The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is one of the most intense motorsport events out there, attracting all sorts of daredevils and lunatics. One of them is internationally loved drifter and all-around gearhead Ken Block. Block is no stranger to Pikes Peak and has attempted to best it in all sorts of vehicles, including his 1,400 horsepower Mustang Hoonicorn V2. This year Block has opted to go for something a bit more traditional, but no less powerful. His weapon of choice? A retro Porsche 911 that has been tuned to within an inch of its life, dubbed the Hoonipigasus. Ken has been testing at Pikes Peak over the last week, but the latest news is devastating.
At 5:39 pm on Tuesday, 22 June, Block took to Twitter to share some distressing news with his followers. The tweet read, "some bad news from our Pikes Peak International Hill Climb efforts with the Hoonipegasus: two separate engine component failures in the last two days. I was only able to put in one run yesterday morning in the middle of the mountain during practice." Hoonipigasus, a 2,205-pound vintage 911 race car, features a mid-mounted 4.0-liter, twin-turbo engine that produces a massive 1,400 hp. The forces at play in this motor are obvious, so it doesn't come as a massive shock that something gave out during testing.
Block goes on to say that the team has been hard at work repairing the damage, but that two crucial days of practice have been lost due to the incident. Unfortunately, Block broke the news today that after suffering major engine failure due to a dropped valve, the team missed qualifying.
"Despite the joint BBI x HRD team exhausting our resources trying to repair it (we even flew in parts and Porsche's top motorsport tech from California!), we missed qualifying this morning, so we sadly will not be racing up Pikes Peak for the 100th running of the event. We are all gutted, to say the least." Block said. The silver lining is that Block has confirmed that he will be racing at the 101st running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Next time big dog.