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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. I'm Hannah Elliott and

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Speaker 1: I'm Matt Miller.

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Speaker 2: This is Hot Pursuit.

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Speaker 3: Coming up on today's podcast, we have Chris Lennon. He

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Speaker 3: is a Pike's Peak winner, but also a winner of

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Speaker 3: many other different kinds of races on many other different

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Speaker 3: kinds of track tracks. He's a driving instructor as well

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Speaker 3: as has been the president of his Porsche Club of

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Speaker 3: America chapter and done many other things with the PCA. Plus,

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Speaker 3: he's a bit of a media engineering mogul, so he's

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Speaker 3: written the textbook on media workflows and straddling the two

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Speaker 3: worlds of business and racing. I think makes him a

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Speaker 3: pretty cool guest for our particular podcast.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Also, who's going out of seventy three nine to

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Speaker 1: eleven RSR tribute car which is electric which we should electrified? Yeah, fascinating.

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Speaker 3: Somebody grabbed Barry Ritholtz because this is this is right.

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Speaker 2: True?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So I mean at the pikes Peak race is

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Speaker 3: coming up quick, right, it's just about a month and

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Speaker 3: a half away.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's good. It's fun. Anyone, if you're thinking

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Speaker 1: about it, you should do it.

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Speaker 3: I have to say it's it's up there with like

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Speaker 3: what I consider to be the coolest race is obviously

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Speaker 3: you've got the big.

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Speaker 2: Indy car Indy five hundred.

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Speaker 3: You've got the big Lamal that we went to last

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Speaker 3: year that was awesome, the Nurberg Norch Life they don't

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Speaker 3: race f one car is there anymore, But that's like

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Speaker 3: up there with the most legendary Manza. And then this

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Speaker 3: This has been going on for well o our century.

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Speaker 1: Right, yeah, this I think this year is the one

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Speaker 1: hundred and fourth time they've run it, and it's literally

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Speaker 1: like a time trial on open public road. I mean

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Speaker 1: they stop the they close the course for this race,

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Speaker 1: but it's literally up a fourteen thousand foot mountain side

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Speaker 1: on a road. It's kind of wild and wooly, and

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Speaker 1: it's one of the few things that feel very old

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Speaker 1: world when you go. Like if you go, you can

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Speaker 1: just walk around freely in the paddock, in the garages.

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Speaker 1: They're like these tent garages. You can watch people working

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Speaker 1: on the cars, you can go up and talk to them.

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Speaker 1: It's really unregulated, which is great.

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Speaker 2: I mean they're very dangerous.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, right, It's one of those things like like the

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Speaker 3: tt on the Isle of Man where you kind of

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Speaker 3: totally wonder is this still legal?

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Speaker 1: I know, it's crazy, Like, don't tell anyone they're still

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Speaker 1: doing this because it's really cool and it feels like

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Speaker 1: a throwback to an earlier age when men were men

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Speaker 1: and women were men and you know, all of that stuff.

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Speaker 2: Well, with all that aside, let's get right over to

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Speaker 2: Chris Lennon.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I was looking at how I would introduce you, Chris,

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Speaker 3: and obviously you've won in your class at Pike's Peak.

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Speaker 3: I don't know how current my information is, but I

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Speaker 3: see that you've podiumed at least six times. You've you

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Speaker 3: podiumed also in the open class, which I imagine is

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Speaker 3: one of the fastest classes. I don't know much about

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Speaker 3: as much as obviously as you do about the race.

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Speaker 3: You wrote the book about the Pipe's Piece race. But

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Speaker 3: you're also a driving instructor obviously have been president of

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Speaker 3: your chapter of the PCA, and there's so many accolades

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Speaker 3: for you in terms of racing and all the licenses

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Speaker 3: that you've got.

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Speaker 2: I didn't really know where to start.

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Speaker 3: What would you say is your proudest accomplishment or what

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Speaker 3: would you put as the headline on your on the

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Speaker 3: story of you right now in terms of racing.

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Speaker 4: Well, the headline is definitely a Pipe Peak champion. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: everything else that I've done in my racing career pales

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Speaker 4: in comparison to winning on pipes, So that's all that

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Speaker 4: really matters.

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Speaker 1: Can you give us a little bit of background on

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Speaker 1: Pike's Peak? Obviously, you know Matt and I have attended.

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Speaker 1: It's an old race, but it's a rather niche race,

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Speaker 1: although it's very prestigious. So just give give our listeners

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Speaker 1: sort of a rundown of why it's so grueling and

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Speaker 1: difficult and really death defying too. I'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: just from your perspective as a driver.

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Speaker 4: So number one, it's unique, right, there's no other race

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Speaker 4: that's even similar to it. There are other hillpliines. You know,

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Speaker 4: hill climbs started a long time ago in the UK

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Speaker 4: and they were literally climbs up hills. Pipe speaks not

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Speaker 4: a hill as you as you know, but they call

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Speaker 4: it a hill climb. So you know, most of those

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Speaker 4: are you know, one two three miles long and this

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Speaker 4: is twelve and a half miles long, and you know,

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Speaker 4: up a mountain, that sort of thing. It's completely unique

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Speaker 4: in what it is in the the risk reward totally unique.

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Speaker 4: You know, the kind of speeds where you've got cars

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Speaker 4: going one hundred, one hundred and fifty miles an hour

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Speaker 4: up a mountain road that wasn't really designed for that

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Speaker 4: is quite unique. The grueling aspect of it is also

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Speaker 4: something that a lot of people don't realize that they think, well,

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Speaker 4: it's one you know, you know, ten minute run up

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Speaker 4: the mountain sounds sounds like a sprint race, sounds pretty simple,

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Speaker 4: and it's not. I can tell you having competed in

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Speaker 4: this seven times, you know your success or failure really

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Speaker 4: is dictated by your preparation, liking everything right, and for

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Speaker 4: the successful teams of what we've done always is it's

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Speaker 4: been a year long effort or in some cases multi

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Speaker 4: years to prepare for it. That in the years when

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Speaker 4: I was running every year back to back, the day

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Speaker 4: after the hill climb, we would get the team together

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Speaker 4: and have an immediate debrief and planned for next year

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Speaker 4: while it's all fresh of what went well, what didn't

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Speaker 4: go well, what do we need to do differently? That

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Speaker 4: sort of thing, And that's I think something that a

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Speaker 4: lot of people don't realize is is the commitment required

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Speaker 4: for this race if you want to be highly competitive

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Speaker 4: is very large. The other thing that a lot of

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Speaker 4: people don't realize is the budgets that are involved with

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Speaker 4: this and that. And another thing that makes it very

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Speaker 4: unique too is that this is a combination of factory

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Speaker 4: teams and grassroots teams, which you don't really find that.

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Speaker 4: I like to equate this to you know, people pay

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Speaker 4: a lot of money to go to baseball or football

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Speaker 4: fantasy camps and run around the field with their their

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Speaker 4: favorite athletes, and that this is like that, but it's real,

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Speaker 4: like you're actually competing against your your professional heroes. So

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Speaker 4: it's very unique, you know, in that way. And yeah,

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Speaker 4: so it's.

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Speaker 3: It's wait, Chris, what do you think is the delta

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Speaker 3: between you know, the cheapest you could run Pike's Peak

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Speaker 3: and be an actual contender, right and the biggest budget teams.

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Speaker 2: That end up on the podium.

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Speaker 4: So we like to think of ourselves as pretty bare

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Speaker 4: bones in our budgets run around a quarter million, so

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Speaker 4: that's about the cheapest. I mean, you can run cheaper

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Speaker 4: than that, but you're not going to be competitive whatever,

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Speaker 4: that's right. I'm sure there are there are people who

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Speaker 4: spend twenty or thirty thousand and they go up and

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Speaker 4: have fun and great, but they're the chances of them

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Speaker 4: being on the podium or in being competitive is not high.

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Speaker 4: So to be competitive, I would say, you know in

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Speaker 4: that range of quarter million up to the Volkswagen IDR

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Speaker 4: that set the all time record was rumored to have

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Speaker 4: spent forty million on their effort.

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Speaker 2: And so season in World Endurance class racing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Well, and even before that, the pre record holder, when

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Speaker 4: Sebashton Loade came with Pugio over over a decade ago,

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Speaker 4: that was ten million, and they actually spent their Laman budget.

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Speaker 4: They withdrew from Lamon that year so they could run

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Speaker 4: Pike's Peak. So if that gives you an idea, they

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Speaker 4: brought I think sixty people over from France and put

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Speaker 4: them up at the five star hotel and all that

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Speaker 4: sort of thing. So if you want to do it,

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Speaker 4: if you want to set an all time records, it's

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Speaker 4: in the tens of millions.

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Speaker 2: I can.

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Speaker 4: I can recall several years ago commiserating with Rhys Mellon,

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Speaker 4: who's no joke pro driver, who was sponsored by Hyundai,

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Speaker 4: and he was complaining that they only had a million

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Speaker 4: dollar budget and they couldn't compete.

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Speaker 1: Are you racing this year, Chris.

