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Sunday, July 3, 2011

Cars & Coffee – 7/2/11: The Pike's Peak Edition



Slow internet connection while out of town for the remainder of the Independence Day Holiday weekend necessitates a brief write-up today. Will add more details on the StopTech blog in a few days.

A filthy Hyundai in the corral today was much appreciated, not because we have a thing for dirty Korean cars, but because this one had racing dirt on it. It was the very same Hyundai powered unlimited class car that Rhys Millen had used last weekend to tackle Pike's Peak. While Rhys was only able to finish second, this little rocket ship is still mighty impressive in person. With nearly the same power as a Veyron and less than half its weight to haul around, this awd LMP shrinky dink can catapault from a rolling start-124 mph in less than 8 seconds. It also pins you back into your seat at 1.14 g's in the process. Rhys is a cool guy who spent a lot of time talking to people about the car, the race and himself. We did have to give him a hard time about his other car on display though - a pimped out Ostrich leather interior'd Equus SEMA show car. Now if that thing had Pike's Peak dirt all over it, then it might be something special.

The only other car that really caught my attention yesterday was a Cobra. It was used in the movie "The Gumball Rally" where it raced a Ferrari Daytona Spider from NY to LA. While "Cannonball Run" is perhaps the better known movie about the first Coast-to-Coast illegal car race by a group of wealthy East Coast sportscar owners, "Gumball" is a much better car movie. The scenes of this Cobra and that Daytona racing through the LA River are classic. To think of how valuable each of those cars has become makes the footage that much more impactful today. If you haven't seen it, track it down. This should be in every car lovers collection right along side Le Mans and Grand Prix.


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