2012 Pikes Peak Hillclimb, There is a 914 Entered! Options

[Britain Smith]

I have this little 2 month vacation this summer called a "sabbatical" and I am contemplating taking the family to the Pike Peak Hillclimb. I went back in 1998 and it was a fun event to see.

Anyway...looking at the entry list, I spotted this car.

Jeff MacPherson
Bozeman, MT
Pikes Peak Open
1970 Porsche 914

Anyone know who it is?

-Britain

[Ferg]

This guy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_MacPherson

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Driver Jeff MacPherson (Bozeman, Montana) is entered in the Pikes Peak Open Division and has strong credentials. He was 8th at the 1987 Indianapolis 500 won by Al Unser and won $117,000 for his top ten finish. MacPherson finished just ahead of Mario Andretti in the ’87 Indy 500. He’s driving a 1971 Porsche 914 on Pikes Peak this sumer.

[URY914]

I have always wondered if a 914 had ever been entered. I tried looking it up on several PP history sites and never found one. This could be the first!

[Ferg]

I'm going to try and make it this year, my own backyard and I have never been (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Britain Smith]

Nice.

Maybe I should enter my car....hmmm, it is all paved this year and I have a turbo!

-Britain

[SirAndy]

I have always wondered if a 914 had ever been entered. I tried looking it up on several PP history sites and never found one. This could be the first!

Didn't Jeff Zwart run his 914-6 at Pikes Peak?

I vaguely remember seeing a video on youtube of him in the 914, somewhere in-between the million other videos of him ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

[majkos]

I'm going to try and make it this year, my own backyard and I have never been (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

For many years I've always wanted to go,
this is enough of a motivator to think about it this year.
I think Pike Peak's and 914 are perfect for each other (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[brant]

my vintage club has a class with the organizers of the event
we have a lot of vintage cars entered
mostly V8's though

the organizers won't allow any vintage car slower than a certain threshold to run...

It sounds like Jeff may be running in an open class though
its an expensive event
the practice windows are 1 run per a day for 2 or so days...

(they don't close the mountain for the days of practice... they have a couple of hours of closure from 5am -7am kinda thing)

then the race.

I think entry fee is around a grand.

it beats cars up bad..
you need to tap into the knowledge of the previous pikes peak community on tires.

[pete000]

Wow that is cool. I went around 10 years ago and it was fun a crazy Suzuki guy always has some insane rig there from Japan. And Rod Millan had a Toyota truck bodied indy car !

Wonder if the 914 entered is crazy modified?

[Dave_Darling]

Back in the late 1970s there were a number of "specials" built with 914-4 motors for Pike's Peak. Built by Garretson's in Mountain View CA.

And there were 914s running the Peak in the 70s as well.

--DD

[brant]

Here is one of my clubs vintage guys running last year:

Part 1
Part 2


its not an autox set up


p.s.
Pete000, I think I was there that year also
I know the tundra truck ran more than one year but I remember seeing the suzuki also.

b

[brant]

Here are photo's also from last year here


I don't seem to be able to capture it and post it here...
but worth looking I promise

NICE SHOT!... time to change your undies

[Scott S]

It is very very fun. I have not been since probably 2000. Dont go up for the day - go the night before and camp. It is a blast.

Be preparred for snow - it is not all that rare for it to happen. Its amaizing how thin the air gets at the top of that mountain, it's WAY up there. I remember in the late 80's I thought something was really wrong with my little GTI - it would barely idle!

Fun stuff!! I still remember the Audi coupes - soooooo cool.

[Elliot Cannon]

Is is very good for spectators? Is there a specific area for spectators or can you pretty much watch from where ever you like. I can't imagine it's like a european rallye where folks are situated all over the course.

[pete000]

Is is very good for spectators? Is there a specific area for spectators or can you pretty much watch from where ever you like. I can't imagine it's like a european rallye where folks are situated all over the course.

You can go just about anywhere you can drive or hike to. Best vantage points you can see several turns.

Weather is really sketchy.
We went up the night before and slept in the back of my friends van.