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Speaker 4: I'm not so. We've been developing the car for the

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Speaker 4: last several years. We ran it the last time in

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Speaker 4: twenty nineteen when we did the electric conversion initially, and

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Speaker 4: we learned a lot. We got a third place, man,

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Speaker 4: but it was definitely not a winning car, and I

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Speaker 4: had said, you know, we're not coming back until we

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Speaker 4: have a winning car, and so it's a it's a

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Speaker 4: true prototype science experiment. We finally just a few months ago,

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Speaker 4: got it to the point where it is achieving the

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Speaker 4: speeds that I expect of it. The downside of that

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Speaker 4: is it's exposed the fact that the breaks are not sufficient.

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Speaker 4: So now that we're going as fast as we should,

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Speaker 4: we can't slow down as fast as we need to.

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Speaker 4: So there's still some some development needed on the car.

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Speaker 4: So we're targeting twenty twenty seven, and you're working on

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Speaker 4: our effort toward that. Getting getting We've got a nice

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Speaker 4: team together, you know, get the right partners, sponsors on board,

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Speaker 4: and you know, that's kind of what we're heading toward.

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Speaker 2: By the way, I want to get to get to that.

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Speaker 1: Wait, I have a question on the development of this

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Speaker 1: car really quickly, because we know with the elevation change, obviously,

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Speaker 1: electric vehicles have very different considerations to internal combustion cars

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Speaker 1: when you're going up the hill, and that's on top

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Speaker 1: of dealing with how the weather can change. You know,

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Speaker 1: in a matter of minutes up the mountain, when you're

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Speaker 1: talking about developing a prototype EV to go up and

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Speaker 1: handle this type of elevation change, what are the considerations

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Speaker 1: compared to something that's just internal combustion.

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Speaker 4: But a great question, So maybe I'll give a little

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Speaker 4: bit of background on how we ended up going down

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Speaker 4: this road. So Pipe's peak, like all racing is an

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Speaker 4: arms race, right, every year you have to improve to

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Speaker 4: continue to compete. And over the first six years that

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Speaker 4: I competed, we went from a three leader internal combustion

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Speaker 4: motor to three two two or three six, and then

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Speaker 4: we're at the point where it's like, well, we're gonna

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Speaker 4: have to turbo charge or supercharge this, which leads to

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Speaker 4: a whole other level of expense and risk and that

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Speaker 4: sort of thing. And at that point I was actually

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Speaker 4: approached completely randomly by a group of guys who were

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Speaker 4: out in the not southern California, but south of the

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Speaker 4: Bay Area.

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Speaker 1: Is this Zero Motorcycles. Yeah, the Zero Motorcycle fan is

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Speaker 1: big fan.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, cool. And they they said, hey, you are

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Speaker 4: you the guy who's run this old looking Porsche up

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Speaker 4: and one on Pipespeak And I'm like yeah, and they're like, hey,

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Speaker 4: would you like to go faster? Would you like to?

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Speaker 4: And I'm like, well, of course. And so this this

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Speaker 4: was just a group of employees Zero who had a

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Speaker 4: passion around this and who had actually the main guy

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Speaker 4: had built a prototype out of a street night portion

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Speaker 4: nine twelve with four motors and four electric motors from

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Speaker 4: Zero Motorcycles invited me out. I drove it on the

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Speaker 4: streets there and they were all like, Okay, what do

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Speaker 4: you think is this? I said, well, sepasts nine to

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Speaker 4: twelve are driven, but this is not sufficient. So we

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Speaker 4: end up building it up to a six motor set

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Speaker 4: up for twenty nineteen and we were competitive. We've got

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Speaker 4: a third place where technically the second fastest car of

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Speaker 4: it due to some rules, we ended up third, which

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Speaker 4: is still pretty good for our first year. And then

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Speaker 4: but we said we have to go faster, So now

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Speaker 4: we're in an eight motor setup. Which again it's nobody

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Speaker 4: has ever done this before. There are a lot of

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Speaker 4: companies and particularly in California who electrify Porsches and other cars,

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Speaker 4: but for the street, and it's a whole different thing

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Speaker 4: to do it for racing, and then a whole different

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Speaker 4: thing again to do something robust enough for Pike's Peak,

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Speaker 4: which is really really punishing on Manu Machine both. So, yeah,

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Speaker 4: it's been a.

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Speaker 3: What does the elevation do, Chris, Because I know obviously

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Speaker 3: in the gas car the arrogance center of top, right,

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Speaker 3: But what's the difference for an electric car at elevation?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, internal combustion cars are just like you

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Speaker 4: and me. They breathe air, and so there's less air,

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Speaker 4: they don't perform as well, just like we don't. So

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Speaker 4: you know, we had figured we were we were losing

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Speaker 4: about forty percent of our power by the time we

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Speaker 4: got to the summit over fourteen thousand feet with a

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Speaker 4: normally aspirated internal combustion engine, where electric motors don't breathe

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Speaker 4: so they don't care there. So it's a huge difference,

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Speaker 4: not only in the raw numbers which we're moving from,

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Speaker 4: just in raw sea level numbers from around two hundred

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Speaker 4: and sixty horse power to over five hundred. But when

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Speaker 4: you reduce that to sixty to up, that summits around

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Speaker 4: one hundred and sixty and we're going to be over

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Speaker 4: five hundred there. So and the top of the mountain

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Speaker 4: on Pipe Peak is the part we really go fast.

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Speaker 4: It's all fast, but the top part is really really

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Speaker 4: fat as part, and that's really where you know, EV's

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Speaker 4: come into their own and you know EV's have had

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Speaker 4: a long history on Pike's Peak. The first one ran

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Speaker 4: I want to say, about twenty five years ago. So

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Speaker 4: it's the perfect race for evs. You know, you don't

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Speaker 4: have to worry about range anxiety. You know, you don't

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Speaker 4: have to go just under twelve and a half miles.

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Speaker 4: It's straight uphill, but still you don't have to worry

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Speaker 4: about that. And yeah, it's you want that constant torque

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Speaker 4: and constant power all the way up. So it's absolutely

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Speaker 4: the perfect rank.

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Speaker 2: By the way, how big is your battery pack?

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Speaker 3: I imagine you want to use the smallest possible battery

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Speaker 3: pack to achieve twelve miles and ten minutes and change.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's exactly the same problem you have with

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Speaker 4: gasoline you don't want an ounce more gasoline in a

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Speaker 4: race car than you need, right And actually we achieved

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Speaker 4: that one year. I actually ran out of gas putting

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Speaker 4: in the car back on the trailer after the race,

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Speaker 4: which was perfect. And that's what that's where we want

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Speaker 4: to be. Yeah, it was great, and that's where we

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Speaker 4: want to be with the battery capacity that we want

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Speaker 4: enough capacity to get in the summit. We don't even

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Speaker 4: care if we've got enough to get back down. We

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Speaker 4: can tow up back down, that's fine. And so that's

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Speaker 4: it's designed to just have enough to go up there.

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Speaker 4: And that's part of what we need to test over

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Speaker 4: the next year more rigorously is do we have too

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Speaker 4: much battery because the batteries are very heavy as and

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Speaker 4: weight is the enemy of speed. So if we could

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Speaker 4: we right now have four large zero motorcycles battery monoliths,

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Speaker 4: which each one I think is about one hundred and

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Speaker 4: seventy five pounds, So yeah, we've got four of them.

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Speaker 4: If we can eliminate one, wow, that would be huge.

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Speaker 4: So we need to determine that. But yeah, it's it's

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Speaker 4: a lot, but you don't want too much on there.

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Speaker 4: And you know that forty million dollar Volkswagen effort that

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Speaker 4: that won. If you look up on the internet, you'll

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Speaker 4: notice he didn't drive it back down. And our suspicion

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Speaker 4: is they had it so perfectly engineered that he probably

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Speaker 4: pretty much ran out of battery as he brought the

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Speaker 4: finish line, which I mean, if that isn't the ultimate

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Speaker 4: German engineering, I don't know what it is.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely all right, that was a little bit of our

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Speaker 3: conversation with Chris Lennon. Will get read right back to

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Speaker 3: it after a word from our sponsors. All right, let's

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Speaker 3: get more with Chris Lennon, now author of The Peak

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Speaker 3: of Racing and winner of the Pipe's Peak International Hill Climb.

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Speaker 1: We should say they actually speaking of zero motorcycles. This

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Speaker 1: used to be a motorcycle hill climb as well, until

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Speaker 1: a few years ago. They stopped it because people kept dying.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this race is no joke. And Chris, I'm

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Speaker 1: so curious. You know, I've got, of course Jeff Swart,

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Speaker 1: famous on the Peak, cam Ingram, a friend of mine,

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Speaker 1: great great races up the Peak. What are the advantages

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Speaker 1: to you of having done it so many times? Just

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Speaker 1: to know that specific course, obviously we're talking about engineering

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Speaker 1: the cars to be maximized on the hill. But what

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Speaker 1: about as a driver the advantage that you have knowing

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Speaker 1: that race so well over someone like Travis Pastrana, great driver,

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Speaker 1: you know, famous driver, but he doesn't know that race

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Speaker 1: course like you do.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there's definitely a home field advantage for

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Speaker 4: those of us who have the opportunity to drive it

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Speaker 4: a lot. And I mean before I raced it the

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Speaker 4: first time I went up, and I was driving it

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Speaker 4: multiple times a day. I'd driven it hundreds of times

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Speaker 4: in a streetcar.

