Pikes Peak Speed Week: The Airstrip Attack

"Mosqvich" (mosqvich) 06/27/2014 at 18:39 • Filed to: Race, Pikes Peak Airstrip Attack, Bentley, GT-R, BMW, M3, Lamborghini, Aventador

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The Pikes International Hill Climb has created a cottage industry in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the base of "America's Peak." The week leading up to the race has become "Speed Week" for the city and this year a new event has come to town: The Pikes Peak Airstrip Attack. The Pikes Peak Airstrip Attack is a half-mile side-by-side roll race and trap speed competition. Drivers are competing for the title of the Mile High Victor.

The weather was pretty cooperative, for driving that is. The temperature was around 82 and it was cloudy. It did start to sprinkle, as it wants to do on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in the afternoon, but it didn't last and the cars kept screaming down the half-mile of runway at Colorado Springs' airport (COS).

The variety of cars was pretty good including the orange Aventador from Kansas, a ton of BMW M3s, an equal number of Corvettes, a veritable cornucopia of GT-Rs, and even a Bentley Continental. In the short time I was there I saw speeds up to 175 mph in the short 1/2 mile of runway.

The Ford GT was apparently on steroids. The owner could barely control its animalistic nature and appetite for devouring tires.

Here's a blurry video, but there's no noise missing!

This ain't Doug DeMuro's CTS-V Wagon. This one was amazing and ran like a Usain Bolt on Puppy Uppers. The owner hit about 145 mph, but was having some issues. He reckons the car is good for 160 mph in a 1/2 mile.

This Aventador is out of Hays, Kansas. The owner and his wife were charming and friendly. One young man had the balls to ask for a ride and he got it! I'm pretty sure he'd never gone 150 mph in his life. The car appeared mostly stock. The owner told me he mostly drives it on the track, so don't expect to see it tooling around downtown Hays.

This Superleggera was driven by a lovely young lady. Sorry no pics of her.

I'm pretty sure the M3 on the right is my neighbor's car. He's done some work including adding a Supercharger to the already potent M3 4.0 Liter V-8.

I'm not how well this Chevy Cruze SS did during its runs. Chevy Cruze SS. Hmmm.

The AMG 4-door Coupe was amazing I must say. It could hang with the big boys and it appeared pretty stock.

The Bentley was pretty amazing. The owner, Craig, is a retired, but pretty young, financier and husband of an actress/entertainer. He has an impressive stable including four Porsche 911s, a GL-63 (which he almost brought to see where its 500+ HP would take him), and of course his 2007 Bentley Continental. He hit around 140 MPH, but he has plans to bump up his daily driver's power output to around 800 HP.

And here's some GT-R goodness for you to see and hear:

All photos and video © 2014 Dan Mosqueda aka Mosqvich

whoarder is tellurium > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 18:45

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Oh my...

$kaycog > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 18:46

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What a great event! I wish I could have seen the Ford GT on steroids.

Mosqvich > whoarder is tellurium 06/27/2014 at 18:47

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It had a large turbo and Lingenfelter tuning. Not that size matters.

Mosqvich > $kaycog 06/27/2014 at 18:50

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He did some serious drifting while I was shooting the Aventador. It was over by the time I got close enough to take a shot :-(

whoarder is tellurium > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 18:52

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Awesome. I assume the owner must have worked out a badass rear differential setup. 1st Gen CTS-V's went through 'em like crazy!

Big Bubba Ray > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 18:53

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HOLY SHIT SNACKS.

Mosqvich > whoarder is tellurium 06/27/2014 at 18:57

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I didn't ask, but he claims to drive it as his daily driver. He's pretty proud of the car though!

Nibbles > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 19:00

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Chevy Cobalt SS

Mosqvich > Nibbles 06/27/2014 at 19:04

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I stand corrected!

Vi517, JDX Racing > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 19:06

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Are you going to the race on Sunday? I will be :)

Mosqvich > Vi517, JDX Racing 06/27/2014 at 19:10

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I don't plan on it, but I should. My in-laws are visiting, so it's tricky. I'm not sure when they leave and I think you have to get to the race o-dark 30. I am going to Fan Fest in a little bit though.

$kaycog > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 19:22

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I would have loved to have seen all the cars.

Mosqvich > $kaycog 06/27/2014 at 19:38

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Indeed you have. I didn't post the entire photo dump. I have a video of the Ford GT, but it's blurry.

$kaycog > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 19:41

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Holy cow! It might be a little blurry, but it gave me goosebumps! The sound!

T5Killer > Mosqvich 06/27/2014 at 19:54

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I am so disappointing at myself for not going to pikes peak events at least once being so close to Colorado.

Mosqvich > T5Killer 06/27/2014 at 23:28

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I just got back from the Fan Fest and a private BMW party. Fun!

LHturbo > Mosqvich 06/29/2014 at 13:55

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Nice photos!

However there was 7 supras and not one photo? Why biased? One of them is 1400whp and was dominating it's class (it even pulled hard on an alpha 12) and won against that Cadillac in semi finals and coudnt go on because it's power steering line ruptured and put that oil all over the engine bay.

Mosqvich > LHturbo 06/29/2014 at 14:35

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Fair enough. I did see them, but I didn't stay for the whole day (I wish I could have though!). Here's some Toyota love. I have to admit, I just didn't find them interesting. It is most definitely a bias. So sorry because they were pretty cool.

LHturbo > Mosqvich 06/29/2014 at 19:11

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I totally understand, we all have our preferences. Thank you for posting some! I love that shot of the candy red one!