Rhys Millen Takes Overall Record At Pikes Peak

Rhys Millen has brought the overall Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record back to his family. He did it with his Formula Drift Hyundai Genesis Coupe, which was entered into the Time Attack class.

This was a record-breaking event in many ways as there were a whole load of wrecks. There were a total of eight red flags and accidents which resulted in two people getting air-lifted to hospitals because of their injuries. The Dacia Duster is one of the Unlimited-class cars who never saw the summit.

Paul Dallenbach also went off. His car was completely destroyed as he crashed into trees lining the course. Paul had been a favorite to take the overall record.

Everyone thought ‘Monster’ Tajima would take the overall record with his E-runner. It seemed that way during practice, as the electric race car had been running well all week.

He launched the car off the line like a bat out of hell as soon as the green flag was dropped, but after only three corners the car lost power and he pulled over.

The cockpit filled with smoke as there were some electrical problems with the car. Luckily he got out safely and walked back to the starting line. He was crushed, as his day was done.

It seemed like the fastest cars at the event were dropping like flies. Then Frenchman Romain Dumas set a new overall record with a 9:46.18, although he set that time with semi-rainy conditions on the summit.

With most of the other fast guys out Rhys knew he had a chance to beat Romain and take the overall record, which had been held by his father for many years.

He was anxious to go as there were delays upon delays due to incidents. By the time Rhys lined up, the clouds had cleared a bit and the track started to dry up.

All eyes were on Rhys as he strapped in for 12.1 miles of the Pikes Peak hill-climb.

He started slow as his motor had an issue with the cold, but as soon as he was around the first corner the motor came to life.

Everyone huddled around radios and listened as the announcer was saying Rhys was one second behind Romain going into the last third of the course.

When the radio crackled a time two hundredth of a second faster than Dumas, his team and everyone on the grid erupted in joy.

Rhys is the new king of the mountain with a time of  9:46.16. What better way to celebrate a victory in a drift car than with a fatty burnout.

This goes to show with a little luck and some insane driving you can take down even the biggest and baddest teams. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is racing in its purest form after all. Congratulations to Rhys Millen and his crew.

Larry Chen

larry@dev.speedhunters.com

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1

Seriously, 2 hundredths of a second separated first and second!? Crazy!

2

Seriously, 2 hundredths of a second separated first and second!? Crazy!

3

 @sean klingelhoefer That's racing. Giving everything you and your machine have to be one thousand of a second faster than the competition.
 
Also, if a Time Attack car did a 9:46, what the hell could an Unlimited car do?!

4

I have to congratulate Rhys and his team, as the other drivers deserve praise to take on a difficult race like this
 
But, mind me not, without the Monster, the hill isnt that scary =/ i really wanted to see him run

5

Hope to see more cars and drivers like Romain Dumas compete in the future.

6

Could you post the high-res pictures as well?  

7

Could you post the high-res photos aswell for my desktop. 

9

 @ToyotaSupraMan Stupid comment system. Given only the best unlimited cars posted quali times close to those of Millen and Dumas, I'd think not much better. I think we've seen the end of the super-power unlimited cars at Pikes in terms of dominance. With tarmac, there is such a thing as too much power. The last half of the course, especially, is just too tight for extreme power to be anything more than a hindrance. I think the future of Pikes is lightweight, high grip and enough power to go fast, but not so much you're spending more time braking than accelerating. 
 
Oh, and the future is very clearly electric, long-term. When an electric Radical can post 10.30 on it's first go, you know that's the future, right there. Shame, as those sirens announcing their coming were just annoying as hell! Give me roaring intake and exhaust noise any day! 

10

RHYS father i know for sure is the proudest dad in the world. To have your time beat by MONSTER(which is a great driver btw) then have your boy represent and bring the title back home. Good weekend for the MILLEN fam.

11

 @ToyotaSupraMan well i don't know if i'd say all that. electric cars have quicker 0-60 times and in some cases faster acceleration to 100mph; this has been for a few years now. we are still waiting for an all electric race car of any-type to even last a race (as seen here). 

12

Hmm. Even with the tarmac, the times are only about 5 seconds faster.
 
