[woodcote]

This weekend sees the 99th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. UK readers might be vaguely amused by the title sponsor - it's a local spa resort... The course is 12.42 miles long and cars negotiate 156 corners to the finish line, 14,115 feet above sea level. The record of 7 minutes 57.148 seconds is held by Romain Dumas who set it in 2018 driving a Volkswagen I.D. R all-electric prototype.

   

Dumas returns this year with a modified Porsche 911 GT2 RS that will compete in the Time Attack 1 class, up against an amazing Bentley Continental GT3 driven by Pikes Peak veteran Rhys Millen. They'll be out to beat the class record of 9 minutes 23 seconds. If Millen achieves that, he'll give Bentley a third record - they already hold the best times for SUV and Production...

   

That's the headline battle this year, but expect plenty of competition for the overall win - Robin Shute has an outside chance to become the first British winner, driving a 2018 Wolf GB08 open-wheeler.

Live coverage will be streamed on the Mobil 1 Facebook page. The event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/164595129030983/

The start is scheduled for 8am local time (14.00 GMT) and run for 5 hours. That means a 3 o'clock start in the UK. Definitely worth tuning in.

This is the route...

   

And here's Dumas' 2018 record-breaking run...