The King of The Hill.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. When it was first announced that Sébastien Loeb was coming to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with a "special" Peugeot built just for the event, I frankly didn't expect much. After all, manufacturers have been attacking the hill with purpose-built "specials" for years, whether they were built in-house or delegated to hill climb build specialists. So what was the big deal, exactly?

Well, Sébastien Loeb is the big deal, to put it mildly. After months of anticipation, the nine-time World Rally Champion decimated the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record with a jaw-dropping time of 8m13.878s in the 875HP Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak. The Frenchman attacked the 20 kilometres and 156 corners of the mountain at a furious average speed of 145kph. Loeb’s time torched the previous best of 9m46.164s set by Rhys Millen last year, with the top three finishers all eclipsing the 2012 record.

“For me, this was the race of the year,” said Loeb at the finish, 4300 metres high in the Rocky Mountains. “At the beginning of my run there was a bit of pressure for sure because I knew there was so much work and investment from Peugeot and all the partners. Now, after all the practice, it was just down to me and I had to perform.”

According to the Red Bull Motorsports account, Loeb started first of the Unlimited class cars, beginning his run in the morning after all the motorcycle competitors had passed through. There were a number of delays before he started, however, which meant that the team began to worry about bad weather, a common concern of Pikes Peak at high altitude. “When I was on the start line waiting to go, I could actually see the clouds closing in at the top of the mountain,” said Loeb. “I remember thinking that if we didn’t get going soon, it would be really difficult.”

Loeb's time was even quicker than Peugeot Sport’s computer had thought was possible. The ideal theoretical time – calculated using data from Loeb’s practice runs up the Colorado mountain – was 8m15s. The nine-time world rally champion somehow managed to shave two seconds off that.

“I’m really happy as that was a very good run in the end,” said Loeb. “I really didn’t expect anything better than 8m15s, so to do 8m13s was fantastic. Before the start I didn’t really know if I should push absolutely to the maximum or if I should just push to a comfortable pace, in order to make sure of the victory. In the end, I decided to push to the limit.”

“It was good, all under control from start to finish,” he concluded. “Apart from the potential of the weather turning bad, we didn’t have any worrying moments.” It was the first win for Peugeot at Pikes Peak since 1988, when former world rally champion Ari Vatanen broke the Pikes Peak record for the French manufacturer exactly 25 years ago, with the 405 T16 Pikes Peak. Back then the benchmark time was 10m47.220s - on gravel roads.

Sébastien Loeb has been the biggest question in motorsports for a decade, as in "What if?" What if he had gone into Formula 1? What if he had gone into Indy cars? What if he had raced at Le Mans or Monaco, or even Daytona for that matter? The speculation about Loeb's talent has been nonstop since he burst on the World Rally Championship scene over a decade ago.

After his performance at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, his talent is undeniable and there's no question whatsoever that Loeb is one of the greatest drivers of his generation


(Red Bull Motorsports)
Sébastien Loeb in the 875HP Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak after setting a record time up the mountain.

(Red Bull Motorsports)
The crowds get a good look at Loeb's run up the hill.

(Red Bull Motorsports)
Loeb's jaw-dropping time of 8m13.878s up the hill in the 875HP Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak may never be broken, according to Rhys Millen.

(Red Bull Motorsports)
The 875HP Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak rests after the record run.

Watch Sebastian Loeb's record run (courtesy of Red Bull Racing) here.

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Photo by Dave Friedman courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives and Wieck Media)
Rockingham, North Carolina, October 31, 1965. Curtis Turner (No. 41 Wood Brothers Harvest Motors Ford) makes a pit stop in the American 500 at the North Carolina Motor Speedway on his way to the win that day. Cale Yarborough (No. 27 Banjo Matthews Abingdon Motors Ford) finished second, eleven seconds behind but on the lead lap, and Marvin Panch (No. 21 Wood Brothers Harvest Motors Ford) was third.

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD