A Pikes Peak Story - Porsche 911 Turbo S: š 2022 Winner š | Carfection
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Published 2022-08-04
This film is the story of David Donnerās drive in the 100th running of the famous Pikes Peak Hillclimb this year. Donner has won Pikes Peak outright three times and remains the last American to be crowned King of the Hill. This year he wasnāt aiming for the overall, instead hoping to reclaim the record he once held for the fastest production car up to the finish line at 14,115ft.
The plan was hatched along with renowned Porsche magazine, 000. And the car chosen for the task was a Porsche 911 Turbo S. It really was a production street car as well, licensed to drive on the road. Champion Motorsport prepared the car, with Technical Director Tom Pelov overseeing operations and Victor Scanapico carrying out the modifications with real artistry. As youād expect, various additions and alterations had to be made to meet the safety regulations and these included a cage (built to NASCAR specs in NASCAR country), a competition seat, the deletion of all carpets (for fire safety), a fuel cell, a fire extinguisher system and electrical cut off (with switches so beautifully set into the central cup holder that they look like a factory option).
There were just a couple of performance enhancing modifications that could be made, the first of which was a new exhaust from Sharkwerks. This was installed mainly to help with turbo speeds at the higher altitudes. Incidentally, some cars apparently had to replace turbos on a daily basis but the factory items on the Turbo S remained bulletproof throughout.
The ECU was also tuned and the car ran on race fuel, but other than that it was stock. No changes were made to the suspension, brakes, transmission, AWD system, wheels or aerodynamics. Even the tyres were street-legal Michelin Cup 2 Rs.
Actually, there was one other change that might have helped shave a couple of psychological tenths: The rather inspiring livery. Pete Stout, editor of 000, and his team came up with the idea to put pages of one of the magazineās features (about a 930 Turbo) onto the car. `Very fitting. And just as you might assume you need an EV to be competitive on Pikes Peak these days, so there is a narrative in media that digital is the only way forward and āprint is deadā. As such the combination of an internal combustion engine car and a successful print magazine is rather a pleasing union.
Anyway, the 911 arrived at Pikes Peak at the start of the week with just 40 miles on the clock. It had covered 340 miles by the time it returned, under its own steam, to Donnerās garage at the end. No consumables other than fuel and tyres were replenished, nor did it require any alignment work.
Yet its performance was hardly slow and steady. The weather for the 100th Pikes Peak was atrocious, which realistically put the record out of reach. However, in terms of the pure 2022 competition, the inclement conditions undoubtedly swung the odds in both the driverās and the carās favour.
Using all his skill and years of accumulated knowledge Donner put in an incredible performance. I can only assume that driving into that thick cloud must have been like running full pelt into dense white smoke and counting your paces in order to dodge the fire you know is in there. But even on the relatively well-sighted lower slopes the commitment and speed is spectacular, especially given the clearly slippery surface.
And given the speed it is very easy to forget that the car is a production road car. For just this reason I love it when the film switches to the over-the-shoulder camera angle as the view is of an almost entirely standard road car interior. The trim is all there on the dashboard along with the familiar central touch screen showing the tyre pressure monitoring display. The everyday competition car.
The end result for Donner and the Turbo S was a sensational second place. Not in class. Second place overall. They were only beaten by Robin Schute in his wild Unlimited class Wolf TSC-FS (which has Turbo S-rivalling 600bhp but weighs only a touch over 500kg). Obviously the Exhibition class win was Donnerās as well, the Turbo S over half a minute clear of the second place Tesla Model 3.
In fact, even with the atrocious weather, Donner was a mere 16 seconds shy of the record he set out to beat. Next year, maybe. Perhaps with even less stress and more fun.
00:00 Intro What Is pIkes Peak
01:14 Who Is David Donner, Pikeās Peak Winner?
02:27 2022 Porsche 911 Turbo S, the car to race at Pikes Peak
02:47 000 Magazine, how did they get involved?
03:45 The Special Livery
06:35 The 2022 Pikes Peak Hill Climb
07:44 Full Pikes Peak Run On-Board Cameras
18:46 Conclusion
19:10 Credits
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All Comments (21)
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For more information on 000 Magazine visit 000magazine.com/
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The ending! "instead of loading the car up on a truck, he continued to drive it all the way home". This is why I love Porsche, you can win the race and then casually drive home in the same car.
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Driving it home is the ultimate flex!
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Showing why the Turbo S is the sleeper supercar. Great conditions to show the strengths of the vehicle, mega traction despite a cold wet road and balance under breaking and across the bumps. Itās shocking how fast it is and it sounds like itās hardly working compared to the GT Porsches. What a machine! Also, credit to the driver who kept the speed up despite white out conditions for the top third. Very brave.
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That last shot of him driving casually away home after a crazy PP climb........ That's ONLY PORSCHE !!!!
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I was there for the event and Iāll tell ya, the conditions were no joke. Amazing drive.
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Porsche. There is no substitute. š
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Porsche never fails to amaze
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Half a minute faster than the second place Tesla Model 3 in the Exhibition class? This 911 is a rocketship š²š. I can't wait to watch the full story :)
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A true testiment of Porsche's engineering, 911 Turbo S is a different beast
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This movie is another statement for why we love Porsches! š¤
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The new 911 turbo S is a legend. Awesome performance. Internal combustion rules!
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911 Turbo is the best car ever made.
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000 and Carfection - Pete and Henry - David and Porsche - Pikes Peak and the difficult conditions. Driving it all home after the hillclimb - priceless. Porsche. There is no substitute.
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To conquer the mountain at all in a race car is epic, but to think this was conquered in a pretty much standard road car and to actually win! That's just incredible šš» Fantastic
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This mans track knowledge really shows in these conditions. Full trust in himself and the car
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I love how this channel just shows the video of the hill climb without any narration or music. Just let people watch and enjoy.
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The 911 is superb in so many ways.
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I live in Colorado and frequently enjoy hustling my cars over various mountain passes, but some passes are scarier than others with lots of sheer drop-offs and with no guardrails. I recently went over Cottonwood pass (might have been that same weekend) in the rain and fog and I was white-knuckle driving at about 5 mph with just 25 to 50 feet of visibility, it was scary. I can't imagine racing a car up those dangerous switchbacks in the fog like shown in the video. That is pure craziness or courage or something.
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Porsche excels in understating its products. And the awesome results and victories amaze the competitors. This has been going on for decades and decades. With the right drivers, unbeatable !
