Looks like it is official...

January 24 , 2008

Dear: Kevin Race # 43
Organizers of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) are pleased to announce your acceptance as a competitor in this the 86th running of the “Race to the Clouds”.

Race officials for the 2008 event are as follows:
• Phil Layton – Race Director
 Randy Ruyle – Director of Competition
 Sonny Anderson – Motorcycle Referee
 Marla Wiseman - Registrar
 Chris Early – Timing Director
 Todd Kueker – Safety Director

Since the last race there have been changes to the Pikes Peak Highway. Restorative and paving efforts continued up the mountain. 2008 competitors will face an expanded section of pavement thru Devil’s Playground. We are pleased to continue utilizing a transponder based timing system which is an improved and efficient timing masterpiece. AMB-it is world renouned for its hardware and software products.

The 2008 Race Headquarters will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, (Formerly the Sheraton). All race related meetings, registration, and press facilities will be there. Practice days will be limited to three with the course being divided into three sections. Qualifying times will be obtained when you practice in the Lower Section.

There are some mandatory meetings and events. Those are listed below:
• Rookie School
• Drivers’ Meeting
• Riders’ Meeting
• Other events as necessary.

Race day order has yet to be determined. There will however be no intermission, as in years past.

I look forward to renewing old friendships and establishing new. Good luck in the preparation of your race team and if we can be of any assistance don’t hesitate to contact us through the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb offices at (719) 685-4400. The web site, www.ppihc.com, is currently under revision with the new format projected to be on-line in January 2007. Regards.

Phil Layton
Race Director
Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

To Pull...

After spending many long hours in the cab of my 2006 Ford F 250 and clocking just over 50k miles i have decided to sell the truck. To tell you the truth it was like sitting on top of a jackhammer. I have looked long and hard for the appropriate replacement and have decided to side with Mr. T. I am the proud owner of a black Chevy Express Diesel cargo van. stay tuned as this will get the same love that the A Team put into their ride. Don't hate me because I am a genius:)

on to the hill

Well, now that we have won the Carrera Panamericana we wasted no time in finding new events to sign up for. The list is pretty short at the moment
Chihuahua Express
Targa Newfoundland
Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Chihuahua is a go for us. money has changed hands and we are eager to head back down to mex, this time with better video, and see how we do.

Pikes Peak, this one I am really excited for, second oldest race in the US. Application has been sent in and I am waiting to get approved. having never driven at speed on dirt this should be quite exciting. I need to find time to practice my Scandinavian flick.

The car is down at Crawfords having the engine rebuilt and the shocks replaced. over a year of competition on the setup i had and then we went down to La C, that just killed it.

Targa is not 100% for this year. not sure i can find the time to drive all the way over there....that being said, I did just drive all the way down to Oaxaca and back. Speaking of which, not 100% on doing the La C again this year. definitely an event that needs to be done again, just not sure I can do all of these events in one year.

pics from this years event are up, I ust need to put them all in one place. they can be found at www.theunlimitedclass.com/blog and at http://crawfordperformance.com/v2/results/db_imgview.cgi?linkID=38

Oaxaca to san miguell

I think that is enough for now. I will get back on and tell more about San Miguell and what has happened since then. Now I m off to work on the car a little mroe to prepare for tomorrow's qualification. Happy Birthday to Grace and Hello to all of our friends and Family.

LA to Laredo in 24

Abel and I left yesterday from home in LA at 8 am. we drove through California, where the state was kind enough to give me a present! I even had to sign it when he gave it to me. We spent the afternoon and early evening driving through Arizona and the very southern tip of New Mexico. We spent the night driving through half of Texas, which turns out to be a huge state. Did not see much though as it was night. It started to get light around 7 am. We pulled into Laredo at 8:10 am and were welcomed by two Studebaker's, one tiger, a original mini and a jag e type. very cool to see those cars in race trim. The trip went without a hitch. Abel has helped me freshen up on my Spanish and I on his English. We pulled in slept for a few hours and then worked on getting the window nets and roll bar padding put in the car. while we were doing that, a new mini and a 60's sting ray corvette pulled in. I expect another 5 to 10 cars through the night and tomorrow. I will take some pics tomorrow and post them. I spoke with Mark and he will be pulling into Laredo tomorrow afternoon.

fun rally gear

now mark needs to figure out how to use it all.

I hate packing

Getting close.

We leave wedensday morning... the good news, the car is finished, well at least for the most part, still waiting on a few parts including a window net, a camera, sponsorship stickers, ok a few things left on the car. I still need to go to the grocery store to pick up snacks that we can munch on while driving. I still need to go to home depot to pick up some more tools that will be necesarry for changing a spark plug or two. All that being said I am getting excited. It will all be worth it when that green flag is on the window shield and Mark is talking about the first series of turns. as long as we can keep it "reasonable and prudent" (thank you Montana Highway Patrol of yore) we will cross the finish line.

I spoke with Eddie, driver of the camaro in our class, and we will be going in a convoy with his truck and car. We are going to drive straight through from LA to Laredo where Abel and I will pick up Mark from the airport there. More pics to follow soon

Literacy?

A little excerpt from the route book. Mark, you are practicing right? Sorry about the lack of updates, I had a technical issue with my camera so I have not been able to post the most recent updates and pics. Should be fixed soon and I will be back to blogging. Lots still to do and we leave in 6 days.

The car is about 5 days out from being "able" to drive on the street. that being said, there are a lot of little things that still need to be installed. The Terratrip rally computer and communication system are still in boxes. The steering wheel extender is in a box in the back seat. The seats are sitting on the ground outside of the car. Rear wheel spacers need to be installed and the chasis stillneeds to be weighted and set up. Lastly, softer street biased brake pads need to be installed. Once all this is done, we are going to go canyon carving with some other subaru/evo friends around southern cali doing our best to not be pulled over and have to answer some difficult questions about straight exhausts (literally just a 3 inch pipe from the turbo to the back of the car) and rollcages. I am pretty sure the only thing street legal about this car are the tires. Those I even would not recomend in the wet (not to worry, Mark promised me that he and Jen would do anti raindances every sunrise for the next two weeks, actually rain would be beneficial to our AWD subaru). Once that has been completed the car will go back under the knife for fine tuning and then out to the track for some high speed testing. hopefully by then the car will be completely sorted. Of course, we will have no choice becuase we leave a few days after that for Mexico...