Porsche 911 Uses Extreme Aero to Smash Pikes Peak Record

Porsche 911 finished second overall and won the class, beating the old record by nearly 14 seconds.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb requires an incredible combination of power, braking, and handling, making a car like the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Turbo the ideal candidate for an entry in the annual race, which this year kicks off on June 28. The course covers 12.42 miles and includes 156 turns, so the winning cars need to go very fast for a very long time, including around sharp turns that sit on the edge of a steep cliff.

To stay on the track at high speeds, the top competitors add extreme aerodynamic components, and the BBi Autosport Porsche 911 is a fine example. Combining 900 horsepower with the huge Verus Engineering carbon fiber rear wing, this turbocharged beast was the second-quickest up the hill in 2019, setting a class record while claiming the Time Attack 1 title.

Porsche 911 Details

The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Turbo shown here was built by the team of BBi Autosport and Betim Berisha’s crew reportedly built this car in just 22 days. The turbocharged engine makes more than 900 horsepower, but just having gobs of power won’t get you up the Pikes Peak course in a hurry. To get around all 156 turns at speed takes serious aerodynamic tuning and loads of downforce. To achieve that downforce, the BBi Autosport team turned to Verus Engineering.

Verus supplied the Porsche team with its massive dual-element rear wing. Both the center section and the endplates are carbon fiber, keeping weight low, while downforce reaches the levels needed to safely scoot up the long hill climb course. Of course, the race-ready Porsche 911 also had other aero bits, including a chin spoiler that lets little air under the front end and dive planes, but it is the huge Verus Engineering rear wing that sets this car apart from other GT3 models.

The final piece of the puzzle for BBi Autosport was the wheelman and Raphael Astier was chosen to handle those duties. That turned out to be a great decision, as the 2019 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb couldn’t have gone much better for the Porsche 911 team.

Dominating Time Attack 1

When Berisha set his sights on the 2019 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb event, his goal was to win the Time Attack 1 class while resetting the course record for that class. The record coming into the event was set in 2018 by David Donohue in a Porsche 911 GT3 R with a time of 9:37.152. With Astier at the wheel, the BBi Autosport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Turbo covered the 12.42-mile course with a time of 9:23.721. That obviously beat the Time Attack 1 record set by Donohue in 2018 while also winning the class for the 2019 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The second-place finisher in the class was a McLaren 650S, which ran a 9:48.716, trailing the winning Porsche by almost 25 seconds. That is a whoopin’.

In addition to the class record and win, there are a few other interesting aspects to the BBi Autosport team’s strong finish. With a time of 9:23.721, this Porsche 911 finished second overall, beating everyone except for the overall event winner. That means that this GT3 car beat all of the competitors in every other class, including the Unlimited (aside from the overall winner) and Open groups. Astier and the BBi Porsche 911 beat the winner of the Open class by better than a half-second while every other class winner was at least 20-seconds slower than the GT3 with the massive Verus rear wing.

Making this whole run that much more impressive is the fact that Astier complained of engine issues towards the top end of the course, presumably when the thin mountain air was having a negative impact on the engine output. Even with that issue, the Porsche 911 still won the class, reset the class record and finished second overall at the 2019 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. You can ride along for the record run courtesy of the video below from the Hoonigan Bonus YouTube channel.

The 2020 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will be held on June 28, and the #19 Porsche is on the entry list with Raphael Astier, so we could see another record run later this year.

Photos: Verus Engineering

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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