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Speaker 1: It's an open public road. We should say it's an

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Speaker 1: open public road kind of close to Manitou Springs in Colorado,

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Speaker 1: if we haven't.

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Speaker 4: Said it is. And I can recall getting a lot

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Speaker 4: of really funny looks from the rangers because I would

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Speaker 4: go up and down at like five or six times

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Speaker 4: in a day, which there's no rule against that, but

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Speaker 4: it's a little bit odd. It's a tourist road and

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Speaker 4: they keep seeing the same guy going up and down

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Speaker 4: and up and down. But I was doing it just

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Speaker 4: to learn the road. I did several runs up and

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Speaker 4: down sitting in the passenger seat with actually the laptop

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Speaker 4: and my lap of making course notes like you would

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Speaker 4: for a rally, and that was actually the genesis of

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Speaker 4: the book was Originally the book was intended to be

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Speaker 4: for rookies to say, you know, here's everything I've learned

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Speaker 4: about it, here's here's what you need to do. The

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Speaker 4: book turned into something totally different, more entertainment based, but

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Speaker 4: that was the idea. So, yeah, there's a huge home

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Speaker 4: field advantage by you know, running it a lot. The

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Speaker 4: other thing I did in terms of prep before running

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Speaker 4: it the first time, and again once you get it

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Speaker 4: imprinted in your brain, I mean I could close my

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Speaker 4: eyes and drive the whole thing in my mind right

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Speaker 4: now with no trouble at all. But the first time

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Speaker 4: it's a little bit it's a little bit different. But

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Speaker 4: what I did the first time I was going to

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Speaker 4: run it, I looked at at the time in this

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Speaker 4: first race I did was in twenty twelve, the guy

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Speaker 4: who would won it perennially was a guy named Monster

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Speaker 4: Regima from Japan, and so I grabbed a copy of

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Speaker 4: his video from one of his winning runs, slowed it

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Speaker 4: down to the kind of target time that I had,

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Speaker 4: and studied what he did and how he drove it.

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Speaker 4: Because it's not like a traditional racetrack. You know, as

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Speaker 4: you guys said, you know, I've been racing for a

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Speaker 4: long time on traditional circuits, and I understand what a

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Speaker 4: racing line is and coach that all the time. On

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Speaker 4: Pike's peak, the traditional racing line is not always the

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Speaker 4: ideal line. So I wanted to understand what you know

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Speaker 4: at the time, the greatest champion they they've had in

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Speaker 4: recent times did and so that was hugely valuable and

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Speaker 4: one of the highlights for me. When I stepped down

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Speaker 4: off the podium that first year, he was the first

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Speaker 4: person to shake my hand, which I thought was like cloud,

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Speaker 4: this has gone full circle, and he didn't even know

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Speaker 4: that I had totally pattered my driving off of him.

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Speaker 1: Is there a brotherhood among and sisterhood among the drivers

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Speaker 1: or is it extremely cutthroat and you know no one's

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Speaker 1: going to give you a lift.

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Speaker 4: Now, there's definitely a brotherhood in sisterhood between all the drivers,

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Speaker 4: and even when we had bikes across all the bike

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Speaker 4: racers and the car racers. It's a very small community

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Speaker 4: and we all know how privileged we are when we

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Speaker 4: get accepted into this race. There are a lot of

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Speaker 4: applications and very few are actually accepted. And when you

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Speaker 4: look at even over the one hundred plus year history

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Speaker 4: of this race, there's very few people who have had

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Speaker 4: the privilege of doing it and pro an amateur alike.

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Speaker 4: We all realize that, and to me, the racing community

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Speaker 4: in general is just an awesome community of people that

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Speaker 4: even though once we put the helmets on we're cutthroat,

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Speaker 4: when the helmets come off, we'll do anything to help

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Speaker 4: our competitors. And you know, I've got lots of stories

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Speaker 4: of doing that on the peak of you know, we're

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Speaker 4: we're struggling with something and just walk over in the

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Speaker 4: pad it to somebody else who we know knows what

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Speaker 4: they're doing and say, hey, we're struggling with this, you know,

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Speaker 4: what do you do? And I've never ever had anybody

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Speaker 4: clam up and say, you know, tough luck to you're

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Speaker 4: competing against me. Everybody wants everybody else to succeed. I

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Speaker 4: think I think the risk of Pike's Peak maybe makes

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Speaker 4: that even more important, that everybody realizes that there are

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Speaker 4: big risks in doing this, and you know, we we

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Speaker 4: all you want to beat your competitor, but you want it.

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Speaker 4: We all want everybody to make it safely up to

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Speaker 4: the subnit and to have a good run and have

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Speaker 4: a good time.

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Speaker 1: So I'm reminded of Yeah, I'm reminded of this kind

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Speaker 1: of epic picture of ken Block that was taken by

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Speaker 1: Larry chan On basically dragging the back half of his

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Speaker 1: car off a turn on Pike's Peak. I want to

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Speaker 1: say it like dusk or sunset. I'll anyone listening, you

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Speaker 1: can google it and I'll have Chris maybe you know it, Matt,

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Speaker 1: maybe you know it. But to me, that really captures

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Speaker 1: it is truly a knife's edge up there. So when

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Speaker 1: you say, like people realize this is this is a

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Speaker 1: race for adults, it's really true.

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Speaker 3: Well, and even those who are highly prepared, right, I

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Speaker 3: mean Carlon Dunn was reportedly one of the masters of

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Speaker 3: safe technique and someone who everybody thought was a very

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Speaker 3: responsible driver, and he tragically lost his life, which is

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Speaker 3: why motorcycle racing there was at least paused, if not

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Speaker 3: stopped permanently.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, that that that picture, that the

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Speaker 4: footage of cam Block he was actually reprint do seeing

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Speaker 4: the way Louis Unser used to drive, and that's that's

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Speaker 4: actually on the cover of I think it's no, it's

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Speaker 4: not on the cover, but yeah, it is on the

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Speaker 4: cover of my book. That's the way he would That's

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Speaker 4: the way he would race every year up there and

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Speaker 4: and and that was ken Blocks thing was a reproduction

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Speaker 4: of that exact turn, which was super cool.

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Speaker 1: But I see it, Louis, I see it in.

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Speaker 4: The race every year. Uh. And it was It was nuts.

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Speaker 4: And one of the great privileges I got in my

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Speaker 4: pet's Peak career here and in in writing this book

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Speaker 4: was really getting to know Bobby Unswered pretty well and

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Speaker 4: spending a lot for your book. Yeah, he did, and

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Speaker 4: he was super, super generous with his time. He was amazing.

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Speaker 4: He's one of the most amazing human beings I've met

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Speaker 4: in my life, and probably the greatest storyteller I've ever met.

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Speaker 4: He was just just incredible. Uh And and literally I

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Speaker 4: just reached out to him from He didn't know who

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Speaker 4: I was, but I did have some pipes speak credentials,

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Speaker 4: and I think that got my foot in the door.

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Speaker 4: But but yeah, one of the things he would he said,

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Speaker 4: is and again he's the the you know, the winningest

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Speaker 4: driver in history, you know, the king of the hill,

435
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,320
Speaker 4: the all time king of the hill and he said

436
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 4: he would he wouldn't ride with his brother Louis. He was,

437
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,199
Speaker 4: but you can see it, there's photographic evidence of it.

438
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:27,800
Speaker 4: But yeah, and I think that's a big part of

439
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,920
Speaker 4: this race, and and I like to think that's maybe

440
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:32,880
Speaker 4: a little bit of the home field advantage I have.

441
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 4: I'm willing to take some risks. I think maybe some

442
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 4: people who don't have as much experience on the mountain

443
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,440
Speaker 4: are not willing to take. And I think there's several

444
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,480
Speaker 4: people who who do that. It's all measured risk, right,

445
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 4: but you know there are there are some turns that

446
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,040
Speaker 4: people who are fairly inexperienced rookies that sort of thing

447
00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:55,199
Speaker 4: are going to really respect, and which is right they

448
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,600
Speaker 4: should be doing that. But the more experienced drivers know

449
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 4: you can you can send it around this corn. You know,

450
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 4: you don't need to break and it's it was. It's

451
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,560
Speaker 4: always fun for me, even as a competitor, to watch

452
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:11,160
Speaker 4: some of my fellow competitors when we're practicing and watch

453
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 4: how they're approaching some of the some of the turns

454
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,639
Speaker 4: that I could see. And Travis Pastrana was actually one

455
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 4: of the ones when he was competing in the GT

456
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,679
Speaker 4: four class where all the cars were the same, and

457
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 4: I would watch and it's like I could see he

458
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 4: was gonna win, just from the practices and just the

459
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,399
Speaker 4: fact that everybody else in his class was breaking for

460
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 4: a particular corner and he wasn't, and he was just

461
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,840
Speaker 4: sending it through the corner. But he's Travis Pastrana. I mean,

462
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,439
Speaker 4: it's a great, great driver, a great risk taker, that

463
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 4: sort of thing. So there's a lot of that. Again,

464
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,480
Speaker 4: we look at it. It's one hundred and fifty six turns, right,

465
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,240
Speaker 4: and if if you could find a tenth of a

466
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:55,120
Speaker 4: second in every turn, that's going to make an enormous

467
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 4: difference in where you're going to finish.

468
00:25:58,600 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, you get, you get.

