Race to the clouds
Imagine this for a moment: You start the mountain race on the highest pass in the Alps, the Col de la Bonette (2802m) and reach the finish line after almost 20 km on the Mont Blanc. It doesn't just sound a bit crazy, it is. And that's why such a mountain race takes place. The magic word is Pikes Peak Hillclimb and is the oldest motorsport event in the USA. And because old always means cult in the USA, the hillclimb, which was held for the first time in 1916, has an almost mystical significance there. Comparable to the 24 Hours of Le Mans or the Monaco GP.
And in 1987 at the latest, the significance of what is probably the most spectacular hill climb in the world spilled over to Good Old Europe. Walter Röhrl was to beat the Audi Sport Quattro S1 to the top in a special Pikes Peak evolutionary stage in a skillful manner. Basically, this was the last big battle between the Group B monsters, and Peugeot had also entered several 205s.
The Pikes Peak myth
However, Audi did not only dedicate itself to this myth in 1987 with Walter Röhrl and the S1. What few people know is that the first Audi Rallye Quattro with Audi works driver John Buffum from the USA set off on this crazy ride to the clouds back in 1982. And author Claus-Peter Andorka summarizes the history of Audi on the mountain in an excitingly told and interestingly illustrated chronicle spanning six years. It quickly becomes clear that Pikes Peak is something of a national legend. Whoever wins here counts for something in the eyes of the Americans.
And if you want to win here, you not only have to have steam under the hood, but also guts. Until recently, the race was held on an unpaved road. The fact that there were also no crash barriers should only be noted in passing.
Audi and the USA
It all started in 1982 with John Buffum, who contested the American Rally Championship in a decommissioned works Quattro and won several times in a row. Buffum and Audi motorsport manager Joe Hoppen, who later also
arranged Audi's Trans-Am and IMSA-GTO entries, knew the importance of Pikees Peak. So what could be more obvious than to make Quattro known in the USA by entering it on Pikees Peak? And because Audi succeeded so well, a woman had to win: Michèle Mouton had to take the Sport quattro up the mountain.
Always keen on PR campaigns, Hoppen then hired US motorsport legend Bobby Unser for 1986, whose family members had conquered the mountain several times. And last but not least, Röhrl. He also contested his last race in a rally car on Pikees Peak and set a fabulous time that remains unforgotten to this day.
The USA and Audi
The book presents the missions of the Audi drivers in the years 1982 to 1987 in detail and chronologically. The author succeeds in capturing the spirit of the missions and making the drivers' motivation tangible once again. The successful, relaxed but documentary style of writing takes the reader back to the 1980s and the USA: Audi had just had a run here thanks to Quattro and the introduction of the Audi 100 (called the Audi 50000 in the USA), before the story of unintended acceleration caused enormous damage to the brand and its sales. In a nutshell, it was claimed that vehicles with automatic transmissions would accelerate completely unexpectedly and unintentionally for the driver. After years, Audi was able to leave the courtroom without any legal consequences, but its image was ruined.
Hence the increased motorsport involvement in the USA, which was to expand from a factory-supported effort for Buffum to a full force of the factory for Röhrl. Andorka also succeeds in interweaving this story with the history of motorsport, allowing a look behind the scenes at Audi, Audi USA and Audi Sport.
Get a taste of the atmosphere
What makes this book and its more than 150 pages stand out is that it manages to spread six 12-minute racing events over these 150 pages. This includes a visit to all the drivers involved at the time, interviews with those responsible at the time, but also tables and statistics at the end of the book, which, after reading, more than clarify a profound impression of the changed approach to this race from the perspective of Audi and the drivers. Newspaper reports, press kits, race reports and handwritten notes provide an almost intimate insight into the six years of Audi Sport on the mountain.
"If you're not going so fast on Pikes Peak that you're scared, you're not going fast enough."
None other than Walter Röhrl claims this about his drive at an altitude of over 4000 meters. Röhrl's record-breaking drive is, of course, honored in detail: we learn where Röhrl was really scared in the 156 bends and where he probably left some time behind. And as the book is peppered with pictures taken away from the track, the reader also learns where Walter liked to hang out on his racing bike, or why and how Michèle Mouton missed and collected a prize money.
And if that's not enough, the final chapter also tells you what happened to the cars that Audi used on the mountain, what the four drivers are up to today, how they see their start on Pikes Peak in retrospect, and how you can approach Pikes Peak in a week's travel. Claus Peter Andorra visited the former mountain stars in the same way as he visited the route and the region and incorporated this into the book.
quattro, rallying and Pikes Peak
Audi's involvement in rallying and the development history of the quattro drive are now very well documented. Films and books have made this history a subject of discussion several times in recent years, sometimes even touching on the Pikes Peak hill climb. Usually because of Walter Röhl's victory in the 700 hp S1 Quattro, whose winning pose no author wants to miss.
Claus-Peter Andorka has now compiled everything that fell by the wayside in a perfectly researched and fabulously illustrated book about the history of Audi on Pikes Peak. In-depth and informative, the reader gets their money's worth here. Regardless of whether they are interested in the technology, the drivers, the team or the background. This story of the mountain is an all-round success and, at € 39.95, is about as expensive as a family ticket on the Pikes Peak Highway.
Bibliography - Further information
- Order book from Heel Verlag
- The Race to the Clouds, The Audi Pikes Peak Story by Claus-Peter Andorka
- Format: 245 x 290, hardcover with dust jacket, 160 pages, 200 color illustrations
- Price € 39,90
- ISBN: 978-3868526394
- Heel Publishing House
- All pictures Heel-Verlag
