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Motorsports: 2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Practice Day 3

Filed under: Motorsports, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Specialty, Electric, Racing

2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb

The third practice day of the 91st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is done. While the other classes got running time on the middle and top sections of the course, qualifying times were set on the bottom section of the course for the Open, Open Wheel, Electric, Exhibition and Vintage classes.

Everyone managed to keep it on the black stuff today, Greg Tracy setting the fastest time ahead of Hiroshi Masuoka, both men driving the Mitsubishi MiEV Evolution II four-wheel-drive prototype. Not even half a second behind Masuoka came Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima in his Monster Sport E-Runner, who has taken about 18 seconds off his time since the first practice day. Rod Millen was the fourth fastest on the day in his Toyota TMG EV POO2.

Topping the Open Wheel class was Clint Vahsholtz, followed by Donner Billingsley, Andy Figueroa and Rodney O’Maley. The only driver in that class not to be given a time today was Dan Novembre. Kenshiro Gushi took the Exhibition class today as his Lexus IS F CCS-R made it up the mountain in 4:27.248, followed by Sage Marie in the Honda CR-Z at 5:19.591. Simon Pagenaud and his Honda Odyssey weren’t classified.

Layne Schranz nabbed the top time for Pikes Peak Open runners in his 1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Randy Schranz behind him in his Shelby Cobra, Jeff MacPherson right behind in his Porsche 914-8. The old-timers in the Vintage division were lead by Christopher Lennon in a 1973 Porsche 911 RSR, Ralf Christensson two seconds behind him in a 1967 Ford Fastback GT350. The final times and running order will be released after tomorrow’s qualifying, at about 5 pm Mountain time. As of now, five cars have dropped out – in some cases literally – of the original 69-car field, and 83 bikes remain of the 86 entrants.

Further up the mountain the Time Attack and Unlimited runners were practicing in the middle section of the course. Paul Dallenbach led the Time Attack field in Rhys Millen’s Hyundai Genesis Coupe from last year with a time of 2:33, then came the two Porsches of Jeff Zwart at 2:38 and David Donner at 2:40

At the top of the field, the Sébastien Loeb again led the timesheets with a 2:12, and was again followed by Romain Dumas at 2:26. Third place went to Dayraut in the monster Mini at 2:29.

Rhys Millen hasn’t got a mention yet because he didn’t run today. His Hyundai PM580T had an engine problem last night and the team decided to put in a brand new motor. They only finished doing that this morning while the others were running, then spent the day testing at an oval/road course near Colorado Springs to make sure everything’s good to go for tomorrow. He’ll be back on the mountain tomorrow, and we’ll be back with a report then.

Tomorrow’s practice will have all of the bike divisions qualifying on the bottom of the course while the other classes get their settings dialed in for race day on Sunday. To watch or listen to the race live on Sunday, June 30, Red Bull TV will be streaming the entire event here, and you can listen on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM. If you insist on total coverage, feel free to follow the Pikes Peak Facebook and Twitter pages. For live timing and results, go here. If you lose all those links, just go to the Pikes Peak site and click the Follow Live tab at the top of the page. The live stream on Red Bull TV starts at 7 am Mountain time (6 am PST / 9 am EST), the green-flag party kicks off at 8 am Mountain Time.

2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Practice Day 3 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 27 Jun 2013 21:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorsports: 2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Practice Day 2

Filed under: Motorsports

2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Practice Day 2 is in the books, and qualifying times have been recorded for the Unlimited and Time Attack classes for the 2013 edition of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The quickest man on the mountain is none other than Sébastien Loeb, who set a blistering pace with a 3:26.153, recorded on the bottom third of the mountain on his second and final run of the day.

The second-fastest qualifying time was set by Romain Dumas at 3:43.556, a full 17 seconds behind Loeb. Rhys Millen, last year’s champion, did not record a second qualifying lap today, so it’s not clear exactly where he will stand on Sunday when the actual race is slated to take place (probably in third place, which is where his first timed qualifying run would place him).