Also, Dumas did his run in a GT3-R, which, as far as I can tell, is basically the Porsche factory-prepped cars for GT3-class racing. Or maybe it's the rally version. Either way, 4L NA flat 6, 460 bhp. Key word here is NA. And he was only two hundredths of a second off of Millen's time, despite the what is reported to be semi-rainy conditions at the top. Take it as you will, but I suspect once people start bringing more serious race cars to Pike's Peak, Millen's time this year will be left far behind. Not to mention "Unlimited" electric cars. I don't think Tajima's the kind of person to not have his name at the top of the leaderboards for long.
 
I just wonder how Pike's Peak will be like when the Open class becomes dominated by GT3/GT1/etc. cars.

13

I don't think its an entirely fair comparison. The previous record was set by a leading unlimited car, none of which completed the course this year. The previous fastest time set by a car in the Time Attack class was 11:04 (as set by Rod Millen in a Genesis coupe last year), Rhys got his winning time of 9:46 this year in a similar car (Genesis coupe) belonging to the same class (Time Attack): thats over a minute knocked off the mixed surface time for that class last year.

14

 @dadecode Sorry, I didn't mean for non-hill climb events. As you said, there's nowhere near enough battery life in any of them to last more than a few laps. But for hill climbs, where you have to last for only thirteen minutes at most, electric cars are perfect. Instant torque, no power loss at altitude (apart from a small amount due to cold, possibly) and if you design one from scratch, you can place all your weight low and central, something you can't do as well with any combustion engine. Plus, even on the long stretches, you won't hit more than 140mph, which is ideal, given top speed is where electric cars have traditionally been weak. 
 
 

15

Just doesn't feel the same without dirt, But a win is a win. Good job Rhys and a new era of pikes peak begins.

16

 @MattClarke "Ask any racer, any real racer. Winning's winning."I'm sorry, I had to, lol.

17

 @MattClarke "Ask any racer, any real racer. Winning's winning."   I'm sorry, I had to, lol.

18

 @dadecode Agreed. I don't think Tajima would have ditched his unlimited Suzuki in favor of an electric if it weren't faster. It's a shame we didn't get a chance to see what he could do this year.

19

 @Absolution  @MattClarke lol +1

20

Really bummed about Tajima's day. :( Rhys should be very proud of himself, and winning is winning, but I would imagine even he feels a bit sad his biggest rivals didn't really get to compete properly.

21

Really bummed about Tajima's day. :( Rhys should be very proud of himself, and winning is winning, but I would imagine even he feels a bit sad his biggest rivals didn't really get to compete properly.

22

Really bummed about Tajima's day. :( Rhys should be very proud of himself, and winning is winning, but I would imagine even he feels a bit sad his biggest rivals didn't really get to compete properly.

23

Really bummed about Tajima's day. :( Rhys should be very proud of himself, and winning is winning, but I would imagine even he feels a bit sad his biggest rivals didn't really get to compete properly.

24

what are all the stupid ads doing on the right and top of Speedhunters. Turning into another stale site like Autoblog every day.
Having said all that Larry's photography continues to kick butt!  Nice work Larry

25

what are all the stupid ads doing on the right and top of Speedhunters. Turning into another stale site like Autoblog every day.
Having said all that Larry's photography continues to kick butt!  Nice work Larry

26

what are all the stupid ads doing on the right and top of Speedhunters. Turning into another stale site like Autoblog every day.
Having said all that Larry's photography continues to kick butt!  Nice work Larry

27

what are all the stupid ads doing on the right and top of Speedhunters. Turning into another stale site like Autoblog every day.
Having said all that Larry's photography continues to kick butt!  Nice work Larry

28

Mark, Thanks for the kind works.
 
As for the ad's, Speedhunters is free. This is the only way we will be able to pay bills.

29

Mark, Thanks for the kind works.
 
As for the ad's, Speedhunters is free. This is the only way we will be able to pay bills.

30

Mark, Thanks for the kind works.
 
As for the ad's, Speedhunters is free. This is the only way we will be able to pay bills.

31

Mark, Thanks for the kind works.
 
As for the ad's, Speedhunters is free. This is the only way we will be able to pay bills.

32

 @andrewhake He did mention that in his speech during the trophy ceremonies.

