OT: Mount Washington Record Setting Hillclimb Video

[bthornt]

I have noticed there is some interest in rally driving on this forum, so you may want to watch this video: http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/videos/a29024/david-higgins-mt-washington-hill-climb-record/

If you're like me, either living in or from the New England area, you have probably driven up Mt. Washington (the famous bumper sticker, This Car Climbed Mount Washington is not an uncommon sight) or perhaps even ridden your bicycle to the weather observatory as well. To see someone drive a car up the mountain road like this, and in particular the upper reaches where a small driving error would have catastrophic consequences, it's just amazing.

[bobswire]

That was cool, go full screen!

[adamhell]

amazing. i miss my wrx.

[eBAUMANN]

very cool, wish they had a speedo overlay on there...those you can kinda imagine based on the gear he's in, pretty unreal.

[cadence90]

Beautiful and harrowing at the same time.
The transcript must read like a NASA command string.

Are there deer, etc., that come bounding across the roads on drives such as this?

[christian]

very cool, wish they had a speedo overlay on there...those you can kinda imagine based on the gear he's in, pretty unreal.It's the same car we use in rally. This past weekend, we saw 213 kph/133 mph in sixth gear as our top speed. When we reviewed that stage, our engineer said, "213, not that fast!" It was an 11-foot wide dirt road, so it's all about perspective I guess. Seemed fast enough to me.

[christian]

If folks haven't seen it, this is the video from Travis's and my win at 100AW in March of this year. Best in car video quality I've ever seen.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gl8xb2FOM4

If you download the Subaru Motorsports app, you can watch it in GoPro 360 and actually scroll around and view it in 360 as it plays.

[john903]

Hello so that was really cool and the speeds are unbelievably fast. So Christian could you give us who are not familiar with the instructions some insight into the jargon?I was just wandering what does some of it mean, like 70, at plus plus, at 90.
Thanks and have fun.

[soulspinner]

Sweet.

[tv_vt]

Hello so that was really cool and the speeds are unbelievably fast. So Christian could you give us who are not familiar with the instructions some insight into the jargon?I was just wandering what does some of it mean, like 70, at plus plus, at 90.
Thanks and have fun.

My thoughts, too. What is the co-pilot saying, and how much does that info help the driver? How much slower and/or more dangerous is it without the co-pilot narrating the course info?

[christian]

My thoughts, too. What is the co-pilot saying, and how much does that info help the driver? How much slower and/or more dangerous is it without the co-pilot narrating the course info?

Pace notes primarily describe the severity of the corners, 1 being tightest (a very sharp acute turn, then 2- (basically a hairpin), then 2, then 2+, up to 6, which is effectively a very minor bend. The additional descriptors modify the length of the corner (shLeft is very short left, L4 short is a short left, L4 is medium length corner, 1/2 L4 is a half-long left 4, and then it goes L4 lg, L4 v.lg, L4 xlg, L4 xxlg. The other common modifiers are opens and tightens, and placing features within the corner, e.g. L4 lg, tightens at crest, opens at junction.

The larger numbers are distances between corners, in meters.

Eventually, you can describe anything you drive in a pretty consistent manner.

I would say the pace notes are worth roughly 10-15 seconds per mile, so absolutely critical to winning. At the last rally, over about 122 miles of stages, Travis Pastrana and I lost to David Higgins and Craig Drew by 9 seconds.

[Louis]

My thoughts, too. What is the co-pilot saying, and how much does that info help the driver? How much slower and/or more dangerous is it without the co-pilot narrating the course info?

When I drive to and from work in my Impreza (non WRX or STI) on Wildhorse Creek Rd (which is narrow, with no shoulder and pretty twisty) the speed limit is 30 mph. I typically do it at ~40 mph. With Christian as my co-driver I bet I could go way faster...

(ok, I'll never be an even semi-competent race car driver, but I felt someone had to make that joke one more time, because Christian's probably only heard it a million times already, and as an atheist I think it's especially silly)

[bcroslin]

Pace notes primarily describe the severity of the corners, 1 being tightest (a very sharp acute turn, then 2- (basically a hairpin), then 2, then 2+, up to 6, which is effectively a very minor bend. The additional descriptors modify the length of the corner (shLeft is very short left, L4 short is a short left, L4 is medium length corner, 1/2 L4 is a half-long left 4, and then it goes L4 lg, L4 v.lg, L4 xlg, L4 xxlg. The other common modifiers are opens and tightens, and placing features within the corner, e.g. L4 lg, tightens at crest, opens at junction.

The larger numbers are distances between corners, in meters.

