We recently posted a video of female racing driver Michel Mouton’s 1985 record breaking race up Pike’s Peak in the 1985 Pike’s Peak Hill Climb. Here is the same race, albeit on a tarred road, 28 years later.
Sébastien Loeb clearly looks nervous before the event and afterwards admitted that the pressure was intense.
“For me, this was the race of the year,” said Loeb at the finish line 4,300m high in the Rocky Mountains. “At the beginning of my run there was a bit of pressure because I knew there was so much work and investment from Peugeot and all the partners. Now, after all the practice, it was just down to me and I had to perform.”
Driving a Peugeot 208, he blitzed up the 156 corners of the 20km mountain course at an average speed of 145kph and set a new record of 8m13.878s, which still stands today. The previous year’s best of 9m46.164s was set by Rhys Millen.
Loeb commented after the race, ““Before the start I didn’t really know if I should push absolutely to the maximum or if I should just push to a comfortable pace, in order to make sure of the victory. In the end, I decided to push to the limit.”
Source: Red Bull Content Pool