This Suzuki SX4 was the overall winner with a time of 10:15.36. When race day arrives, only one car ends up crossing the finish line under 11 minutes and it's the '09 Suzuki SX4 powered by Nobuhiro Tajima. Granted, this machine has been purpose built for just this event and it cracks off a time of 10 minutes, 15 seconds, the fastest up the mountain. Only a minute behind, the Grönholm's Fiesta limps to the peak with a time of 11:28.96. Considering the blown turbocharger at mile three of the race and a small fire at the top, it's remarkable that Grönholm was able to achieve that time and hand him second overall in the Unlimited class. Eriksson suffers the same fate as he did in practice when a tire de-beads and he goes off into the bushes early into his run. Although the team and the Ford Fiestas didn't quite have the results they wanted, it was their first time out to such a unique event and as Eriksson says, "These cars were not built to run an event like this. With more time and some development, we are confident we can setup these cars for the hill climb and run much quicker than we did." That rings very true, and I can only hope that they come back next year to run the hill one more time because I don't doubt that the Fiesta's are capable of running in the low-10-minute marker. Who knows, they could surprise us and even run into the 9s, a feat that has yet to be achieved. The park officials weren't too happy with this "polluter." This diesel truck was the only rig to run up the mountain. It was a sight to behold watching this behemoth navigate the corners up to the peak.The park officials weren't too happy with this "polluter." This diesel truck was the only As for the conclusion to my visit, I too had a crack at Pikes Peak. It wasn't exactly an 800hp Fiesta but a 95hp Euro-spec production version, and with the assistance of the parking brake I managed to kick up some gravel and tear up some pavement. I'm sure Marcus Grönholm would have been proud-the Fiestas came and conquered. « | 1 | 2 | View Full Article By Peter Tarach Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
