A friend of mine lives near Pikes Peak, and actually followed my suggesting that he race his Nimbus motorcycle downhill. Think he made it halfway down before the (drum) brakes called it a day.
Here in NE Ohio we used to have the Milan Hillclimb in the 1960s. It was part of the Melon Festival. Cars raced up the hill, around the square and back down the hill. You got extra seconds added to your time if you slid across the finish line. Not very far away was the Huron River as an added incentive to stop. That downhill run was damn hairy!
In 1985 Michèle Mouton and Fabrizia Pons beat everyone in Pikes Peak with and Audi Quattro. This was the first time that a foreign driver and a woman, to make things worse, had won Pikes Peak. Michèle Mouton not only won but she claimed a new record for the track.
This was 1985! Women were supposed to stay home and cook in 1985... Imagine how upset all those rough drivers must have been seeing two ladies beat them on their track while driving a car with half the cylinders and one third the displacement most V8 on the track!
Legend says that the Unsers (Pikes Peak royalty) where very upset at the end of the race and wanted the European ladies disqualified for any reason possible. In the middle of heated argument between race officials, Bobby Unser and Mouton apparently Mouton told Bobby Unser "If you had any balls you would race it down hill" and left Bobby Unser uncapable of answering.
In 1986 Bobby Unser came back from retirement and reclaimed the Pikes Peak record driving an Audi Quattro...
A friend of mine lives near Pikes Peak, and actually followed my suggesting that he race his Nimbus motorcycle downhill. Think he made it halfway down before the (drum) brakes called it a day.
ReplyDeleteHere in NE Ohio we used to have the Milan Hillclimb in the 1960s. It was part of the Melon Festival. Cars raced up the hill, around the square and back down the hill. You got extra seconds added to your time if you slid across the finish line. Not very far away was the Huron River as an added incentive to stop. That downhill run was damn hairy!
ReplyDeleteMy wife grew up in Milan, so I've been around there a lot. I never heard that they had a hill climb there. What road was this on?
DeleteIn 1985 Michèle Mouton and Fabrizia Pons beat everyone in Pikes Peak with and Audi Quattro. This was the first time that a foreign driver and a woman, to make things worse, had won Pikes Peak. Michèle Mouton not only won but she claimed a new record for the track.
ReplyDeleteThis was 1985! Women were supposed to stay home and cook in 1985... Imagine how upset all those rough drivers must have been seeing two ladies beat them on their track while driving a car with half the cylinders and one third the displacement most V8 on the track!
Legend says that the Unsers (Pikes Peak royalty) where very upset at the end of the race and wanted the European ladies disqualified for any reason possible. In the middle of heated argument between race officials, Bobby Unser and Mouton apparently Mouton told Bobby Unser "If you had any balls you would race it down hill" and left Bobby Unser uncapable of answering.
In 1986 Bobby Unser came back from retirement and reclaimed the Pikes Peak record driving an Audi Quattro...
thanks for the history! Very much!
Delete