469
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:02,360
Speaker 3: Do you get people by the way, Chris asking you

470
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:06,640
Speaker 3: for instruction, I mean because you're a driving instructor otherwise

471
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,440
Speaker 3: on other tracks or on the Norge slipho right, do

472
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 3: somebody say, listen, I want a campaign at Pike's Peak,

473
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,560
Speaker 3: and I'd like to hire you as my instructor.

474
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 4: I've had a few that I've helped, but not a

475
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,320
Speaker 4: huge number. I'm always anybody who wants help, I'm happy.

476
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 1: We should also give a plug. Do you still run

477
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 1: your winding Road Adventures, which takes yes, So here's a

478
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,960
Speaker 1: perfect chance because you seem like you'd be the best

479
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: guide for this.

480
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:44,080
Speaker 4: Yeah, so yeah, I have a side gig that every

481
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 4: year would take a group to Germany for what we

482
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 4: call the ultimate car lover's trip under Winding Road Adventures,

483
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 4: and the idea is to take people to Germany and

484
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,920
Speaker 4: give them a great experience for a week visiting all

485
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,800
Speaker 4: the great sites, the Porsche Museum, the Porsche Factory, the

486
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:08,280
Speaker 4: Audi Museum, Audi Factory, Mercedes, the Hockenheim Ring, and then

487
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:13,719
Speaker 4: two days driving actual race cars around the Norchlifa at

488
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,640
Speaker 4: the nrburg Ring and where I coach people around there

489
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 4: who need coaching or who would like coaching, or if

490
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,359
Speaker 4: you know, people just want thrill rides around there. I've

491
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,280
Speaker 4: had a lot of laps around that circuit, which I

492
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,920
Speaker 4: think is actually quite similar to Pike's Peak, believe it

493
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 4: or not. See really, Yeah, there's a lot of parallels

494
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:36,440
Speaker 4: that most people don't realize. That number of turns can

495
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 4: depends how you count it, but it's over one hundred

496
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,600
Speaker 4: turns depending on how you count on the Norchlifa and

497
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,679
Speaker 4: the elevation change, even though it's not all uphill in

498
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 4: a single lap on the North Life. I think it's

499
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 4: about one thousand feet difference between the high point and

500
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 4: low point on a lap, which is crazy for a racetrack.

501
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 4: And so to me, there's aye and also the risk reward.

502
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 4: You cannot mess up on the Nurse Life. As you

503
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 4: can see if you look on YouTube, it's it's very

504
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 4: high speed asphalt followed by grass, which I always tell

505
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:14,560
Speaker 4: people the grass is there to accelerate you into the

506
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 4: arm coop. It's not a buffer to make your impact

507
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 4: even harder. So you know, a lot of again risk

508
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 4: reward blind corners.

509
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:29,080
Speaker 2: Similar length right, sorry, similar length right?

510
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 4: The length yeah, almost almost the same length and you

511
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 4: know good Interestingly, a good time on type's peak is

512
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 4: also a good time on the Nerch Life.

513
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:39,840
Speaker 1: So oh that's a cool correlation.

514
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:42,680
Speaker 2: Yeaescept Wait, so what's the Norch Life?

515
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 3: Is like a five five and a half minutes in

516
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 3: a like a Portia nine to nineteen like LMP car, right.

517
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 4: Yes, but that's it. That's not a normal car, right right?

518
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 4: I mean a good a good time on it. Tourist

519
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 4: drive day around the Nurse Life is you know, nine

520
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 4: minutes is good eight and a half is really good

521
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 4: and those are really good times on Pike's Peak, So

522
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 4: it's similar, you know, it's there are definitely, uh yeah,

523
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 4: points of comparison between between the two. So anyway, we

524
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 4: do that trip typically every September and take a small

525
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:27,239
Speaker 4: group for a very boutique experience. Usually ten people are

526
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 4: less and it's really cool fun.

527
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 1: Do the people who go on this trip need to

528
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: have driving experience, track diving experience or can it be

529
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 1: all all levels?

530
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 4: It's gonna be all levels, and so some people we

531
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 4: take are very very experienced drivers and and they take

532
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 4: to it like a duck to water. But others have

533
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 4: never been on the race track before and and honestly

534
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 4: a lot of the people you see lapping on the

535
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 4: open tourist day on the norse Lfa have no experience,

536
00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 4: which is somewhat terrifying to someone like that, but you

537
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,720
Speaker 4: just have to expect that whoever you're passing probably doesn't

538
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 4: know what they're doing, because it probably eighty to ninety

539
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 4: percent of them don't. The other ten percent are probably

540
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:19,480
Speaker 4: phenomenal drivers, of some of who are probably pro drivers.

541
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 4: You could have Max Verstappen out there in a car

542
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 4: getting some seat time, I mean, who knows. So it's

543
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 4: a mix of everything, which again is somewhat analogous to

544
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:33,960
Speaker 4: Pike's Peak, whereas although we're not passing on Pipe's Peak,

545
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,760
Speaker 4: thank goodness, but it's a it's a little bit of

546
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:39,680
Speaker 4: everything out there. So yeah, that's a fun thing I

547
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 4: do and it helps to somewhat fund some of my

548
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:47,120
Speaker 4: racing activities, although for Pike's Peak, it's so much money

549
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 4: that we rely on sponsorship for that. It's you know,

550
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 4: I don't have two hundred and fifty thousand a year

551
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 4: just hanging around in the seat chushions to pull out

552
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 4: and spend on that, and it's a great opportunity for

553
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,600
Speaker 4: sponsor is to get on board for a really unique story.

554
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 2: Well let's talk about the sponsors for a second.

555
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 3: So you had you had a what a like an

556
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 3: rs tribute before, right, and now you're are you using

557
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:19,840
Speaker 3: a nine to twelve from the zero team or still using.

558
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 4: It's the same car that I compete every year, with

559
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,480
Speaker 4: a different power train every year, but it's a seventy

560
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:31,440
Speaker 4: three RSR Tribute car with eight zero motorcycle motors in

561
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,000
Speaker 4: the back of it, so massive amount of power. Interestingly,

562
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,480
Speaker 4: this is one of the few evs you'll find that

563
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 4: actually has a manual transmission in it.

564
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:47,000
Speaker 1: We actually, how does that work? How tell us it's insane.

565
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:52,680
Speaker 4: So the reason that we did keep a manual transmission

566
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 4: in there is when the engineers did the math, they

567
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 4: figured if it was direct drive, we would have a

568
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 4: top speed limitation of just over one hundred miles hour,

569
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:04,720
Speaker 4: which was not good enough for price peak. For price peak,

570
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 4: there are places where you could get up to potentially

571
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 4: out of fifty miles an hour, and so if you're

572
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,960
Speaker 4: not capitalizing on that, you know you're you're just leaving

573
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:14,960
Speaker 4: a lot of time on the table. So when they

574
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 4: did the math, they thought, you know, gearbox will actually

575
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 4: help that with our with our top speed. So we

576
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 4: left the gearbox in there. We hardened it up significantly,

577
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 4: and it was funny. The first time I went to

578
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 4: test this car after we put the EV powertrain into it,

579
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:40,040
Speaker 4: I was I got in the car and the head

580
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 4: engineer said, oh, by the way, you're still gonna have

581
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 4: to rev match on your down shifts, and I'm like,

582
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 4: I looked and like, okay, so there's no techo it here,

583
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 4: there's no roar of the engine. How am I going

584
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,560
Speaker 4: to do that. He said, well, you're the driver, you'll

585
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:59,760
Speaker 4: figure it out. And strangely, and this this is a

586
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 4: leads to something else interesting. Strangely, after I came in

587
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 4: from the first test session, Mike crew Chief said, so,

588
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 4: how did the REV matching go? And I'm like, I

589
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,200
Speaker 4: don't even know that I did it. And he's like, well,

590
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 4: let's check the video and check the video. And I

591
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 4: did it. It was completely subconscious that I did it,

592
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:22,480
Speaker 4: just based on now it's not like it's a silent TV.

593
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 4: There is some wine to it. But I think my

594
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 4: subconscious brain was so wired in that car to doing

595
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,520
Speaker 4: that automatically, to doing that foot action on the pedals,

596
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:34,840
Speaker 4: that I did it without even being aware of it,

597
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:38,240
Speaker 4: which to me was an enormous accomplishment.

598
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,320
Speaker 2: That's insane. Yeah, that is insane. I mean, A, it

599
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,480
Speaker 2: speaks to what a good driver you are, ye. But b.

600
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 3: Just to me, the idea of having a gearbox and

601
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 3: an EV like, I don't know why nobody's tried that commercially.

602
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,400
Speaker 2: Why doesn't you know Portia do that?

603
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,160
Speaker 4: They do actually, and the Tykon actually has a two

604
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 4: speed gearbox, so but only two pedals.

605
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 1: It doesn't have a clutch. Now, does your car have

606
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:08,360
Speaker 1: a clutch?

607
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:09,359
Speaker 3: Yeah?

608
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:10,279
Speaker 4: Ye three?

609
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,840
Speaker 1: What is what is the clutch uh doing?

610
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:18,760
Speaker 3: You're the only guy heel and toe shifting with an EV?

