By now you've certainly read Josh's story about driving the Rhys Millen Racing / Red Bull Racing / Hyundai PM580. Turns out that 1,900-lb, 760 horsepower AWD racecars are fast. And in the hands of Rhys Millen, they're even faster.
As proof (you know, apart from the data we recorded when testing its acceleration) can be found in the video after the jump. Yes, it's another Pikes Peak Hillcimb video hyping Millen and the 10-minute mark, but this one shows much more brutality and driver stress than most of the others. Being a racecar driver sounds like a lot of fun, and then you watch things like this and enjoy the squish of that office chair.
In Hyundai's words:
"Experience the 2011 Pikes Peak Hillclimb from Rhys Millen's perspective as he charges this legendary peak in his hand-built, tube-frame Hyundai RMR PM580 racer. This year's run nearly eclipsed the 10-minute barrier with an ascent time of 10:09 to the 14,000 + foot peak."
Enjoy.
church123 says:
11:06 AM, 08/ 4/11
He looks very uncomfortable. Breathing is short, sharp and labored. More so than you would expect from the level of vibration and chassis motion shown on the internal cameras. Given that high level racing takes an extreme level of fitness to withstand the g-loading under the best of conditions, I can only wonder if the low oxygen levels at that altitude are causing him problems. I've never really exerted myself at anything higher than 6000-7000 ft, and you could definitely feel the lack of oxygen there. At 14k feet? Ooof.
sharpend says:
02:53 PM, 08/ 4/11
@church123
Problems?
WTF. Rhys is working his ass off driving a special purpose racing car!
To see what an average Joe (or Josh) thinks of driving this beast read/watch this: http://www.insideline.com/features/testing-the-rhys-millen-racing-pm580.html
boxermike says:
10:06 AM, 08/ 5/11
Church, I'm with ya. I've rarely seen any racer look that stressed out and labored. It's not like the guy's risking life and limb under huge pressure at stupid elevations or anything, though.
-mm
church123 says:
12:13 PM, 08/ 5/11
You miss the point sharpend. I can find no indications that Rhys is not a fit person. He's also an experience pro driver. Most guys don't look as pained as he does in this video, nor is their breathing as labored. The ride does not look particularly violent or brutal from the in car (and the outside shots suggest the car is pretty well balanced and unperturbed over most of the track surface). Hence the suggestion that the elevation may be playing a major role in his discomfort because of oxygen deprivation.
bk1715 says:
10:51 AM, 08/ 7/11
Rhys Millen 10:09.242-secs vs Nobuhiro Tajima at 9:51.278 (yikes!!!)
thats huge, not even close