[VaccaRabite]

Here is one of my clubs vintage guys running last year:

Part 1

I love watching the big old cars race. :-) That Cuda was fun to watch.

My favorite pikes peak video, though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGaYz5aLegc


Wish I had a high-rez copy of it...

zach

[brant]

this is a great video also: ford fiesta

still its amazing what the vintage, rear wheel drive, heavy, old, all metal cars can do. My friend keith davidson has won the vintage class 2 or 3 years now in a ford falcon. I believe its still a 289 also! His time last year was 12:44 so I think its amazing that he is within 2 and a half minutes of the turbo/4wheel drive cars that are carbon fiber dedicated hill climb and ralley cars. His is just an old vintage track car that still has door panels and a dash!

[OmaPossu]

this is a great video also: ford fiesta

Nice driving and that scenery is always thrilling to watch! Havent seen that clip of Marcus driving Pikes Peak. One grazy Finnish rally driver, ex world champpion.

[get off my lawn]

Rod Millen's record-breaking celica was at laguna seca several years back at the monterey historics, I had a chance to check it out really well. Talk about trick.

That turbo suzuki monster barely beat Millen's record but only after they paved the top.
I attended a dinner that night after the historics with Mr. Millen and some guy named Ivan iron man. I think his last name was stewart or something like that.
Juan Fangio, Dave Jordan and Scooter Patrick were also there.
Awesome stories. Fangio had a very young and pretty girl hanging off his arm, evidently it was his neice. Their hotel room was right next to mine. They must have a VERY close family (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bs.gif)

I still have an autographed picture of the shelby toyota S2000 they used to race signed by Scooter and Jones, and I didn't even have to ask for it!
Two of the coolest, neatest, most down to earth guys I've ever met.
The kind of guys you'd help move just so you could hang out with them.

[get off my lawn]

No, not that Fangio, Juan Fangio the II.
Dis guy, drove toyotas in IMSA and did pretty good. Arguably one of the most winningest cars ever. Won darn near every race it ever entered, and usually took 1st and 2nd :

Winning at Road Atlanta and Mid-Ohio in the ’92 season’s first half, Davy Jones’ and his Jaguar would later be relegated to scrapping for second and third-place finishes with the likes of Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson (Nissan NPT 91 A, B) Wayne Taylor and Tommy Kendall (Chevrolet Intrepids; by then two distinct teams) and Price Cobb (Mazda RX-792P). A talented pool of drivers to be sure and all of whom finished either second or third at one time or another in 1992, but also a clear testimonial to the AAR Eagle Toyota’s strengths, which closed the 1992 season winning nine of the 13 races on the schedule.

“Starting with the ’92 New Orleans race (that year’s seventh), (Dan) Gurney’s two (Eagle MKIII) Toyotas went on a seven race consecutive-win run, with either (Juan) Fangio (II) or P.J. Jones winning in the (Nos.) 99 or 98 (respectively), Raffauf said.

“Now, I don’t want to take anything away from someone like Dan Gurney, because before he gained access to the factory deal he clearly paid his dues in this sport and today remains one of its finest ambassadors, but in 1992 and 1993 the Toyota operation versus pretty much of the rest of the paddock was like a tank-on-tank shootout between a (WWII German) Tiger II tank and a Russian T-34.”

In 1993’s 11-round IMSA race season, excepting the July round at Road America and from which it was absent (some say it was due to “budgetary issues” whereas others say “purely political” reasons were the root cause), the AAR Eagle Toyota MkIII won every race in which it participated.

In seven of the 10 races which the Eagle won it likewise finished second. Another Eagle first place produced a third-place for the sister car. The worst finish of any Eagle in 1993 was at the end of Daytona’s Rolex 24, wherein the No. 99 Eagle of Fangio, Andy Wallace and Kenny Acheson finished 27th. Of course, on the same scale’s highest end was the No. 98 sister car (below, on the way to its 1993 Rolex 24 win), with drivers P.J. Jones, Rocky Moran and Mark Dismore – preserving the team’s ongoing win streak started at the 1992 New Orleans race.