport and drop it in the car.
(gentle upbeat music)
- [David] Thanks for coming.
- Yeah, oh yeah.
This has blown my mind completely.
Not just that this car could do it,
but everything that's involved.
And I actually wanted to pick your brain
a little bit more about - Sure.
- The not the rules, but I didn't realize how special
what we just did really was,
as kind of something new to Pikes Peak.
So I was wondering if
you could explain that a little bit more.
- Sure, the evolution of it is kind of interesting.
I mean we entered the race with this exact car in June
and our goal was to beat the production car record.
So there was a class dedicated to production cars
that are prepared similar to this,
but because of the weather,
we weren't able to get the record at on that day.
So, Pikes Peak have started this new event,
outside of the race,
where they're offering the mountain to manufacturers
or teams to set records.
And so we decided, well the car is here,
David is here, we're a flight away.
Let's come back and show that we could have done it.
You know, to beat that record
and set the fastest time
for a production car on the mountain.
- [Rob] With all is like sanctioned racing.
I know that there's always a little controversy
and I know that when people talk about
Pikes Peak records traditionally, it's,
Hey, I was at that event.
- At the race. - Yes.
- [Crew Member] Yeah, so it's an interesting thing
because it's so new, you know,
we're really the second team to come
and do it, you know.
Lamborghini did it with an SUV.
And so it's an evolving event
outside of the race for Pike's Peak.
So I don't know if,
they've quite really put a name on it yet.
- Yeah.
- Or how they're going to classify it.
But there is a distinction I think
between the actual race record
and that's something that the officials
from Pikes Peak are going to have to define,
you know, as they go forward with this event.
(gentle upbeat music)
- Well you and your team have given me
so much to think about.
I'm going to be laying in the hotel bed just
imagining and strategizing,
'cause this is a thing I want to do now.
- Yeah, I'd be curious,
what class do you think you'd be interested in
or what type of car would you want to run?
You know, your IndyCar or NTT Car.
- I've got a rotary swapped Corvette, C5 Corvette.
It's got 5, 600, 700 horsepower.
- Sure.
- I can tune it down and it's mostly a stock chassis.
- Right.
- And so that way I can appreciate and understand
and then build up from this.
- Right.
- I think that would be the car I would want to take.
- That would be the key.
You know, just maybe keep the power
down a little bit to start with
and then go from there.
Treat it as a learning experience the first year.
Get through a race day, get to the top.
People forget, you know, the most important thing
is not how quick you go it's that you finish.
(car engine whizzing)
- Okay, after all of that, I've realized something.
I really do want to drive the car.
Hey David, can I drive the car?
- [David] Yeah, it's street legal.
(bright upbeat music)
(car engine revving)
(car honking)
- [Drive-Thru Employee] What can I get started for you?
- I'm just going to have a large Baja Blast.
- Awesome.
- [Drive-Thru Employee] There you go, have a great day.
- Okay, thank you so much.
Yeah, you too.
I just realized,
I don't have a cup holder.
(energetic music)
(straw sliding)
(logo gear closing)