Pikes Peak Record Smashed by Loeb. Last month, June the 30th, Sebastian Loeb broke the record for the “unlimited Class” Pikes Peak Hill Climb with a time of 8m 13.878sec, in a highly modified 875bhp Peugeot 208. Loeb averaged speeds of over 87mph in the race, beating Rhys Millen the previous record holder by 1m 32.286sec.
The Peugeot 208 was specifically built for the Pikes Peak race. The only similarity to Loeb’s 208 and the factory car is that it may look like a Peugeot 208 on steroids but that was about it.
The 875kg lightweight 4 wheel drive Peugeot has a Twin Turbo charged 3.2 Litre V6 mid mounted engine, which accelerates the car to 60 in 1.8 seconds and 0 to 150mph in 7 seconds!!!
Sebastian Loeb is the most successful WRC rally driver of all time, winning 9 WRC championships consecutively since his 1st win in 2004! Loeb retired from Rallying this year but competed in the 1st 4 WRC events, coming 1st in 2 of these events before focusing on his Pikes Peak drive.
The French man has also won Race Of Champions 3 times and won his 1st appearance at the X Games XVIII in 2012 in the Rally cross event beating Ken Block. I don’t believe that any one is going to match let alone beat his WRC achievements, he truly is top of his game…
The Pikes Peak win for Loeb is 25 years after Ari Vatanen broke the Pikes Peak record in a Peugeot 405 T16 with a time of 10m 47.22, although back then the Pikes Peak Hill Climb course was a mixture of tarmac and gravel. It was changed to a full tarmac course in 2011.
Watch Ari Vatanen in this awesome video of his Pikes Peak drive, named “Climb Dance”, Im sure you will agree that this is breath taking driving……
Pikes Peak Hill Climb has been running since 1916 and has been nicknamedĀ the “Race To The Clouds”. The mountain race course has 156 corners, is 12.4 miles long and climbs 5000 feet! Pikes Peak is the 2nd oldest car race in America, coming second to the Indy 500.