DIESEL BATTLE | Pikes Peak Hillclimb 2022

there was the diesel record it was attainable we thought hey if this R35 chassis and this power stroke diesel come together it might be the right formula it moved from just an idea to execution I think from day one I was very skeptical about the project we worked from sun up to sundown and even through the night and everything like it was crazy crazy like 20 hour days non-stop the whole week that's how you prepare for Pike's Peak and seeing other very big teams go through the exact same struggles that we've gone through like it's just kind of the nature of the Beast when I first saw the 6-0 and the GTR was like basically my orientation day like welcome to life this is what we're doing this whole week we were really excited for a fun diesel battle with our good buddies Aaron and Scott we were excited to kind of compare the times and kind of see how things are going and coal was really fast the very first time I get to really drive the car outside of a parking lot was on I don't know one of the most difficult sections of race surface in the world the upper section of Pikes Peak it was so gnarly you couldn't you couldn't see 30 feet in front of you at the bottom we are now ready to go take our chance at the mountain to see if we can beat a diesel record to see if we can beat our other buddies and their diesel-powered vehicles if we're going to have a car that even makes it to the top of the mountain at the starting of the week at Summit talks you'll hear them speak it's only Monday on Tech day I think everybody is reinvigorated you know you've had a moment to sit in the truck and drive or you flew there and you've had a little bit of time to yourself to kind of catch up on what's just kind of happened in the past few weeks it's all a bit of a blur [Music] we definitely brought a show stopper to the event like we pulled it out of the trailer there were so many people that came around it and just were going over it [Music] wake up but you get this new energy you know you see other people's builds you get to roll the car out it's shiny it's new it's fresh you get to put it all together and roll through Tech and it's a pretty magical feeling especially with with a monster like this [Music] looking at it all day long it's kind of like normal to me but then when the public sees it then you really are like okay we did something pretty special here in the boat here on uh whether we run nitrous or not cold makes a last minute decision to make a class change because I think we were really concerned about the use of nitrous or not we use nitrous it moves us into unlimited which is going to put us later in the afternoon run time we stay in exhibition we're guaranteed to be the first batch of cars that goes you know whether we're the first car or the 17th car we're going to be in the first group which is historically more favorable weather we have concerns about how the the turbos are going to behave a high altitude being off nitrous kind of split right now Clay is saying use nitrous go to unlimited I'm saying take the guaranteed weather window in the morning so we're gonna we're gonna call and get a Charlie boat and that'll that'll kind of decide which way we go initially we weren't planning on using nitrous if we were going for the diesel record but I think it became apparent very quickly that we needed nitrous to help get the car to move out of Corners so you know it's a little bit of Clay's decision and Charlie didn't overrule it uh so I think we're gonna move to unlimited and stay on the bottle and definitely be able to go make me power steal at elevation we'll know tomorrow morning on the upper section [Music] you could be sitting taking lunch [Music] it's only Tuesday on Tuesday morning that was our first real chance to drive the car essentially the car literally has had no testing Devil's Playground right now about 13 000 feet about to crack something out for the very first time 6.0 excited about it I wasn't mentally prepared for the actual like lack of oxygen the very first time I get to really drive the car outside of a parking lot was on I don't know one of the most difficult sections of race surface in the world the upper section of Pikes Peak we were expecting to learn a lot we knew that it wasn't going to be perfect [Music] come on [Music] foreign foreign so after the first day of practice was not really time well spent I didn't gain any confidence in the car if anything I lost confidence when I came to the stop I heard boiling like and the hood started to bubble and it was not good so we knew that we had some things we wanted to work on we wanted to improve the brake pedal feel again as a brand new braking system the car is very heavy we wanted to make sure that everything was working safely and then there were some tuning things that we were able to do Charlie from Casey turbos was there with us and he was making some adjustments for us but we knew what we had to do we made it down to Cole's shop big shout out to Cole and we worked into the night the goal was we were going to try to get to a race track so that we could do some actual Shakedown prior to qualifying the great Folks at ppir were able to literally keep the lights on for us to just give us like 20 minutes of testing time and the team did a killer job of getting the car up to speed get us onto ppir and I was able to turn some laps around a proper racetrack for the very first time and I was finally excited about driving this thing [Music] it was very relieving to see Cole come back he was very confident in the car happy with the changes we had made and he was ready for qualifying [Music] [Applause] [Music] big day qualifying means a lot at Pike's Peak as far as setting the Run order so typically the sooner you qualify the better chance you have a better weather earlier in the morning so we knew we wanted to qualify well