611
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 4: I am, I am, I am? I mean it's on

612
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 4: on the on the down shifts. It's it's quite similar

613
00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:31,080
Speaker 4: to you know, internal combustion. Again, it's the idea is,

614
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,440
Speaker 4: because we're shifting between gears, you don't want to upset

615
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:37,200
Speaker 4: the car too much by going between gears, and so

616
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 4: rev matching just smooths all that out and makes it

617
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,759
Speaker 4: faster and smoother going into the corners, which again ten

618
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 4: to the second in every corner, really important to be

619
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:52,360
Speaker 4: able to max out your deceleration into the into these corners. Interestingly, though,

620
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,480
Speaker 4: going off the start line, which pipe speak is a

621
00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,400
Speaker 4: standing start, I don't have to use the clutch for

622
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:02,439
Speaker 4: that at all. It's just a matter of I've got

623
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,440
Speaker 4: it in gear. It's an EV, so it's in gear,

624
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:07,120
Speaker 4: it's ready to go, and I just mashed the pedal

625
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:10,160
Speaker 4: when it's time to go. The other thing that's interesting

626
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 4: about it is it's got so much power. Now I

627
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 4: don't actually use first and second gear at all. I

628
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 4: started third gear, so I'm using a five speed gearbox

629
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:23,879
Speaker 4: but only using three gears in it. In fact, it's

630
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,040
Speaker 4: got so much power I could easily start for fifth.

631
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 1: But how much power are we talking here, Chris? Over

632
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,360
Speaker 1: a thousand equivalent horsepower?

633
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,239
Speaker 4: We haven't. We haven't dinoed it since we put the

634
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 4: eight motor set up. But conservatively we're saying it's at

635
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,239
Speaker 4: least five hundred horse power five hundred pound feeted tour.

636
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:46,040
Speaker 1: And how much does it weigh? We don't talk about that,

637
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 1: You're just like the OEMs.

638
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,920
Speaker 4: Wait a second, yes, yes, yeah, we don't know exactly

639
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:56,239
Speaker 4: the power. We do know the exact way, but we

640
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 4: don't talk about Italy. We're always working on a shedding

641
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:00,920
Speaker 4: pound on the car.

642
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:01,759
Speaker 1: Of course. That's it.

643
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:05,440
Speaker 4: That's it, Yeah, that's it exactly. That's that's a constant battle.

644
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:07,480
Speaker 4: So if I were to even tell you what it was,

645
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:09,719
Speaker 4: it's probably gonna be different than a few months.

646
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,680
Speaker 1: And one more quick pause, more with Chris Lennen. Right

647
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 1: after this, welcome back to Hot Pursuit. We are talking

648
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 1: with driver Chris Lennon, and who's podiumed at Pike's Peak

649
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:35,200
Speaker 1: six times, also the author of book The Peak of Racing.

650
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,080
Speaker 1: Here's more with Chris Linen.

651
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,239
Speaker 3: By the way, so this is what in terms of sponsorship,

652
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:42,759
Speaker 3: I was thinking about componentry, right, So you could have

653
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:46,200
Speaker 3: a gearbombs, a gearbox maker sponsor. You could have you know,

654
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,759
Speaker 3: suspension components, olins or whatever sponsor you. You've got your

655
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:54,000
Speaker 3: work at least worked with zero, right they, I guess

656
00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,640
Speaker 3: could have or could sponsor you. You're kind of a media

657
00:36:57,719 --> 00:36:59,279
Speaker 3: engineering mogul in your own right.

658
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:00,640
Speaker 2: Your company could sponsor you.

659
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,000
Speaker 3: How do you deal with that year and a year

660
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:07,640
Speaker 3: out getting enough corporations to give you some cash.

661
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,640
Speaker 4: It's always a challenge, right, getting people to separate themselves

662
00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,319
Speaker 4: from their hard earn cash. Even if they're a corporation, right,

663
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,239
Speaker 4: they're going to be responsible about their marketing budget. And

664
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,040
Speaker 4: marketing budget is what this is. Right. The race car

665
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:21,439
Speaker 4: is a rolling billboard, and that's kind of how we've

666
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 4: treated it and with with my background in media and

667
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:28,240
Speaker 4: set a rate sheet for the card and say okay,

668
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:31,480
Speaker 4: here's what different pieces of real estate cost you on

669
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,840
Speaker 4: the car, and here are all the different levels that

670
00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,800
Speaker 4: that you can you know, be a member of the

671
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:42,000
Speaker 4: team at In fact, we've we've just stood up a

672
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,600
Speaker 4: new site for people to look at for that sort

673
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:50,320
Speaker 4: of thing. We have a new partnership with a couple

674
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:54,839
Speaker 4: of great organizations. One is called ev Tuners UH and

675
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:57,600
Speaker 4: they're all in on this, and they've actually set up

676
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,439
Speaker 4: a nice page at their web ev tuners dot com

677
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:03,960
Speaker 4: slash pipe Speak and you can see all about our

678
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,080
Speaker 4: effort there and UH and see what our different levels

679
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 4: are for sponsorship and that sort of thing. And they've

680
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,240
Speaker 4: they've also got a YouTube channel which will be popular

681
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:19,640
Speaker 4: once we start testing the car and and that sort

682
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 4: of thing. So ev Tuners and another group called Team

683
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 4: arc Blast. Arc Blast have been a new additions to

684
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 4: UH to our fight Speak team, and they've also got

685
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:34,759
Speaker 4: a YouTube channel. We've gotten a bunch of stuff up there.

686
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 4: So we're you know, we we try to, yeah, again,

687
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,439
Speaker 4: with any business deal, it's got to be a win win, right.

688
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:43,880
Speaker 4: It can't just be that, Hey, you're just giving us

689
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 4: a bunch of money and you're not getting anything for it.

690
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:47,040
Speaker 4: You know. We we want to make sure that we

691
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 4: give a lot of exposure to any sponsors that we get,

692
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 4: and we've got a great track record of that. We've

693
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,439
Speaker 4: gotten incredible global press in the past with the car,

694
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,759
Speaker 4: even before we had this story and the headline that

695
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 4: we've got right now up on the the EV Tuners

696
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 4: Pipe pipes Peak page is it says it won Pipe's

697
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,840
Speaker 4: Peak on gas now it's coming back to beat itself.

698
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,439
Speaker 1: And the car, and the car looks awesome. I love

699
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:24,720
Speaker 1: the Livery. Is there any story behind this this Livery design?

700
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 1: It's it's very cool. It's a mix of blues and

701
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,080
Speaker 1: it's got some really cool sort of orange red arrows

702
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:32,400
Speaker 1: on the side. Is there a story behind that?

703
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:33,839
Speaker 2: Yeah?

704
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:37,680
Speaker 4: That was actually at the at the request of one

705
00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:40,959
Speaker 4: of our major sponsors several years ago that they said,

706
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:44,760
Speaker 4: we would really like to do a golf tribute Livery here,

707
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,440
Speaker 4: and so this is a kind of it's not a copy,

708
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,240
Speaker 4: but it's a tribute to the old golf.

709
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,560
Speaker 1: It's way cooler than the copies than the director. This

710
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:54,880
Speaker 1: is actually a great variation.

711
00:39:56,120 --> 00:40:01,040
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, So we had some amazing artists and yeah,

712
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 4: this was at the encouragement of a sponsor who was

713
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:08,000
Speaker 4: paying paying the freight for all this and uh and yeah,

714
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,160
Speaker 4: we had we had some great partners to work on this.

715
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:16,239
Speaker 4: You know, we like all race cars. The look of

716
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 4: the car is uh, can be dictated completely by what

717
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:23,080
Speaker 4: sponsorship It gets and so it may not look like

718
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:25,840
Speaker 4: this for next year. In fact, almost every year that

719
00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:28,799
Speaker 4: we've competed on Pipe Peak, it's looked different every year.

720
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:31,720
Speaker 4: We want to we want to have something that looks

721
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 4: the way the sponsor wants it to look, whether it's

722
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,920
Speaker 4: you know, with a big logo or a certain color

723
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:39,359
Speaker 4: scheme or that sort of thing. So that's the great

724
00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,840
Speaker 4: thing about Wraps, right, It's it's very very quick to

725
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 4: design something, uh and and get it on the car.

726
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 4: And so you know, we are entirely open to a

727
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 4: completely new look. I love this look, but I've loved

728
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 4: all of the looks that the cars had over the years.

729
00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 4: And you know, well, well, this car is such a

730
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:02,319
Speaker 4: sexy looking car, it's never going to get with any.

731
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,240
Speaker 2: True true it's a gorgeous car.

732
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,400
Speaker 3: Obviously, Hannah and I are both big fans of the

733
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:12,040
Speaker 3: old nine to elevens, probably in the new nine elevens.

734
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:13,719
Speaker 2: As well, but.

735
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,960
Speaker 3: Originally a gas car, now an EV car. And you're

736
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,839
Speaker 3: a guy who has been into cars for many years.

737
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:23,520
Speaker 3: I'm sure you have a huge appreciation for the classics,

738
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:27,760
Speaker 3: but are you now sold on totally sold on electric

739
00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 3: propulsion systems? And do you think like in the future,

740
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:34,239
Speaker 3: evs are going to hold all the records on not

741
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 3: just Pike's Peak, but all the race courses.