Eventually, you can describe anything you drive in a pretty consistent manner.

I would say the pace notes are worth roughly 10-15 seconds per mile, so absolutely critical to winning. At the last rally, over about 122 miles of stages, Travis Pastrana and I lost to David Higgins and Craig Drew by 9 seconds.

Thanks for the explanation Christian!

Watching them take those blind corners near the top was butt clenching. Damn.

[noonan1970]

first set the record. That guy is very talented an many different sports! Here is his run. It gives some different views which are pretty sweet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BZh-7hkNe4

[Schmed]

If folks haven't seen it, this is the video from Travis's and my win at 100AW in March of this year. Best in car video quality I've ever seen.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gl8xb2FOM4

If you download the Subaru Motorsports app, you can watch it in GoPro 360 and actually scroll around and view it in 360 as it plays.

After watching this, I'm thinking my wife and I might enter an SCCA rally event. She's an excellent navigator. Not so much with the "4+ left right 70" stuff, a bit more of the "slow down, what are you doing? You know this scares me. We are gonna die" stuff.

Very cool videos. I can spend hours watching the old E30 M3 videos from the 80s.

[don compton]

hair raising. The co-pilot has ice water in his veins!!!!!!!:beer:

[Michael Maddox]

Rally is something I have actively resisted...it totally fascinates me. Bikes are bad enough...I can't IMAGINE how much money I'd spend doing that.

[weisan]

I would say the pace notes are worth roughly 10-15 seconds per mile, so absolutely critical to winning. At the last rally, over about 122 miles of stages, Travis Pastrana and I lost to David Higgins and Craig Drew by 9 seconds.

So...is that because you and Travis decided to have a quiet time for a mile or so on one stretch of the road?

:D

Thanks for explaining the coded words, fascinating stuff...I still don't understand how the driver and the navigator could survive a race without strangling each other...:crap:

[oldpotatoe]

I have noticed there is some interest in rally driving on this forum, so you may want to watch this video: http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/videos/a29024/david-higgins-mt-washington-hill-climb-record/

If you're like me, either living in or from the New England area, you have probably driven up Mt. Washington (the famous bumper sticker, This Car Climbed Mount Washington is not an uncommon sight) or perhaps even ridden your bicycle to the weather observatory as well. To see someone drive a car up the mountain road like this, and in particular the upper reaches where a small driving error would have catastrophic consequences, it's just amazing.

***ook was the guy saying? Particularly 'interesting' with a Brit accent..

[cadence90]

***ook was the guy saying? Particularly 'interesting' with a Brit accent..

Christian (who must be hell on wheels in his own right, wow, impressive) stated in posts #6 and especially #11 that the navigator is the UK SRAM "brand ambassador", currently touring NA...and that his next stop will be the Republic of Boulder, USA. :D

[redir]

Took me a while to realize that the passenger was calling the moves ahead. that was a trip!

I've only ever hiked up to the top of Mt. Wash and it was one of the more rare but crystal clear, cold, but beautiful days up there.

[verbs4us]

When I lived in New Hampshire, the natives often had the bumper sticker: "This car don't go nowheres NEAR Mt. Washington."

[William]

If folks haven't seen it, this is the video from Travis's and my win at 100AW in March of this year. Best in car video quality I've ever seen.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gl8xb2FOM4

If you download the Subaru Motorsports app, you can watch it in GoPro 360 and actually scroll around and view it in 360 as it plays.


Nice! Calm, cool, and collected as trees and boulders blur past.:cool:





William

[happycampyer]

Nice! Calm, cool, and collected as trees and boulders blur past.:cool:





WilliamThe key is to look down at the notebook and not out of the windshield. :eek:

The difference in personality between the driver and co-driver in all of these videos is striking.

[benb]

This is a great contrast with bikes.. when you participate in the bike race even though you're in the pain cave the whole time you're still out there in the environment and it kind of blows you away the whole ride and you take the whole thing in, it makes it more than a race since it's such an experience.

Watching the car video you're very much "in the cage" and even just watching the video you've got tunnel vision. It barely even looks like the same mountain to me.. also interesting to see how far short of the end of the bike/foot race they stop but obviously that makes sense as there isn't really room up there for cars.

The dirt sections with the huge drop offs just seem unfathomably dangerous in the car video. For some reason they seem longer watching someone flying in a car than riding up it.. they don't seem like a big deal at slow speed.

I find this way more impressive than circuit racing. Oh and a pox on IndyCar for cancelling the Boston race.. I want my $$ back. Boston may be a PITA but IndyCar often seems amateur and if they worked harder they could have got it done.