In quarantine with AUTOhebdo – Rod Millen’s extreme cars at Pikes Peak

This Monday, March 23, Rod Millen celebrates his 69th birthday. This name may not mean much to you, but its cars seen at Pikes Peak have become part of the legend of the Race to the Clouds.

Rod Millen is not American as his track record might lead you to believe, but New Zealander. First went through the side run then the rally, notably by founding the Mazda Rally Team in the World Cup in the 1980s, he then moved to Uncle Sam's country.

The United States has the oldest hill climb in the world, Pikes Peak (Colorado): 19,9 km, 156 turns, 7 degrees of average slope to go from 1 meters above sea level to 440 meters at the finish . Three-time winner of the American 4×302 championship on circuits (off-road stadium), Rod Millen is starting to eye Pikes Peak.

“In 1994, with my mechanics, we agreed on the construction of a special car for this event, equipped with a turbo to counteract the effects of altitude, he remembers forhas TRD brand (suspensions). »

The car looks like a Toyota Celica, but only the windshield comes from the nice Japanese sedan. The body is made of carbon fiber. Under the hood we find a 2.1 liter, 4-cylinder turbo engine developing 850 horsepower for 1 Nm of torque!

The block is taken from the Toyota Supras of the Japanese GT Championship, the JGTC. This engine also made the heyday of the GTP prototypes of the Toyota Eagle in Imsa at the beginning of the 1990's. 

The four-wheel drive car is a featherweight, with only 850 kg on the scale. Tests on salt lakes are carried out. “The car even had venturi effect tunnels under the flat floor, but in testing this was not effective when the Celica went sideways”, reveals Rod Millen. “So I convinced the engineers to limit the drift angle to 15 degrees. »

The monster is ready for its baptism of fire. At the time, the bitumen did not distort Pikes Peak, and safety rails were very rare on the hairpins. “The key is to know the route, remembers Rod Millen. There were lots of turns that looked the same, drivers can forget where they are, it can be risky. For my part, I could visualize the 156 turns in my mind. »

This was clearly useful to him. On July 4, 1994, he beats the previous record by 39 seconds flirting with 10 minutes (10'04''060)! This record will stand… 13 years! Admire the thunderous noise of the Celica, the fiery reactions of the American public or the absence of barriers below: 

After three successes with the Celica, Rod Millen developed the Toyota Tacoma. The engine is unchanged but the block moves to the central position. His goal was to pass the 10-minute mark, without success. 

Winner twice again (1998 and 1999), the Kiwi will then host the Goodwood Festival of Speed (Great Britain), with a certain taste for spectacle. “The climb to Goodwood is on asphalt, but I kept the Earth tires on the Tacoma. » Confident the fifty-year-old!