742
00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,239
Speaker 4: So it's tough because I raced this car which is

743
00:41:41,239 --> 00:41:44,880
Speaker 4: an EV on Pike's p I also off of Pike's

744
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:47,880
Speaker 4: Peak left for the last five years with road racing,

745
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:51,799
Speaker 4: I've done Formula cars which are internal combustion, so I've

746
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 4: got like a foot in each camp. At the moment,

747
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:59,120
Speaker 4: I can see the advantages of both. I love them both.

748
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:03,839
Speaker 4: I really do. The roar of a Porsche three point

749
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:08,720
Speaker 4: six year Porsche racing engine naturally aspirated, it's just absolutely glorious.

750
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:10,160
Speaker 4: And when I look at my old videos, it's like,

751
00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:16,040
Speaker 4: oh my god, sounds so good. But in terms of performance,

752
00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:19,640
Speaker 4: the EV is clearly superior for pikes Peak, and like

753
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 4: I said, Pike's Peak, it's like Pike's Peak is made

754
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 4: for EV's. Having said that, though, there are plenty of

755
00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:29,480
Speaker 4: very competitive internal combustion cars still on Pike's Peak, and

756
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,719
Speaker 4: you know, every year it's you don't know if it's

757
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:36,359
Speaker 4: going to be, yeah, an EV or internal combustion car,

758
00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:40,920
Speaker 4: So it's a tos it's a toss up, But but

759
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:44,279
Speaker 4: I think it's got so many inherent advantages. For pipes peak,

760
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:49,200
Speaker 4: it's it's the way to go as far as I'm concerned. Yeah,

761
00:42:49,239 --> 00:42:52,319
Speaker 4: for that particular race for.

762
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:58,440
Speaker 1: Road car, what about for production road going canyon carving?

763
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:01,239
Speaker 1: Nine to Eleven's what's your For the rest of us

764
00:43:01,239 --> 00:43:03,040
Speaker 1: who aren't race car drivers.

765
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:07,799
Speaker 4: Mhm, it's it's all a matter is the performance more

766
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:11,680
Speaker 4: important to you or is the sound more important? You know,

767
00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:15,319
Speaker 4: it's a it's a trade off. I love them all

768
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:19,040
Speaker 4: and as a as a driving instructure, I get to drive.

769
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,280
Speaker 4: I'd like to say I've driven practically every Porsche ever built,

770
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,040
Speaker 4: which is a slight exaggeration, but not much of one,

771
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:31,400
Speaker 4: including all the evs, and they're all amazing cars, you know,

772
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:33,920
Speaker 4: every one of them in particularly Yeah, of course I'm

773
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:36,839
Speaker 4: biased toward portsiche, but you know, every one of them

774
00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:40,960
Speaker 4: is a race car in streetcar clothing. Uh, you know,

775
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,520
Speaker 4: even the Techons and the electric Macons and that sort

776
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:49,000
Speaker 4: of thing, there's still just incredible performance machines sell you know.

777
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:52,160
Speaker 4: My advice to friends who are looking and I get

778
00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 4: this question pretty frequently because they know I race both,

779
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:58,960
Speaker 4: and I'll be like, you know, it's just it's eat

780
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:03,479
Speaker 4: individuals decision and taste, Go and drive each and see

781
00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:07,120
Speaker 4: what you think. I kind of think your horses got

782
00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:11,360
Speaker 4: it right with the more recent having the uh uh,

783
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:13,960
Speaker 4: you know, the hybrid power trains with the nine to eleven,

784
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:16,920
Speaker 4: so I have a little bit of a little bit

785
00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:20,160
Speaker 4: of electric but still have the the sound of a

786
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:25,040
Speaker 4: wonderful flat six motor. Yeah, personal taste.

787
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:29,279
Speaker 3: I'm what I wonder what I wonder what you think

788
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 3: Chris about I'm sure that you're never lifting and coasting

789
00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:35,279
Speaker 3: in your car on the way up the hill.

790
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:37,480
Speaker 2: What do you think about? F one?

791
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:41,440
Speaker 3: Because we're we're now in a in a in a

792
00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:45,319
Speaker 3: in an era where drivers are gonna be neither on

793
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:48,120
Speaker 3: the gas or on the break, which I was always

794
00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:51,200
Speaker 3: taught is exactly not what you want to do in

795
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:52,280
Speaker 3: performance driving.

796
00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:55,880
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's that. Yeah, that's exactly the opposite of

797
00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:59,359
Speaker 4: what I trained my my higher level students. It's like,

798
00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:02,879
Speaker 4: we gotta eliminate this coasting because everybody does it, even

799
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,480
Speaker 4: if they don't realize they're doing it. And I mean

800
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:06,520
Speaker 4: I'll do it sometimes.

801
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:09,920
Speaker 1: Isn't it called just being a momentum car? Chris? You know,

802
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 1: if you're in a slower car, you got to you

803
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:13,960
Speaker 1: gotta use that momentum.

804
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:19,360
Speaker 4: Well, there's a difference between coasting and maintenance throttle, and

805
00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:21,839
Speaker 4: so you know, in a momentum car, I'll say, look,

806
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:24,400
Speaker 4: we want maintenance throttle. We want to be feathering it

807
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,280
Speaker 4: through the corner and just feeling the edge of adhesion

808
00:45:27,719 --> 00:45:31,600
Speaker 4: with your right foot. So yeah, with that F one,

809
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:35,880
Speaker 4: it's it's interesting. It seems to me like that in

810
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:39,399
Speaker 4: the last race, they they're starting to get it more right. Yes,

811
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:43,920
Speaker 4: but the lift, the whole lifting and coasting idea is yeah,

812
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:45,840
Speaker 4: it kind of makes the hair on the back of

813
00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:50,200
Speaker 4: my neck to stick out. However, I will say that

814
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,319
Speaker 4: I do admire. I'm a big fan of Indy cars

815
00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 4: as well, and that's been a big part of IndyCar

816
00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:01,480
Speaker 4: for years, with you know, being feel of efficient. You know,

817
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 4: one of my favorite drivers is Scott Dixon, who's like

818
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:09,800
Speaker 4: the master of fuel and there is some real skill

819
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,520
Speaker 4: involved in getting an extra lapp or to the rest

820
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:16,040
Speaker 4: of the field can't get in winning a race because

821
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:22,160
Speaker 4: of that. So so I respect the talent in doing that,

822
00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:24,239
Speaker 4: but I think F one's got a little bit wrong.

823
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 4: But I think they're working.

824
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:26,319
Speaker 2: On they're fixing it.

825
00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:30,040
Speaker 3: I agree the last race was much better than the

826
00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:32,520
Speaker 3: first race, right, so it seems to have gotten better

827
00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:35,080
Speaker 3: each he traced. I know they only need to change

828
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:37,960
Speaker 3: tweet the regulations for Miami, but it was it was

829
00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:41,680
Speaker 3: again excite, an exciting race, and the skill with which

830
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:47,240
Speaker 3: these guys can spin. Both for Stappin and Leclair spun

831
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:49,319
Speaker 3: it and then ended up going the right way, and

832
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:51,920
Speaker 3: I was like, how am the hell do those guys

833
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:52,359
Speaker 3: do that?

834
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:57,040
Speaker 4: Oh, they're the best drivers in the world. That's why

835
00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:58,840
Speaker 4: they're driving Formula One and we're not.

836
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,200
Speaker 1: Man, I have one more question for you, Chris, and

837
00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:04,959
Speaker 1: I know we want to be respectful of your time,

838
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,520
Speaker 1: but we should say that it's the one hundred and

839
00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,160
Speaker 1: fourth running of Pike's Peak this year. It's happening in June,

840
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:14,400
Speaker 1: on June twenty first. In my experience, Pike's Peak is

841
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:18,800
Speaker 1: not the easiest or most spectator friendly car race. It's

842
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:23,000
Speaker 1: every time I've gone, it's always freezing. Sometimes there's snow,

843
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:26,920
Speaker 1: it's hard to get to. You find it yourself squatting

844
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:30,400
Speaker 1: in the woods somewhere. You know. It's it's not like

845
00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:33,480
Speaker 1: a glamorous thing. It's a very cool thing. Do you

846
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:36,160
Speaker 1: have advice for people who may want to go and

847
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:38,520
Speaker 1: watch this race. About the best way to be a

848
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:39,959
Speaker 1: spectator at Pike's Peak.

849
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,399
Speaker 4: Sure, yeah, I get that question a lot, even though

850
00:47:44,640 --> 00:47:46,239
Speaker 4: I personally never been a spectator.

851
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:47,959
Speaker 1: That's also very cool.

852
00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,360
Speaker 4: However, I was a spectator for like half the race

853
00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:58,040
Speaker 4: in twenty sixteen. By one time I didn't finish on

854
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:00,640
Speaker 4: the podium, I was on a winning run and the

855
00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:05,160
Speaker 4: engine let go at Devil's Playground, which is.

856
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:10,719
Speaker 1: This is a section of the course that's tricky.

857
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:13,000
Speaker 4: Tricky, and it's also the biggest spectator area. And so

858
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:16,960
Speaker 4: as bummed as I was, I'm like, okay, well that

859
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:19,680
Speaker 4: was like that was going to be a win, and

860
00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:24,640
Speaker 4: it wasn't. The car was immediately surrounded by fans and

861
00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:27,800
Speaker 4: I was taken over to hang out with the fans.

