Race lines: how Robin Shute won again at Pikes Peak Car News

Bad weather has taken its toll with Robin Shute’s goal of setting a new propulsion record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this year, but the only British rider to achieve an overall victory in the American Classic has it all. likewise added a second victory to his tally – and with plenty of time to spare.

“There was snow and ice at the top,” he told Autocar the night of his victory, “so the finish of the race was cut back to kilometer 16.” This reduced the length of the course to the Colorado Mountain from 12.42 miles to nine – slightly longer than the famous British 1,000-meter hill climb at Shelsley Walsh.

“Unfortunately, that meant we couldn’t aim for any records,” added Shute, who first won Pikes Peak in 2019 but chose to miss the race last year. “I had slowly released the car’s potential over the week, and we were catching up with the late shipment. [of parts] preventing any real testing. Despite everything, I had a very good race and I was able to win with more than 35 seconds. I hadn’t run the lower end in the dry during practice so it was a huge learning curve. Forgetting to turn on the oxygen supply to my helmet to run at altitude also increased my workload for a very physical run.

Shute clocked a winning time of 5 minutes 55.446 seconds in his 550 horsepower Wolf GB08 TSC-LT Unlimited Class, which was 36.668 seconds faster than Romain Dumas. The Frenchman holds the record for the general classification (with a certain margin), set in 2018 in Volkswagen’s electrically powered ID R special, but on this occasion was driving a more conventional Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport in the Time Attack class.

Dumas beat three-time winner Paul Dallenbach in his open-wheel stage to take second overall, while New Zealander Rhys Millen was disappointed to suffer engine problems in the final section of his Bentley Continental GT3. He still finished fourth, less than a second from Dallenbach’s time.

As for Norfolk’s double mountain king, Shute is still determined to aim for that RWD record, so expect him to return next year and deliver a hat-trick at Pikes Peak.

Good stop by the MIA

Did you know that all forms of motorsport have been under threat in the UK and Europe for the past seven years? The European Court of Justice had previously ruled that all motor vehicles used for any purpose should be covered by the same general insurance rules. Called the VNUK law, this meant that any motorsport collision, major or minor, would need the same insurance coverage as regular traffic incidents, which would have resulted in an impressive increase in insurance premiums for racers in all levels. Estimates predicted that annual premiums would skyrocket to over £ 500million …

Fortunately, common sense prevailed, following a lot of pressure from the world motorsport governing body, the FIA, the British Motorsport Industry Association and even the UK government. The agreement states: “To avoid over-regulation, the amended rules allow the exclusion of non-road vehicles (such as garden tractors, mobility scooters, small cars) as well as electric bicycles from insurance obligations. . Vehicles intended exclusively for motor sports are also excluded.

This short catch-all phrase almost reads like an afterthought, but it has huge and positive consequences, blowing a dark cloud that has persisted for far too long.

A serious threat

Make no mistake, politicians and industry leaders have taken this threat to motorsport very seriously. Czech MEP Dita Charanzová, Vice-President of the European Parliament, said: “I am happy that we have been able to find a good solution for motorsport in Europe… and that we have succeeded in stopping absurd over-regulation.

MIA boss Chris Aylett took it a step further. “The proposed legislation would have shut down all two and four wheel sports in the UK and the EU,” he said. “The UK’s ‘Motorsport Valley’ alone has more than 4,000 companies and 40,000 people employed in the £ 10 billion industry. Not only millions of fans would have lost access to their sport, but also those employed in engineering, hospitality, media, logistics, insurance, law, travel and many more would have lost their employment.

Could it have happened to this terrible extreme? Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps said in February that our government had “always disagreed with this exaggerated law” and had no intention of implementing it. The British Ministry of Transport had pressured the EU to exclude motorsport and was supported in Brussels by the FIA. But after Brexit, nothing about the EU can ever be taken for granted.

“The MIA campaign has been supported by hundreds of our motorsport business partners in the UK and Europe,” said Aylett. “We had to fight against the misguided decision of the EU’s highest court – a real battle between David and Goliath. It took a while to come, but now it’s good to say that the VNUK legislation is no longer a …