and get a bunch of runs in as a team I'm very confident in the car I think we were expecting to learn more especially as Cole was pushing we were excited to see what the pace was going to be at the bottom again this is a really fast technical section of the run so it's it's kind of a good scale to kind of see how things are going to go Cole gets up to go qualify and uh it's so exciting to see the car kind of slowly chug off the line as close trying to build boost but the second the turbos spin up the thing is a rocket ship and so it's fun to see him take off [Music] okay he's very fast very very fast [Music] we were really excited about the potential for what we were seeing and then as we were supposed to get a second sector time it never shows up [Music] to not get a qualifying time was kind of a big blow to the team because again that meant we were going to be forced to run at the back of the pack die oh yeah I've had a lot of time so we we've been our pants wondering what the hell's going on I told him to call them and tell you I'm fine that I was able to get a little phone service so I'm like well time to go uh sort out as much as we possibly can in the next 24 hours 12 seconds faster no smoking on the first section this whole week we were really excited for a fun diesel battle with our good buddies Aaron and Scott we were excited to kind of compare the times and kind of see how things are going and Cole was really fast so you think we'll get it fixed [Music] we come off the mountain from qualifying we go back to the shop and we jump into the issues that we were aware of everybody was like addressing separate issues we all got tons of stuff down Electronics the rear differential we had some cooling issues so we addressed some of those issues as well oh oh it's still so gooey yeah there's so much in there [Music] the water tank was like the biggest thing at that problem the pumps weren't working because those filters were clogging with all the silicone and I made a big mistake these fellows let me work on the car I did not do a good job at all oh good oh that's good yeah here look this is what's been doing it it was a long work day [Music] we start to get the car wrapped up at about midnight start to put things back together we're getting ready to load it up in the trailer so we can go sleep for maybe two hours and we go to fire it up to drive into the trailer that's when we realized that this week was not going to be an easy week you hear a whistling overhead are you alive or are you dead it's only Thursday so next day we're supposed to be up there qualifying midsection we obviously we're not going to make it because the car won't start pull the oil pan [Music] oh my gosh so where would we have I know what's wrong with it it was very clear when we pulled the oil pan that the engine was done there was just metal everywhere like we knew we had a catastrophic failure we need to address that immediately [Music] this is my disappointed look so we knew at that point that we had a lot of work to do here this is uh the caveman method of rotating your engine over Franklin turn over off of the starter so we were chasing ground leads and trying to make sure everything electrical wise was okay to no avail the starter would only kick the engine over like one degree at a time so we found the biggest range we had put it on the crank snout put I think it was a jack handle on top of that [Music] he just goes flying is tailbone okay honestly my butt is still bruised from that like I was trying to run with my kids the other day and uh I realized that I definitely bruised my butt yanking on that uh pry bar have we tried turning in the oven [Applause] s news all right put it back on no I totally broke it Loose we originally thought it was electrical issue because the starter wouldn't turn well the starter wouldn't turn because the electronics said we can't turn a starter that's attached to a seized engine it's an x-bearing I'm excited about the T-shirt so experience a major failure something that we have prepared for we do have a spare engine but the key is finding the source of the failure so you just don't have the same failure on the new engine we don't want to waste a bunch of time money and effort getting the scene to line on race day just to have the same thing happen again so we can replace the engine we can replace the pump um but what what's the real issue here uh we still don't know yet so locked up a pair of purple rods is a big indicator that those rods were not getting fed sufficient oil doesn't matter how good your oil is if the oil doesn't get there stay there it's not going to work we jumped right into the swap luckily the guys from riffraff were there to help throw everything together if it wasn't for them we couldn't have done what we did we had Peter clay Nick they were the engine guys they had to get that done there were some other little stuff on the car that the rest of the team was able to address I'm like I know nothing about diesels and none of us really do at all but to watch those guys just tear into it and go at it was pretty pretty special to see and like we had our end handled they just need to handle the motor now [Music] it was so nice to have more hands on it like the guys that clay brought just people that weren't like as exhausted as we were like they had some energy and they were like ready to go in and like rip stuff off and we're like please like have at it man [Music] we're hoping that this engine rebuild is going to take four or five hours it ended up taking quite a bit longer than that again just trying to Source all the pieces that we didn't have it's just the smallest stuff that you run into like oh yeah we got an engine we got all the parts that we need oh well the head gaskets aren't right okay we're trying to find head gaskets at like 10 pm and like oh well the dowels that align the heads are the