It was his third time that he has tackled the annual international event that climbs 12.42 miles or 20kms, with 156 turns to the 4314.5m summit and is well known as The Race to the Clouds.
“Unless you have competed here you really can’t explain how physically and mentally demanding this month has been,” Dickie said of the preparation that leads to that one shot at glory.
In the Project Import Honda S2000, Dickie was back in the US as the sole Australian for his third attempt in the Unlimited class. Previously he competed in 2021 on a shortened course for 31st and again in 2023 for 27th outright. Both years he was sixth in Unlimited.
Built by the Californian-based Project Import, the car has a 2.0lt turbocharged engine which in 2023, delivered 800hp (600kW) with an Emitron ECU, through a six-speed paddle shift-operated gearbox. It also had revised aero that was designed by RS Future.
All teams can only test on sections, not the entire climb, and only at allocated times. After a test on the weekend, the week before race week, the team elected to run just the top and middle sections. But the planned top section run didn’t happen.
“The day was cancelled due to an incident in the middle section with required all of the mountain’s safety crews. It was a huge setback for us, but we understand that the safety of those in the incident comes first.”
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That left just the middle section where they decided that the Garrett turbo change from 2023 still needed to be refined as it suffered with lag. The team went out to Pikes Peak International Raceway to run it. Garrett had sent out every turbo and housing in the G30 range to try.
“By the end of the day at PPIR we had made decent gains to roll into race week but knew in our minds next year we can improve more.”
Race week started for their group on the top section where they finished in the top 25 percent and the group included open wheelers and prototypes. The bumps were worse than in 2023 which meant they had to chase a setup which would maximise the section but not compromise the other two.
Day 2 was for qualifying. It was dry when they arrived and then the rain came. He did two runs in the lower section to qualify. However, on the second he made an error and a high-speed lose.
The next day was an early 2.30am start to head to the middle section. Unfortunately, the weather had not passed and the mountain had received enough snow to cancel the middle and top sections. The runs would be rolled into Day 4 but again ruined by rain.
The team headed back to PPIR to give the car a few laps on the new Toyo Pikes Peak special tyres. They then loaded up for Fan Fest and spent some time in downtown Colorado Springs among more than 35,000 people. They were amazed that many who knew Dickie and the car.
On race day the first car left the line at 7.30am and Dickie judged that he would run around 10:30. The run didn’t start until 11:45, due to the large amount of red flags from spectators, falling rocks, wildlife and incidents on the track.
Dickie was a little bit slower in the first section before got it all together and came home strong. He reported that still had some slight turbo lag but did his best to drive around that and crossed the finish line in 10mins 27s which is 25s faster than 2023.
“The arrival at the summit house is a unique feeling. It feels like an elusive club, you have made it! You’re now in the club and I’m proud to say I’ve now completed the event three times and made it to the summit on twice in a row.
“From our knowledge I’m now also the fastest Australian to compete,” Dickie concluded.
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