862
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:30,799
Speaker 4: They fed me, they need stuff to drink. It was

863
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 4: just it was an incredible even though I think they

864
00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:37,600
Speaker 4: recognize how down I was and they lifted me up.

865
00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:40,000
Speaker 4: But I got the experience of watching the race from

866
00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:43,920
Speaker 4: Devil's Playground. That's the place to watch the race, and

867
00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:48,960
Speaker 4: that's typically the first area to get sold out to understandably,

868
00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:52,840
Speaker 4: but you do. You're absolutely right. You need to be

869
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:58,680
Speaker 4: prepared for any weather and probably every weather you could imagine,

870
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:03,040
Speaker 4: from being the beating down sun at eleven thousand feet,

871
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:06,160
Speaker 4: which is kind of what you're at there in almost

872
00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:12,880
Speaker 4: twelve thousand that does this playground to snow, sleep, hail, rain, anything,

873
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:16,799
Speaker 4: and generally that the fans are subject to all of that.

874
00:49:17,160 --> 00:49:21,399
Speaker 4: I can tell you in the seven races I've done

875
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:23,800
Speaker 4: up there, I think three times, I've built a snowman

876
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:27,160
Speaker 4: on top of the car on the peak, and I've

877
00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:30,319
Speaker 4: driven up on slicks every year.

878
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:32,879
Speaker 1: Do you carry oxygen with you on your way up?

879
00:49:33,719 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 4: I do? I do? I gave in. I was the

880
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,440
Speaker 4: the macho male who said, well, I live at seventy

881
00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:44,520
Speaker 4: four hundred feet anyway, I don't need oxygen. And several

882
00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:48,080
Speaker 4: years ago my crew chief said, it's not your decision anymore,

883
00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:51,840
Speaker 4: you're doing it, and it was. Actually it was a

884
00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:54,440
Speaker 4: good call, and I think I was one of the

885
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:58,239
Speaker 4: first to start using oxygen. I've noticed more and more

886
00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:01,920
Speaker 4: in recent years using oxen, and the way my crew

887
00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:05,600
Speaker 4: chief put it to me is if this makes you

888
00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:10,080
Speaker 4: make a better decision, just slightly faster than you might otherwise,

889
00:50:10,719 --> 00:50:12,959
Speaker 4: this could be the different feeding winning and losing the race,

890
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:16,000
Speaker 4: and it's a tiny little canister. It's not going to

891
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:19,360
Speaker 4: add any significant weight. He's like, just do it. It's

892
00:50:19,440 --> 00:50:21,719
Speaker 4: not going to degrade your performance. It's only going to

893
00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:25,520
Speaker 4: improve your performance. And so that that sold me on it,

894
00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:28,960
Speaker 4: and I wouldn't do it again without it. So but

895
00:50:29,040 --> 00:50:31,239
Speaker 4: as a fan, you certainly don't be ox out there,

896
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:33,799
Speaker 4: I don't think unless you're planning on doing a job

897
00:50:34,640 --> 00:50:37,040
Speaker 4: while you're up there. But yeah, Devil's Playground is great.

898
00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:39,520
Speaker 4: If you don't want to make that kind of commitment

899
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:45,279
Speaker 4: to being subjected to every kind of weather imaginable, the

900
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:48,040
Speaker 4: next best, in my opinion, would be just to be

901
00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:50,719
Speaker 4: down in the paddock at the start line where you

902
00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:53,960
Speaker 4: can come and go at will. Everywhere else on the

903
00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:57,520
Speaker 4: mountain you're stuck until all the cars come down, right,

904
00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:00,920
Speaker 4: But at the start line you can come and go

905
00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:03,920
Speaker 4: whenever you want. The other thing I will say is that, uh,

906
00:51:03,960 --> 00:51:06,319
Speaker 4: you know, a highlight every year. And what's really I

907
00:51:06,320 --> 00:51:09,799
Speaker 4: think incredibly unique about right, to speak from a driver's perspective,

908
00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:12,680
Speaker 4: is after everybody is done and all the race cars

909
00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:14,759
Speaker 4: are up on the summit, we do a parade of

910
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:18,640
Speaker 4: the cars down the mountain, And I mean, I get

911
00:51:18,640 --> 00:51:22,279
Speaker 4: emotional right now thinking about it, it's the most emotional

912
00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:26,080
Speaker 4: part gets again. The adrenaline's done. You know, you've you've

913
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:29,440
Speaker 4: you've made it to the summit, you've finished wherever you've finished,

914
00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:32,960
Speaker 4: and then you get to go down and mix with

915
00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:35,160
Speaker 4: the fans. So you drive down and they let the

916
00:51:35,160 --> 00:51:37,319
Speaker 4: fans come out and high five and some of them

917
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:41,759
Speaker 4: almost break your hand, but it's it's cool and uh,

918
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:45,560
Speaker 4: you know, I'm a I'm often almost in tears doing that,

919
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:48,960
Speaker 4: and and I will at Devil's Playground in particular, I'll

920
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:52,239
Speaker 4: I'll thank everybody for coming out because I know what

921
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:56,279
Speaker 4: they went through to watch this and support us in this,

922
00:51:56,440 --> 00:51:59,799
Speaker 4: and uh so very unique you have not I can't

923
00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:02,520
Speaker 4: think another race that lets the fans come out to

924
00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:05,320
Speaker 4: the track with the cars coming down at low speed

925
00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:08,040
Speaker 4: and I can I can hear everything they're saying, and

926
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:11,319
Speaker 4: you know, and yeah again slapping the hands and all

927
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:14,200
Speaker 4: that is. It's a super cool experiences.

928
00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:18,200
Speaker 3: Only just finally, ask for people who don't figure it

929
00:52:18,239 --> 00:52:21,080
Speaker 3: out a way to get to Colorado for this. Is

930
00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:24,600
Speaker 3: there a good way to watch the race online? And

931
00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:28,040
Speaker 3: also can you just quickly tell us that the classes

932
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:32,000
Speaker 3: because I know you've raised in Vintage and Open class

933
00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:35,839
Speaker 3: and I imagine there's like electric and what what are they?

934
00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:40,560
Speaker 4: So first of all, to watch it, there's I don't

935
00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:43,239
Speaker 4: know what they have arranged this year, but pretty much

936
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:47,200
Speaker 4: every year they have a live stream that runs for

937
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:51,200
Speaker 4: the whole day and this race takes generally eight hours

938
00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:54,440
Speaker 4: you have to run, so there is a live stream

939
00:52:54,480 --> 00:52:58,319
Speaker 4: to watch. It's usually done pretty well. Just I would

940
00:52:58,320 --> 00:53:00,680
Speaker 4: say you go to the Pipe Speaking and Hope Plane

941
00:53:00,880 --> 00:53:03,640
Speaker 4: website and closer to the race time and they'll they'll

942
00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:08,560
Speaker 4: give you coordinates for getting to the live stream. What

943
00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:09,360
Speaker 4: was the second part.

944
00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:12,520
Speaker 2: Of the questions? Classes? You've breached in a number of

945
00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:13,440
Speaker 2: different classes.

946
00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:17,360
Speaker 4: So what's really interesting is people think there's this huge

947
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:21,160
Speaker 4: differentiation between the classes, and sometimes it is. But what's

948
00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:24,400
Speaker 4: interesting about all the classes is none of these classes

949
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:29,120
Speaker 4: have any restriction on power or on power plant, so

950
00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:33,120
Speaker 4: they're all unlimited power. That wild despite there being an

951
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:35,440
Speaker 4: unlimited class, people like, well, that's the one that's got

952
00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:39,960
Speaker 4: unlimited power. No, they all have unlimited power except for well,

953
00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:43,680
Speaker 4: the GT four class are our GT four cars, so yeah,

954
00:53:43,680 --> 00:53:46,480
Speaker 4: that's kind of self governing, but but all the other

955
00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:50,640
Speaker 4: classes are you know, whatever you want. They don't differentiate

956
00:53:50,719 --> 00:53:57,399
Speaker 4: between internal combustion gas diesel. I always say you could

957
00:53:57,400 --> 00:53:59,120
Speaker 4: probably put a rocket engine in your car if you

958
00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:02,960
Speaker 4: want to. I mean that the rules are very strict

959
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:07,040
Speaker 4: when it comes to safety for this race, understandably, but

960
00:54:07,160 --> 00:54:10,600
Speaker 4: when it comes to performance not so much so. The

961
00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:15,560
Speaker 4: classes they generally have up there, they'll typically have a

962
00:54:15,600 --> 00:54:17,680
Speaker 4: GT four class, which is more of a spec class

963
00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:21,879
Speaker 4: where you'll get you know, came in g T four

964
00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:28,120
Speaker 4: r S is in other GT four class type of cars. Obviously,

965
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:31,600
Speaker 4: you have Unlimited, which is what it sounds like, anything

966
00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:36,440
Speaker 4: goes and you get the really really riles suv. Yeah,

967
00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:42,080
Speaker 4: well yeah, it's it's anything really and so yeah, Unlimited

968
00:54:42,120 --> 00:54:44,520
Speaker 4: is a Wild West Open. This kind of a step

969
00:54:45,160 --> 00:54:49,480
Speaker 4: down from that, although sometimes the overall winning car comes

970
00:54:49,480 --> 00:54:52,880
Speaker 4: from Open. So you open, there's a little more restricted

971
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:54,480
Speaker 4: on the arrow that you can have on the car,

972
00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:58,520
Speaker 4: and a few other restrictions that Unlimited doesn't have, but

973
00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:01,280
Speaker 4: it's kind of a notch below. You've got Open Wheel,

974
00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:04,799
Speaker 4: which is all the really cool open wheel cars, and

975
00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:08,240
Speaker 4: you get a lot of innovation in that class as well.