wrong size well let's go machine those down or like all these tiny little problems that you run into that thankfully we were able to like you know quickly overcome and it didn't set us back but Thursday is about when time each day kind of Blended together to where if you tried to ask me what happened on Thursday versus Friday or Saturday it would be really hard to kind of tell when that happened because essentially it felt like Thursday to Saturday was one day [Music] [Music] [Music] we dressed the new engine get the heads on it [Music] because of our failure and we covered everything it was a really long conversation so he talked to his guy who's been doing this and has experience at Pikes Peak and they gave that was a lot of really good info so um the first thing is we're dealing with a drag racer right so drag races are always flat we're going up the hill so when we go up a hill all of our oils back here we're starving these scavengers so the other thing is we're pulling up in the back of the heads and uh so he's saying put a stash 16 at the back of the pan cap one of these off and if we could take another scaffold from the valve covers because the heads are filling up g-forces and Uphill the entire time so we're filling the heads and all of our oils in the back of the pan we starve the Scavengers most likely which star of the demands finally get to the point where we're putting everything back together we have these Super Rad Billet valve covers to put on the conversation went if the Billet valve covers go on the engine they're not going to come off they physically won't come off without us pulling the engine is there any reason why we would need to pull these valve covers once they've been installed why would you need to take the valve covers off of a new engine build the answer was if we have to pull the valve covers there's something much more serious going on in the engine foreign [Music] it's not an easy engine and trans combo to get in and out of that car it's a decent amount of work mostly just because everything's so big and heavy [Music] oh man the weather reports kept coming in everybody's sending me weather this whether that I get it but it's not going to change we're not going to not go to Pikes Peak we're not going to not show up for race day we're changing an engine in a car we're diagnosing all these issues all with the potential that we won't even have a chance to drive because of the weather on Sunday as you're getting sleep deprived and tired and thinking crazy thoughts and your mind's playing tricks on you if you look at that weather report at two in the morning you want to say why am I even trying the weather's going to take us out we don't we don't need to finish this because nobody's going to have a shot to run the mountain because it was the worst weather the entire month was on race day it couldn't have been any worse I can't control the weather what I can control is getting the car to the start line the trans yeah yeah trans is crooked are you guys okay yeah [Music] thank you I believe two o'clock in the morning and uh the cars put back together we're ready to start it and again we're ready to load it in the trailer and go get some sleep and at two o'clock in the morning I'll never forget the sound of a diesel engine cranking over that didn't have any compression [Music] that sound right at this point I mean to be honest I was like do we just throw in the towel because nobody slept so we're all tired and we haven't we haven't done any testing with the car crank it [Music] tomorrow never comes through it was 3 A.M what are we going to do we've all been up for 20 hours literally the first thing we do after we install the engine is have to pull these valve covers off and uh we found that out at four o'clock in the morning and at that point the team was exhausted we needed to get some sleep it wasn't going to be anything that we were able to to fix immediately it was going to take quite a bit of undoing of this engine install to get to where these valve covers would come out so the decision was made let's go sleep for a couple hours and we'll come back in the morning and figure out what the solution is oh grease gun on that drive back that night at like five or what I don't even know what it was he's like I think I'm gonna quit tomorrow like I'm like just you're just gonna leave like no he like quit life like the job like all of his like if I if I was to rage quit not like an angry way but if I was just to I'm tired I want to quit rage quit but I still like be able to catch a ride back home or would I have to get a flight home like dude why would you come so far just to like not see the end so I told him Cole's motivational words that he told me when we were doing the Subaru he's like you just you gotta fight the good fight to the end brother [Music] hey [Applause] [Music] foreign we're back at the shop and we're gonna see what we can do to pull these valve covers [Music] we tried to pull the valve covers off of the engine while it was installed in the car and they wouldn't come off the strut Towers this big suspension supports that are in the engine bay are so close to the engine that you physically could not remove the valve covers we have this massive powertrain that we're trying to wedge into this GTR if the engine was a quarter inch wider it would not fit in the car at all like we would have to chop the whole front end to get it to fit if it was a quarter inch wider that's how tight it was figured it would be worth a risk or we would take the chance to try to see if we can just kind of shimmy the engine and transmission side to side to allow us to remove these valve covers taking motor mounts off jacking the engine up just to move it enough to get a valve cover off to undo all the Rockers swap out push rods Clay's team I was super stoked to get it one last chance like at least we can do this