2010 Pikes Peak Int'l Hill Climb: Practice Day 2 & 3

Days 2 and 3 of practice on the hill went very well!  Thierry ended up in 2nd place in the vintage class, just 3 seconds behind Keith Davidson.  The cars ran well and the drivers were smiling.  The weather was gorgeous, even balmy up at altitude and Doug and Thierry made plenty of runs on the bottom section yesterday morning and the middle section (the W's) this morning. 

Thierry and the Bag O'Nails practice racing the top section on Day 1.

Doug on Practice Day 1.

Geezer washing windows at almost 13,000 feet.

The lineup of racers on Practice Day 2 on the bottom section:

John takes a nap with a view of Pikes after getting up at 3am.

Angelica and hubby, Keith.

Geezer, John and Krisitn on Practice Day 2.

Donner Billingsly, Thierry's navigator.

On Practice Day 3 we brought our campstove and on the back of the trailer we cooked up eggs, Canadian bacon, and steak folded into corn tortillas - a nice change from cold granola bars and handfuls of nuts. 

Amazing breakfast!

We are missing Fernando, who hurt his hand in a mountain bike race in Chihuahua on Sunday, and could not make it here.  Speedy healing, Fer!

Mike Robinson from San Antonio, TX, joined us at 330am this morning to watch practice and scope out the Mustangs To Go corral and team as he is planning on racing with us in La Carrera in 2011.   

Todd gives Keith Davidson the elusive Shelby seat - hopefully it makes him lucky on race day but not lucky enough to beat us.  :)

Angelica and Thierry discuss the badass W's.

Geezer and Mike waiting for sunrise.

Mike Ryan's big rig starting up the W's.

Keith, Mockett and Thierry in the lineup.

On the way down after practice today we came around a corner in the truck and our hearts jumped as we saw an entire line of ambulances and rescue vehicles.  We learned that one of the open wheel cars had gone off a steep edge during practice on the lower section, luckily still in a wooded area with a sandy landing and aspen trees.  They landed upside down and we heard that everyone was okay; not sure if there was a navigator or not. 

Never a good sight to come upon....

Thankfully everyone was fine....even the race car.

Later in traffic we followed the trailered "Monster" car down the hill - we are hoping Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima or someone else can break the 10:00 minute mark this year!  We have heard he has some hopeful competition this year from Rhys Millen and Paul Dallenbach who have switched to the Unlimited Class.

Love the Millen Red Bull racer!

Tonight is Fan Fest downtown Colorado Springs and tomorrow is our day off so we will bring the cars to the vintage car show in Manitou and get some sleep.