According to the woman working the finish line at this year's Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, this was the longest race ever. Part of this was due to the volume of cars, but mostly, it was because there were multiple red-flag scenarios. One of them was an exploded engine spilling oil everywhere and ruined the run of two other cars (who were given restarts). One was Dallenbach's broken axle and one was this Pontiac Sunfire driven by Bobby Regester. Regester's won the event before with this car and he was going for broke again this Sunday when things went from bad to worse to...well...not that terrible at all considering.
A friend of ours once asked Robby Unser whether he preferred going off the course above or below the tree line. "Below," he said, "because at least I know I'm going to stop."
stress83 says:
03:38 PM, 06/27/11
That could have been A LOT worse.
I guess that's also one way to make use of a Sunfire. I wonder what it's powered by.
_feloniousmonk says:
08:20 PM, 06/27/11
True story: I once slid off a mountain road kinda like this in Utah on my motorcycle. I hit something slick mid-corner and that was all she wrote. Scary bidness! I still have these odd mini-dreams about it and get a little hinky whenever I take similar bends both on my bike and in a car... especially when I'm a passenger.
v8vader says:
12:05 AM, 06/28/11
that was a very graceful crash compared to what it could have been.
93aero says:
01:35 AM, 06/28/11
Well, this would be the second time this week that a GM product went above and beyond. Now. If only they made cars that could give you that same sense, without it being as literal.
Who am I kidding. GM is always going to be a dead brand. The camaro hype came and went. The Volt is being murdered by common sense and Nissan. And now they have absolutely nothing new and exciting to flash to the public to keep us interested....unless your thinking of the up coming Malibu.....in which case i said, exciting.
lmbvette says:
08:55 AM, 06/28/11
@93aero - Did GM literally piss in your Corn Flakes this morning?
jriz says:
09:25 AM, 06/28/11
Excellent, one fewer Sunfire in the world.
csubowtie says:
11:41 AM, 06/28/11
It sounds to me like 93aero is taking out his Saabga (or Saaga) anger on some innocent race crash video. It's like a kid who moves out of the house, procedes to go bankrupt, and then gets pissy at his parents for it.
It's never fun to see a champion car fall off a mountain, but at least he stopped relatively quickly.
93aero says:
01:39 PM, 06/28/11
Nope I'm not pissy about the Saab mess. It would be a shame to see them go, but it's not that big of a deal to me because i don't even own a Saab anymore. What is bothersome is that the only GM vehicles that are causing excitement are the ones crashing. My hatred of GM comes from the idea that every other company can release a news worthy car, and they are still just pumping out lack luster metal on wheels. Hyundai can turn themselves around out of no where. But one of the biggest brands in america is still unable to pull off anything spectacular. Chrysler turned around. Ford is continually setting the bar. And GM is up to its old tricks. I'd say if anything, they have a few stabs coming at them.
As for pissing in my cereal, nah. But i'm sure they'd love to!
And leaving home and going bankrupt, only to turn around and blame the parents.....I can tell your a GovermentMotor supporter ;)
csubowtie says:
12:17 PM, 06/29/11
Hmm.. yeah, I suppose the ZL1 Camaro isn't very exciting. And the VOlT really hasn't been newsworthy. Oh, and the upgraded '12 Corvette's, both the ZR1 and Z06/7 kicking ass on the 'ring. And the Cruze, which seems to be pretty succesful sales wise is old news. That doesn't come close to being as newsworthy as Ford's special edition Mustangs (how many are out there now, like 20-30?), or the Focus, that's been around longer than the Cruze and might be selling about the same. Oh and of course all the news about the Chrysler 200 has been blowing up. Seriously dude, I think you're barking up a special tree here. GM has been putting out just as much excitement as any of the other major manufacturer's. I suppose having a car that's as fast/faster than most exotics is nothing spectacular. Having a 700 ft-lb truck engine isn't spectacular. Having a 556 hp Sports-Sedan/Wagon that can only be matched by BMW's newest (not even on sale yet) M5 that costs twice as much, that's not spectacular. I suppose you would like them more if their 5 year old cars really were as terrible as the Koreans. It's easy to make big gains when you're that far behind.