It's a rather alien feeling to be walking around at 6am in the paddock and not cowering in fear from the bitter cold. There's a huge difference when you compare the levels of human comfort at 14,110 feet and, from the elevation where the starting line is, 9,390 feet. You can feel the sun's rays warming up every inch of the paddock. People were happy with that fact and so was I.
Another person that was quite happy the third day morning of practice was none other than Monster Tajima. He plowed up the mountain's bottom section with a time of 4:28! With that time, he also qualified first for the race which gives him the privilege of choosing when he wants to drive.
Rhys Millen, on the other hand, was not on his best form. After his first run, walked up to him to wish him a good morning and asked how he was doing. His reply: "I'm doing alright… but we need twelve more months."
His best time in the morning's practice runs was a 4:42. That's a whole fourteen seconds slower than Tajima….
The Porsche 911 Cup-car-that-could, piloted by Jeff Zwart, was stuffing out the competition in the two-wheel drive time attack class. His fastest time was a 5:15. The next fastest two-wheel drive time attack car did a best of 6:18!
There were murmurs throughout the paddock that Jeff will be capable of beating Rhys Millen's two-wheel time attack record of 12:09 from last year. This will be a storyline we'll be following very closely tomorrow….
The pink S14 driven by Ken Stouffer did a fastest run of 6:19. He's looking to finish in the low 13s tomorrow.
How am I preparing for tomorrow's race? Catching up on as much sleep as I can.
-Linhbergh
P.S. Remember, you can catch the race day action on Pike's Peak online and see the drama unfold by tuning into the live stream tomorrow starting at 9am MST on PPIHC.com!
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Any Pics of Andrew Hawekswood ? He is driving a tube frame evo 8 packing 700hp on a 850kg body/frame in Open Class he will be a front runner out right . You guys seem to be covering the same people .
Rhys is under a lot of pressure to preform, but if anyone can he can. Millen vs Tajima what a battle if Rhys gets his problems ironed out.
Linhbergh turly amazing photos, you coverage has been outstanding.
What is the Grenwich mean time of that?
Damn,....Tajima is toying with the reast of the Unlimited Class!
Good luck to Rhys Millen as well!
@Marten: Sadly, that Evo has been running in a different run group all week long... I've been hearing about that car all week but haven't had the chance to see it in action or even see it up close! I'll definitely keep an eye out for it tomorrow.
Have you got any pics of other competitors you seem to be covering the same people in each pikes peak installment ........ IE Andrew Hawkeswood from NZ in OPEN CLASS in tube frame Evo 8 which weighs 850kgs and has over 700hp and is covered in Carbon Fibre
that first shot.. wow!!!!!
and the 2nd, what lens is that? love the fact that its wide with the perfect amount of depth of field~
That's probably a 24mm 1.4
Thanks for the reply Linhbegh , Its hard getting news of any sort in New Zealand about the event ,
THANK YOU
Nah looks like from the results that andrew only had 1 run all week??
Millen's car has a better power to weight ratio than Tajima's so I guess it needs a whole lot of development.
Marten I am a kiwi living outside of NZ and was shocked to see the lack of coverage of this event in the media, as well as the world time attack. What is the sports media doing, to much rugby and football
Live steram from Pikes Peak
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/usac---pitpass