David Donner sits just ahead of Paul Dallenbach and Jeff Zwart in the Time Attack class, ahead of several Unlimited competitors. In the Electric class, which ran the middle portion of the track this morning, Hiroshi Masuoka sits in the lead, followed by Greg Tracy, Rod Millen and perennial favorite Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima.

Check out some of the action from today’s practice session in our live image gallery above. We have photos from the Unlimited, Time Attack, Electric, Vintage, Exhibition and Open classes for your viewing pleasure.

2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Practice Day 2 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 Jun 2013 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Bad Habits’ monster truck world record practice session doesn’t go as planned

Filed under: Motorsports, Truck, Videos, Off-Road, Racing

Hey ya'll, watch this!

Bad Habits takes a dive – Click above to watch the video after the jump

Few realms of motorsport live the “Go big or go home” mantra to the fullest quite as well as the monster truck world. Aside from one of the largest voiceovers in the industry (“Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!“), the guys who wrangle the epic horsepower, rear-wheel steering beasts of the Monster Jam circuit also boast some of the biggest egos. You know, the kind of sheer will of character that it takes to look at Bigfoot’s 202-foot, record-setting jump over a jetliner and think, “Nah, I can do better.” Such is the case with Joe Sylvester, the 26-year-old driver of the Bad Habits truck.

Sylvester has got it into his mind that he can embarrass the Bigfoot record, and has set about building a truck and a ramp to do just that. Only thing is, things didn’t go so swell during a practice session this week. After nailing his homemade ramp, the Bad Habits truck promptly began to turn its nose back toward terra firma, and it wasn’t long before the machine evaporated into a cloud of giant tires and red clay. Sylvester was unharmed in the accident and plans to officially attempt to break the record at this weekend’s Cornfield 500 at Columbus, PA’s Miller Farm. If you can’t make it, don’t worry – the folks at DirtVision plan a live webcast of this Sunday’s attempt.

Either way, we wish Sylvester the best of luck. You may want to do the same after hitting the jump and watching his failed practice attempt for yourself. Thanks for the tip, Shawn!

[Sources: YouTube, Cornfield500, DirtVision]

Continue reading Video: Bad Habits’ monster truck world record practice session doesn’t go as planned

Video: Bad Habits’ monster truck world record practice session doesn’t go as planned originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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X Games 16: Rally practice day reveals new challenges

Filed under: Motorsports

X-Games Practice

X Games 16 Rally Practice Day – Click above for high-res image gallery

The practice day for the X Games 16 Rally competitors is in the books, and despite plenty of preparation the teams face some unexpected challenges at the new venue. The drivers first took to the makeshift dirt track at the L.A. Coliseum early yesterday afternoon and quickly found that the setup isn’t ideally suited to automobiles – or at least anything with bumpers. The course features two major elevation changes, going up and out of the stadium and then back in again, and nearly all of the drivers are having difficulty with the latter. The entrance back into the stadium is so steep that drivers are forced to either come in extremely slowly or catch air and plow the front end of the car into the dirt. To make matters worse, an uneven track surface at the bottom of the descent causes the cars to go airborne again. It may be fun to watch, but it’s undoubtedly frustrating for the drivers.

Interestingly, the one feature of the track that usually gives the drivers trouble – the jump – is no problem at all. Most drivers initially seemed cautious before making their practice runs, but they quickly realized that not too much speed is needed, and soon thereafter they were easily clearing the gap on every lap.

Overall, the current track layout at the new venue is disappointing. The course is essentially one large loop featuring all right turns, with the two elevation changes and the jump thrown in. Much of the course is fairly narrow as well, which will make the SuperRally either very boring (no passing) or very interesting (lots of bumping and crashing). We’ll reserve judgment until we actually see it happen, and we fully expect the addition of actual competition and tens of thousands of fans to make things more exciting. Stay tuned for more live X Games 16 rally coverage this weekend.

Gallery: X Games 16 Rally Practice Day

X Games 16: Rally practice day reveals new challenges originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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