JEP
The Challenge of Pikes Peak
After Bradley took the record at Shelsley Walsh, his brake supplier, Alcon, invited him for a factory tour. It was there the dream of Pikes Peak began and he recalls:“ We were eating a Five Guys in his office and Jon Alcon said,‘ I have made you one of our ambassadors – alongside Oliver and Petta Solberg among others – but in exchange I want you to go to America.’”
Bradley did not have to be asked twice. He immediately put in an application for Pikes Peak and, in April this year, was given a place.“ To get an invite is a massive honour,” he smiles.“ There are 76 entries, of which 50 are pretty much predetermined for local owners and Clubs, so that only leaves 26, and there are works teams aiming at those too.”
Plans were already set in motion well before the place was confirmed, as the car required some significant changes just to be eligible, let alone to stand a chance of making it up to the top in one piece. That included roll cage modifications, a new cooling system and a new fuel cell, more than double in size, to enable the use of Torco’ s fast-burning T85 sustainable fuel.
During this process, however, Bradley hit an issue that almost ended the dream. Just before Christmas, when the car was sent to Roelands Motorsport in Wales to have two regulation protection bars added to its roll cage, fabricator Andy Roelands discovered it was made from rolled steel and was not fit for purpose. As a result, the whole car had to be taken apart.
About Pikes Peak
HILL CLIMB FEATURE HEROES
The 103rd running of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb takes place on 22nd June 2025. The field will be split into different divisions of vehicles, from production-based Time Attack challengers to purpose-built Open Wheel racers and state-of-the-art Unlimited vehicles. This year’ s Grand Marshal will be seven-time Indy 500 driver, Lyn St. James.
Four British drivers will be taking part this year. Bradley is in the Time Attack class driving car # 58 with USbased NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Katherine Legge joining him in that category, returning for her second outing driving Car # 93, a 2023 Acura Integra Type-S. David Rowe will compete in the Open category in Car # 75, a 1986 Audi Quattro Group S, and multiple champion Robin Shute is in the Unlimited class, driving car # 49, a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro.
Katherine Legge is adding Pikes Peak to her motorsport accomplishments this year
“ The only things left on it were the wheels, dampers and transmission,” recalls Bradley.“ It was a very tight program to get everything done in time to ship the car to the US, and we had two choices: plead with Andy to push back his other customers so he could fit a new cage and suffer the cost … or just do not go. So, he worked right the way through Christmas.”
Once that was complete, attention moved to the cooling, with high temperatures at Pikes Peak one of the biggest causes of failure on the mountain. In an effort to prevent this, the car was fitted with a bespoke new intercooler from Allisport, ducting air in from the front, through a 45-degree angled intercooler and back out through a large duct on the bonnet.
As part of this development, the car was also fitted with a new heat-sleeved wiring loom from Relentless Performance and an advanced Syvecs Engine Control Unit( ECU) and Power Distribution Unit( PDU). This eliminates all the traditional relays or fuses and creates an adaptable and resilient platform that could well pay dividends on the mountain.
“ It is a work of art, like something you would want to see pinned to the wall,” Bradley says proudly.“ We’ ve done it to a British Touring Car style so that each section is removable, with lots of interconnects and bulkhead connectors that allow you to remove different sections should you have an issue. It is incredible and something I have never experienced before.”
Robin Shute took overall victory at Pikes Peak in 2019, 2021 and 2022, and was awarded the The Segrave Trophy by the Royal Automobile Club in 2022
Dave Rowe returns to Pikes Peak with an updated Audi Quattro S1
Rob Cadman / Newspress
Jason Zindroski
Revolution- June 2025
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