Wil Races the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

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I couldn't go up Pikes Peak this morning because of some dumb "international hill climb". Do any of you know anything about this?




... When they asked if I was there for the climb I almost told them I was with IDB lol
 
I didnt want to muddy up the posts on FB. but how the heck did you get the car running 278 F?? were you running coolant or straight water? (i dont know the PPIHC rules, but a lot of sanctioning bodies only let you run water), did you have some kind of leak or airflow problem? thats screaming hot.
 
yeah, im interested in some more details on that. it almost sounded like he crashed after the finish line.
 
from what i read, he finished, then lost control by stopping too hard in the gravel at the top and got tossed, ended up landing on a pile of rocks which basically broke his body (perhaps spine/neck).

Sad ending, for sure.
 
Man, that sucks. Make it all the way to the top just to have a silly mistake end it :( RIP
 
Hate to leave this thread hanging, even though most of you guys know the updates...

Race week got pretty hectic after my crash, and I've been crazy busy the last few months, but we made it to the top and finished the race!! Practice and the race are best summed up by the article in Bimmer Magazine about me ( http://www.bimmer-mag.com/issues/126/articles/to-the-clouds-cheaply ):
“We started the week off great, and after the first day of practice our times put us sixth place in class, with plenty of room to improve,” Kitchens said. “We came back the next day for qualifying ready to drop our times but hit a damp spot in the pavement in the early morning hours and put the car off the track.”

The aero parts were damaged beyond repair, and though the team was able to get back on track the M3 had lost a crucial element of its performance.


“The vehicle handled substantially poorer sans the aerodynamics,” Kitchens said, “and it put us at a major disadvantage.”


Even a minor crash on Pikes Peak can be deadly; fortunately, Kitchens himself wasn’t injured. “All of my safety equipment worked perfectly, and I walked away from my crash in qualifying with nothing damaged but my pride,” he says.


Unfortunately, however, the engine cooling ductwork had been damaged along with the aero.


“Wil got off to a great start on the lower section, but before he reached the Glen Cove checkpoint the car was beginning to overheat badly,” said crew chief Ryan Warren. “Two-thirds of the way up the course, we recorded coolant temperatures as high as 137° Celsius (278°F), and the car barely made enough power to make it all the way up the mountain. We finished the race, though, and we weren’t last!”


Kitchens had miraculously piloted the E36 to the finish line in a total time of 12:10.435, placing him 14th of 18 cars in the Time Attack 1 class and 78th overall out of 130 cars to race to the top.


Far from being disappointed in the effort, Warren was optimistic. “Despite finishing much further back in the field than we intended to, we were able to acquire a great deal of information that will help us come back next year in much better form!”
Click to expand...

The motor held together though - once we got back to Texas, I did compression/leakdown/block/cylinder contribution tests, and the car passed all of them and ran surprisingly well. I'd signed up for a charity race in the beginning of August, and I wasn't about to let those kids with cancer down - so I went with the old "Screw it, if it blows up, it blows up!" and ended up running a personal best at that track (MSR Houston)!

Here's some footage from race week that Kenzie put together for me...I'll have a high-quality video of the complete PPIHC race run up soon for you guys, as well!

[VIDEO]
 
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