33

 @andrewhake He did mention that in his speech during the trophy ceremonies.

34

 @andrewhake He did mention that in his speech during the trophy ceremonies.

35

 @andrewhake He did mention that in his speech during the trophy ceremonies.

36

 @MattClarke I thought I was going to miss the dirt, but honestly you gotta just go up there and experience it for yourself.

37

 @MattClarke I thought I was going to miss the dirt, but honestly you gotta just go up there and experience it for yourself.

38

 @MattClarke I thought I was going to miss the dirt, but honestly you gotta just go up there and experience it for yourself.

39

 @MattClarke I thought I was going to miss the dirt, but honestly you gotta just go up there and experience it for yourself.

40

I will put up desktops in the next few days in a more in depth post.

41

I will put up desktops in the next few days in a more in depth post.

42

I will put up desktops in the next few days in a more in depth post.

43

I will put up desktops in the next few days in a more in depth post.

44

 @mbretschneider It's too bad. I know it's hard to take time off work for some of you guys out there, but watching him during practices days was all worth it for me.

45

 @mbretschneider It's too bad. I know it's hard to take time off work for some of you guys out there, but watching him during practices days was all worth it for me.

46

 @mbretschneider It's too bad. I know it's hard to take time off work for some of you guys out there, but watching him during practices days was all worth it for me.

47

 @mbretschneider It's too bad. I know it's hard to take time off work for some of you guys out there, but watching him during practices days was all worth it for me.

48

 @thurst Just his practice times put together would have beaten the Suzuki time. Heck, Rhys' practice times put together plus 20 seconds for in between sections beat last years record.

49

 @thurst Just his practice times put together would have beaten the Suzuki time. Heck, Rhys' practice times put together plus 20 seconds for in between sections beat last years record.

50

 @thurst Just his practice times put together would have beaten the Suzuki time. Heck, Rhys' practice times put together plus 20 seconds for in between sections beat last years record.

51

 @thurst Just his practice times put together would have beaten the Suzuki time. Heck, Rhys' practice times put together plus 20 seconds for in between sections beat last years record.

52

 @sean klingelhoefer An inch or a mile buddy.

53

 @Larry Chen WORD

54

Good job, Rhys & team! "Dreft cah"! :)

55

 @Larry Chen Great article and photos
 
How can we get some speedhunters stickers?
 
thanks
Doug

56

You can either find us at an event or you can wait till the go on sale later this month.

57

Wow, Amazing Rhys,  great job.  Balls of steel man!

58
inspector_exacto

Wow, never thought a Hyundai would hold the record at Pikes Peak! Of course I never thought they would pave the whole thing either...

59

Yeah, Tajima record still rings true to me...Never the less, a drift car beat a Le Mans car in a hill climb. What about that? :))))

60

I foresee a 9:30.XXX next year.

61
Cristian Armenteros

Congratulations :D

62
Cristian Armenteros

Congratulations :D

63

Congratulations to Rhys, he must have put a great lap in to break the record. Not to discredit anything he did, however, if I was him in the back of my mind the victory would feel slightly hollow because I knew some of the top cars dropped out. In the back of his mind he has to know there were some serious contenders for this title that day that didn't get their fair shot. We'll have to wait and see what happens next year. Good luck.

64

Having been at the race with a race team, and seen the times posted during practice, NO ONE thought monster was going to take the overall. Also, the Dacia was on pace to run MUCH faster than rhys. Putting Dayrut's times from practice together he was on par to run anywhere from 20-50 seconds faster than 9:46. most were guessing him to finish in the 9:10 range. Paul was only about 4 seconds slower in than Dayrut as well, so rhys got lucky. I'm not trying to take anything away from him as his drive was spectacular, but had the mountain not decided otherwise, rhys wouldve been about 30 seconds off the pace. Dayrut's car is for sale, and he is hoping to build something that is less of a compromise between a dirt and tarmac car now that the road is totally paved. Expect him to be even faster next year if all goes well. So long as the winter doesn't make the road much worse, and they dont move the start line further back, rhys' current record will be obliterated next year. 

65

What happened to the RS200 Fords?

66

Cool story Bro.
 

67

who would hav believe hyundai could conquered pikes peak?hahaha...eat dat haters!

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