{"id":790755,"date":"2021-07-02T11:20:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T10:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?p=790755"},"modified":"2021-07-02T11:20:41","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T10:20:41","slug":"the-pikes-peak-addicted-privateer-blazing-a-trail-up-the-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/single-seaters\/hill-climb\/the-pikes-peak-addicted-privateer-blazing-a-trail-up-the-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pikes Peak-addicted privateer blazing a trail up the mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nobody\u2019s going to confuse Betim Berisha with Roger Penske. But this past weekend, as a privateer, he undertook the Penske-size task of entering three cars in three classes at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a logistical nightmare,\u201d Berisha admits. \u201cI bit off more than I could chew. There was one stretch where we were working for 48 hours straight. I never want to run three cars again, I\u2019ll tell you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, without great ambition there are no great accomplishments. A little bit of serendipity doesn\u2019t hurt, either.<\/p>\n

Berisha was bitten by the Pikes Peak bug as a young man sweeping the floor in a shop that had a poster on the wall of Jeff Zwart sliding up the mountain in a Porsche 911. Fast forward about a decade. Berisha is now running BBi Autosport, a Porsche tuning shop of his own in Southern California, when who should walk in but \u2026 Jeff Zwart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve raced at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, but nothing I\u2019ve done has ever compared to Pikes Peak.\u201d<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI like what you\u2019re doing with these crazy high-horsepower 911s,\u201d Zwart said. \u201cI have an idea for Pikes Peak I would like to run past you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result was a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car fitted with a Turbo motor. In 2013, Zwart finished third in the almost-anything-goes Time Attack 1 class in the BBi-modified Porsche. The next year, he was second. In 2015, Zwart drove the so-called Turbo Cup car to a class victory.<\/p>\n

Berisha spent the next three years working on other projects. But he never lost the urge to return to Pikes Peak and put his stamp on the world\u2019s most prestigious and, arguably, most challenging hill climb.<\/p>\n

\n \"Jeff\n
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Jeff Zwart’s turbocharged Porsche 911 GT3 finished third in 2013 and won its class two years later<\/p>\n

\n Porsche\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something about the vastness of the mountain and how much you have to do, not only as a driver but as a crew,\u201d he explains. \u201cI\u2019ve raced at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, but nothing I\u2019ve done has ever compared to Pikes Peak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Located in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Pikes Peak is named after an American explorer who never actually reached the 14,115-foot summit. By the turn of the 20th century, a carriage road had been carved out of the mountain. The inaugural Pikes Peak Hill Climb was staged in 1916. The winning time was a few ticks under 21 hours. Yes, hours. Hey, it was a long time ago.<\/p>\n

Then, as now, competitors faced not merely a serpentine race course but also an oxygen-thin environment and wildly variable weather that can veer from sunshine at the start to snow at the finish, with sleet and God-only-knows-what in between. Once dirt and gravel, the road was fully paved in 2011. It now features 12.42 miles of asphalt that traverses 156 turns while ascending nearly one mile with an average uphill grade of 7.2%.<\/p>\n

\n \"Raphael\n
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Raphael Astier heads up the mountain<\/p>\n

\n Porsche\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

For many years, Pikes Peak seemed to be the private playground of the Unser clan. With 10 overall wins, Bobby was the undisputed King of the Mountain, while other family members claimed 15 additional titles. In the 1980s, the race started to attract international rally stars, and records were set by Mich\u00e8le Mouton, Walter R\u00f6rhl and Ari Vatanen.<\/p>\n

In more recent years, Pikes Peak has been dominated by drivers such as Rod Millen and his son Rhys; Paul Dallenbach, the scion of another multi-generational racing family; Japanese legend Nobuhiro \u201cMonster\u201d Tajima; and World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb. Starting in 2014, French road racer Romain Dumas scored four overall wins in a five-year stretch.<\/p>\n

As it happens, Dumas was the driver Berisha wanted when he plotted his return to Pikes Peak in 2019 with a wild car he dubbed Lucy \u2013 a 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car with an even-more-powerful Turbo motor. Berisha and Dumas were friends from their stints at Porsche Motorsport. But Dumas wasn\u2019t available, so he recommended French rally ace Raphael Astier. Sure enough, Astier blitzed the Time Attack 1 field and finished second overall.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Only one British racing driver has scored an overall victory on four wheels at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb \u2013 and now he\u2019s done it twice. On Sunday, Robin…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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