Ken Block is set to race at the 100th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with a brand new car to do it, and it is beautiful.
What Is the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb?
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a hillclimb event that sees a variety of drivers from different motorsport disciplines race up Pikes Peak for the first time. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was run for the first time in August of 1916 and has run every year ever since besides WWI and WWII. Rea Lentz was the first person to win the Hillclimb with a time of 20:55.600.
A Look Back at 2021
Robin Shute won the event in 2021 with a time of 5:55.246 in a 2018 Wolf GB0B TSC-LT. Romain Dumas placed second with a time that was more than 30 seconds slower than Shute’s time. He finished with a time of 6:31.914 in a 2019 Porsche 911 GT2RS Clubsport.
Ken Block’s First Run at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
Ken Block first raced Pikes Peak in 2005 in a Group N Subaru during a rally. Block placed 10th in the Rally and fourth in the Group N category. Block raced against longtime friend and rival Travis Pastrana in this event who placed seventh overall and third in the Group N category. Other notable drivers ahead of Block include Tanner Foust and Stig Blomqvist.
Ken’s Love for the Event
Ken Block has always wanted to compete for the overall win at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. As Pikes Peak is one of the events that got him into rallying in the first place. Many of his rally heroes have raced the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Including Walter Rohrl, Ari Vatanen, Michele Mouton, Sebastian Loeb, and Rod Millien. Block wants to add his name to the long list of drivers to go up the hillclimb the fastest and is prepared for the challenge.
Climbkhana 1
The last time Ken Block was at Pikes Peak was in 2017 for the filming of Climbkhana 1. Climbkhana is a spin of Ken Block’s Gymkhana series, but instead of just hooning around on regular terrain. He instead climbs up mountains while hooning around. Climbkhana 1 featured one of the most iconic Ken Block and Pikes Peak images of All-time when he slightly overshot the Evo Corner and nearly went off the edge.
The Evo Corner gained its name after the 2012 running of the hillclimb event when Jeremy Foley misjudged the corner and went off the edge. The corner takes place after a slight elevation that makes it near impossible to see a corner up ahead. There’s no guard rail and it begins as a slight corner that tightens fast. Block luckily had his front two tires on tarmac still so he could maintain some traction, as both his rear tires were off the road. If his front two weren’t on the road it could have ended very very differently.
The Car
Ken Block has a new Hoonicorn level build for the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. He will drive a vintage Porsche 911 which he has named the Hoonipigasus. The Hoonipigasus name comes as a nod to the ‘Pink Pig’ 1971 Porsche 917/20 that competed at Le Mans. Block’s main sponsor for the event won’t be Monster Energy, he will instead be backed by the most successful oil brand at Pikes Peak, Mobil 1. Block worked with Pikes Peak-winning Porsche specialists BBi Motorsports to make the Hoonipigasus come to life. The Hoonipigasus has 1400 horses and only weighs 1000kg. It also features GPS height-adjusted suspension, which uses data from last year’s event to make adjustments on the fly.
The livery for the Hoonipigasus comes as a part of his partnership with Trouble Andrew aka Guccighost. He designed Block’s new livery for ARA which made its debut at the Oregon Trail Rally. The original design for the Hoonipigasus came from BBi Motorsports founder Betim Berisha’s friend Joe Scarbo of Scarbo Motorsports over a decade ago.
My name is Joe Moore, I am a writer for Belly Up Hockey, Belly Up Racing, and Belly Up Sports. You can find me on Twitter.