foreign we'll figure it out it was the push rods we changed them got compression the motor Fired Up and Away we went and we were off the race day there was no time left to spare to get the things started tested in the parking lot and get it to the mountains [Music] think tomorrow's come I think it's too late welcome everybody to Pike's Peak and this is the 100th running of the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb brought to you by Gran Turismo and our live stream presented by mobile one we are now ready to go take our chance at the mountain to see if we can beat a diesel record to see if we can beat our other buddies in their diesel-powered vehicles if we're going to have a car that even makes it to the top of the mountain it's it's always a big question mark here we are at the start line of 100th running the Pikes Peak Hill Climb as you can see it's foggy it's rainy it's terrible conditions but they're still sending competitors all the way to the summit it was so gnarly you couldn't you couldn't see 30 feet in front of you at the bottom [Music] initially on race day shows 80 percent chance of rain what the weather didn't show was 100 chance of fog it was everywhere from the start line to the Finish Line the whole course is covered in fog it's damp then it starts to rain then the fog gets worse and then it lightens up a little bit in the middle it just was a miserable day weather-wise for every competitor that attack we know we have a few things to tidy up and go through not in Bolt check check coolant check oil check everything go through and double check everything lo and behold like us not getting a qualified time helped us the best you know because we were the last car Mark got to be I believe his true potential to be the Iceman and dump ice down his ice shoots coal hops in the car there's fog at the bottom but the reports are saying that once you leave the bottom let's say quarter of the mountain the roads all dry up so we sent him off on the Slicks ready to really make a good pass the car looks so good up until that moment it's a car it's a system of systems like it's a machine but until he's in the car at the start line This is Cole's livelihood so cool palestin if you don't know this gentleman uh time attack he's raced here before Sierra Alpha this will put an exclamation point on the 100th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and Cole palson that's diesel that's right the current record is 11 24. I hear people giggling and laughing like just it sounds ludicrous [Music] foreign immediately after the tow truck takes off right we're hearing Sirens I'm hoping that's just the start line just denoting and I was just tripping like what happened like how did he crash did he go off like that quick like no way talking about the safety trucks and the tow trucks [Applause] so I think Cole is the concern Jared dienda is announcing and he's like oh man safety's going up you know there's only two cars on track someone must have went off or there's an accident instantly we're just kind of deflated as a team but we're still watching the live stream video so I think coal is the concern and then all sudden Here Comes Cole through the fog that's cool it might be it might be a sweep that is cool yep everyone in the crowd loses [Applause] thank you see a first sector time and he's 20 seconds faster than the next fastest diesel-powered vehicle [Music] and I start to find a rhythm start to remember parts of the course as it's the fog's breaking up and then I break into the sunlight and it's clear and it's beautiful and the car feels great and I'm feeling it I'm ready to rip the back of our minds we're thinking Cinderella Story we've had like the worst week all week Cinderella Story foreign I get to the same exact Corner as I did in qualifying day and the engine turns off it did exactly what it did on quality day I could not believe it I think it's too late we can clearly see that Cole is not going any further so I think that's uh that's gonna be all she wrote for Cole it's really unfortunate kind of the unique build I wish it didn't feel so good before it felt so bad the potential for the diesel record was right there it was in my hands the power struck into a Nissan GTR it didn't work awesome and ultimately it's just an undeveloped car it's doesn't have all the parts and pieces needed we hadn't earned it yet it's not our year you place to get a beer around here but there's always next year and we've built a monster the diesel record's still there it's still exactly the same as it was 1124 that's still the number I go to sleep at night and think of it is in our Vision it's right in front of us I know this car can do it that's that's no longer a question as if this car can do it it's how much deeper past 11 can we go to put so much Blood Sweat and Tears and sleepless nights into a project like this to not get the result that I think the whole team had worked and deserved at this point I'm very anxious for the future and I'm very anxious for the rest of the world to see what this monster can do what we were able to overcome in preparation for race day to give that just one shot at the mountain was truly a magical experience to be a part of it'll always stick in the back of my memory is the best part of this year you know definitely didn't get the result we wanted nobody did due to weather and fog and everything else but it was the greatest team effort I've ever been a part of and it was a really cool thing to witness firsthand foreign [Music]

Channel: LYFE Motorsport

Views: 968,979

Keywords: LYFE Motorsport, Racecar, Pikes Peak, Time Attack, Cole Powelson, Judson Production Films, LYFE Motorsport GTR, World Time Attack, Fabrication, Riffraff Diesel, FRANK 6.0, Diesel Swapped GT-R, Diesel GT-R, Clay Note

Id: Ll7nprM1Z8Y

Length: 40min 27sec (2427 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 10 2022