976
00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:12,360
Speaker 4: And then you've got Time Attack, which is more cars

977
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:17,640
Speaker 4: that are based on stock cars. They're not stock, but

978
00:55:17,840 --> 00:55:21,359
Speaker 4: they're they're more based on stock kind of cars. And

979
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:27,800
Speaker 4: then finally exhibition, which i've run in I think, which

980
00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:31,160
Speaker 4: we ran in when we did the electric power train

981
00:55:31,239 --> 00:55:34,560
Speaker 4: the first time. And exhibition sounds like, oh, that that'll

982
00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 4: just be a joke. It's just you know people too

983
00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:42,000
Speaker 4: have that album. No, it's intended for prototype vehicles, and

984
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:45,560
Speaker 4: we do that going in, but after we entered it's like, oh, wait,

985
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:48,759
Speaker 4: this is where all the manufacturers entered their cars, enter

986
00:55:48,840 --> 00:55:52,160
Speaker 4: their prototypes, and so that was like, hmm, maybe that

987
00:55:52,239 --> 00:55:54,759
Speaker 4: isn't the easiest. The last time I entered, I had

988
00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:58,200
Speaker 4: the choice of actually three classes for this car, which

989
00:55:58,239 --> 00:56:00,080
Speaker 4: is kind of unique because of just the way the

990
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:03,000
Speaker 4: build is. It could be exhibition because it is absolutely

991
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:05,960
Speaker 4: a prototype, no question about that. It could be open

992
00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 4: it's run and open before, and it could actually be unlimited.

993
00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:12,400
Speaker 4: Unlimited is supposed to be cars that are competing for

994
00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:17,160
Speaker 4: the overall title. So you know the Volkswagon id are,

995
00:56:17,320 --> 00:56:20,480
Speaker 4: for instance, that ran in seven fifty seven seconds, that's

996
00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:21,399
Speaker 4: an unlimited car.

997
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:26,000
Speaker 2: But like I said, canny vintage since it's the nineteen

998
00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:27,359
Speaker 2: seventy three, no.

999
00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:31,520
Speaker 4: Vintage vintage is is gone. It's been gone for several years.

1000
00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:33,280
Speaker 2: Ah okay, okay, So.

1001
00:56:33,120 --> 00:56:36,640
Speaker 4: They've ran that for quite a while and it just

1002
00:56:36,719 --> 00:56:39,680
Speaker 4: kind of dwindled, I think, because you know, the older

1003
00:56:39,719 --> 00:56:43,279
Speaker 4: cars become more valuable and you get fewer people who

1004
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:44,719
Speaker 4: really want to run those on pipe B.

1005
00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:48,040
Speaker 1: You don't want to put car up up there.

1006
00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:51,439
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, there's there's there's that, and then the fact

1007
00:56:51,480 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 4: that they don't want to do the modifications needed. Yeah.

1008
00:56:55,400 --> 00:56:58,160
Speaker 4: That The organizers, like I said, are very strict about safety,

1009
00:56:58,600 --> 00:57:01,640
Speaker 4: and so even they'vetage car. Even you know, car like

1010
00:57:01,840 --> 00:57:04,960
Speaker 4: mine that looks vintage is now people ask like what

1011
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:06,680
Speaker 4: year is it. I'm like, well, we're entering into the

1012
00:57:06,719 --> 00:57:08,600
Speaker 4: seventy three, but everything in it is like one or

1013
00:57:08,640 --> 00:57:13,080
Speaker 4: two years old. So the organizers don't want fifty year

1014
00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:16,880
Speaker 4: old metal fatigue in a car going up there and

1015
00:57:16,920 --> 00:57:20,440
Speaker 4: have something fail. So even a car that looks vintage

1016
00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:24,760
Speaker 4: like mine is very modern on the inside, it's it's

1017
00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:29,040
Speaker 4: it's all really a tube frame inside there, so none

1018
00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:31,040
Speaker 4: of the old there's a little bit of the old

1019
00:57:31,040 --> 00:57:35,280
Speaker 4: sheet metal in there, but none of that's structural. So

1020
00:57:35,280 --> 00:57:38,600
Speaker 4: so yeah, vintage sadly went away. It was always a

1021
00:57:38,680 --> 00:57:42,080
Speaker 4: fan favorite because you got really really cool cars going

1022
00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:44,680
Speaker 4: up in that. But yeah, some of the people who

1023
00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:47,760
Speaker 4: used to run vintage still still will find classes to

1024
00:57:47,960 --> 00:57:51,400
Speaker 4: enter their cars, so you still get some vintage looking

1025
00:57:51,520 --> 00:57:55,080
Speaker 4: cars out there. But yeah, it's challenged. Yet they have

1026
00:57:55,120 --> 00:57:57,760
Speaker 4: a class that did exist and then went away that

1027
00:57:57,880 --> 00:58:00,680
Speaker 4: another time attack class that was truly to really stock

1028
00:58:01,600 --> 00:58:04,520
Speaker 4: several years ago, and a lot of men they thought

1029
00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:06,440
Speaker 4: they could get a lot of manufacturers to take their

1030
00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:10,919
Speaker 4: showroom stock cars up and showcase, which great idea. Over

1031
00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:15,600
Speaker 4: the years, those just almost to a car didn't make

1032
00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:19,160
Speaker 4: it up to the side. You know, a showroom stock car,

1033
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:23,000
Speaker 4: even if it's a Corvette or a Porsche, is not

1034
00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:27,400
Speaker 4: really built to do that. Is made the one exception

1035
00:58:28,480 --> 00:58:34,120
Speaker 4: to withstand the punishment yet going up pipe speak by

1036
00:58:34,160 --> 00:58:39,160
Speaker 4: and large, overheating, you know, other issues. So anyway, it's

1037
00:58:39,200 --> 00:58:42,320
Speaker 4: it's a fairly simple They had a ton of classes

1038
00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:44,280
Speaker 4: before they've really rationalized it, which I think was a

1039
00:58:44,280 --> 00:58:48,280
Speaker 4: really good move on the area. It's easier for the

1040
00:58:48,320 --> 00:58:51,280
Speaker 4: fans to keep track of five classes and sit at

1041
00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:54,240
Speaker 4: ten and you can kind of keep track of who's

1042
00:58:54,320 --> 00:58:56,680
Speaker 4: racing who that way, So yeah, I think they've done

1043
00:58:56,680 --> 00:58:57,360
Speaker 4: a really good.

1044
00:58:57,240 --> 00:59:00,840
Speaker 2: Job well, dude, thank you so much for your time.

1045
00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:01,920
Speaker 2: I really appreciate it.

1046
00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:05,960
Speaker 3: We could obviously talk about this for hours and I

1047
00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:10,160
Speaker 3: can't wait to watch the race now and go there.

1048
00:59:10,720 --> 00:59:14,560
Speaker 2: That's the Yeah, that's the biggest, biggest bonus.

1049
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:18,720
Speaker 3: I hope you guys find amazing sponsors and ye win

1050
00:59:19,520 --> 00:59:20,439
Speaker 3: your class.

1051
00:59:20,200 --> 00:59:22,280
Speaker 1: Can tell us about it, you know for next year.

1052
00:59:23,640 --> 00:59:27,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's always the biggest challenge is getting the

1053
00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:31,680
Speaker 4: right sponsors together. And so yeah, when anybody's listening, it

1054
00:59:31,760 --> 00:59:34,720
Speaker 4: is interested, finds the story compelling and would like to

1055
00:59:34,760 --> 00:59:35,920
Speaker 4: be a part of it. If you'd want to have

1056
00:59:36,040 --> 00:59:36,760
Speaker 4: you join us.

1057
00:59:37,200 --> 00:59:39,880
Speaker 1: That does it for this week's show. Remember to follow

1058
00:59:39,960 --> 00:59:43,960
Speaker 1: and subscribe to Hot Pursuit on apples, Spotify, and anywhere

1059
00:59:43,960 --> 00:59:46,680
Speaker 1: else you listen. You can also send us your comments.

1060
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:49,840
Speaker 1: Email us at hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot.

1061
00:59:49,600 --> 00:59:53,400
Speaker 3: Net, and check out Hannah's columns and stories on Bloomberg

1062
00:59:53,440 --> 00:59:56,280
Speaker 3: dot com and on the Bloomberg Business app. Go there

1063
00:59:56,280 --> 00:59:59,439
Speaker 3: for car reviews, events and stories you won't find anywhere else.

1064
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:04,240
Speaker 3: Find it all at Bloomberg dot com, slash Pursuits, slash autos.

1065
01:00:04,720 --> 01:00:05,760
Speaker 2: I'm Matt Miller.

1066
01:00:06,120 --> 01:00:08,760
Speaker 1: And I'm Hannah Elliott. We'll be back in your podcast

1067
01:00:08,840 --> 01:00:10,120
Speaker 1: feed again next week.