1959 The Challenge of Pikes Peak Automobile Hill Climb

Description: Yes we combine shipping for most multiple item purchases.Add multiple items to your cart and the combined shipping total will automatically be calculated. 1959 The Challenge of Pikes Peak Automobile Hill Climb - 4-Page Vintage Article Original, vintage magazine articlePage Size: Approx 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each pageCondition: Good THE PIKES PEAK AUTO HILL CLIMB is one of the best known, least understoodevents in American automobile racing. This is especially curious in view of thefact that this year's July 4th and 5th meet was the 37th to be run up the BigHill. Sponsored by the Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb Association Inc., the climbis many things, all of which make it a paradox in auto racing. It is dangerousyet safe; fast but slow; the weather may vary from sunny and warm at thebottom to a raging blizzard at the finish; and it requires specialized mechanicaltechniques, though in the stock car class the cars have very few modifications.Most important of all, from the competitors’ point of view, the cash payoff isthe largest in racing for the distance traveled.The public toll road used as a race course, loosely surfaced with dirty browndecomposed granite, curves its way through some of the most spectacular sceneryon the face of the earth—but drivers have little time for sightseeing. From thestarting line—at what is called 8J^-mile post and is at 9402 feet elevation—the cars wind their way at three-minute intervals up the hill for nearly 12^miles until they reach the summit, 14,110 feet above sea level. Here enginesand drivers alike are starved for oxygen. Tourists are warned to walk at halfspeed and at that, some can't take the altitude.Imagine, if you can, driving this hill at an average speed of nearly 60 mph,up grades of 10 per cent much of the way, slowing to 20 mph for some of thereverse switchbacks, many of them a narrow 20 feet of road surface. Add tothis the constant hazard of weather which can and does change without warning.This year, for example, the race was begun under a brilliant sun with balmytemperatures all the way to the top. Within 15 minutes the sky was dark withthreatening cumulus clouds which immediately let loose a barrage of soft hail-like pellets until the road was white and slippery. Our vantage point at the 16-mile post, which had offered unobscured visibility to the start below, was com-pletely weathered in. I would have hated to attempt a drive up or down. It wasvirtually impossible to face the wind-driven, needle-like icy projectiles. But after afew seconds, the roar of an approaching Championship car broke through thenoise of the storm. The driver’s speed was slowed considerably but he was still... 14078-AL-5909-36

Price: 13.27 USD

Location: Kingsport, Tennessee

End Time: 2024-12-23T02:04:33.000Z

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