Drift Tengoku — September 2004 · Page 166

Pikes Peak is a 4,301-meter mountain in Colorado, USA. A public toll road normally allows cars to reach its summit. Since 1916 it has hosted the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb time trial.

The race starts at 2,862 meters and runs about 20 km to the summit, mainly on unpaved dirt at the time of this article. Classes include SUVs and trucks, unlimited modifications, production vehicles under Pikes Peak rules, open-wheel cars and motorcycles. The article gives the unlimited four-wheel record as Rod Millen's 10 minutes 6 seconds and says Falken Tire became the main sponsor two years earlier.

Have you heard of Pikes Peak? It's one of the world's greatest hill-climb time trials, with an 88-year history at the time. This year, an RB26-powered four-wheel-drive Z33 entered from Japan; Option 2 has the detailed report. Our own Koguchi added to the spectacle by performing a drift exhibition on the course. Drifting above 3,000 meters must have felt fantastic!

Even a self-proclaimed mountain-pass boss like me found Pikes Peak intimidating! ‘Emperor’ Koguchi: I didn't compete in the famous hill-climb race. I drifted on about two kilometers of pavement from the start as an exhibition show. As someone who loves mountain roads, I was excited: at 3,000 meters, it might be the highest place in the world anyone had drifted.

Before driving I thought, ‘A mountain pass is a mountain pass.’ Big mistake. The edges are steep cliffs where you'd tumble a long way if you went off. Higher up, the road narrows to less than two lanes, with no guardrails.

A tire over the edge could send you tumbling. Going off looked seriously dangerous and scared me. In fact, I did drop off a little—ha ha—but escaped with a broken bumper.

Maybe because the air was thin, the car had no power. With no proper setup time, I rewrote the fuel map by feel to keep it from breaking, but it still wasn't right. It could barely drift, and I had to keep the throttle down.

We made about six up-and-down trips where spectators gathered. Americans react enthusiastically: some waved and yelled ‘Yeah!’ while others… [continues on following page]