Kazunori Yamauchi To Pace 94th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

Acura NSX Time Attack 1 and 2 Vehicles
Acura NSX Time Attack 1 and 2 vehicles for this year’s event. Image care of Acura.

2016 marks the 100th anniversary – but only the 94th running – of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Gran Turismo became a platinum sponsor of the event last year, and will expand that relationship by having Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi not only attend the event, but drive one of the three Acura pace cars.

Yamauchi will share driving duties with Pikes Peak legends Randy Schranz and Leonard Vahsholtz. The vehicles in charge of leading the competitors to the finish line – 14,115 feet above sea level – are the Acura MDX crossover, TLX sport sedan, and the new NSX supercar.

The NSX in particular will be well-represented this year, as Acura continues its attack on the mountain. Two examples of the model will be entered into the Time Attack 1 and 2 classes, and piloted by brothers Nick and James Robinson. The brothers work with Acura’s North American engineering team, and both have considerable experience at the Peak.

James previously ran a first-generation NSX up the hill, and he will be driving the Time Attack 1 car, modified with a lighter chassis and a high-flow racing exhaust. Nick won the PP250 class last year, and his NSX will be competing in Time Attack 2 with only the necessary safety mods.

PPIHC-Acura-EV-Concept-01
The EV Concept looks suitably mad for a run up the mountain.

An NSX-inspired concept will also take to the hill, piloted by Tetsuya Yamano. Yamano drove the all-electric, 4-motor CR-Z last year, and the EV Concept will be using an evolution of that powertrain, estimated to be producing three times the power (roughly 1000hp!). It should be one to watch come the first practice day, June 21st.

Of course, with this announcement, we can’t help but ask: when will we see Pikes Peak in Gran Turismo again, Polyphony?

You can check out the official PPIHC site for schedules, entry lists, and further details.

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Comments (18)

  1. ThrasherDBS

    Is anyone else going to be there? I’m planning on being there for the race day on the 26th.

  2. bokimoto

    i suspect that it might have been originally intended to be included in GT Sport, but they had to develop it more & push it back to GT7, once they realized what DiRT Rally had accomplished … love GT anyhow, and i’ll drive their versions whenever they are released … it will be cool to see Tajima & Yamauchi hanging out together

  3. ScotteDawg

    So, it seems that, due to Kaz saying there will be no DLC in GTSport, Pikes Peak might make GT7…

    Fingers crossed!

    1. ScotteDawg

      Because the first one was run 100 years ago, hence 100th Anniversary! In that 100 years, the event has only been run 94 times…

      Mate, I’ve only been awake for half an hour and I could work that out!!!

    2. TRLWNC7396

      In the same way that Indy had its 100th anniversary a couple years ago, but the 100th running was a couple WEEKS ago! ;)

    3. fowlkore

      Wow you must be super smart because when something says 100th annual event it means it’s the 100th time for that event. I wish I went to your school but instead I went to Woodland Park, CO schools K-12. Its not like I know anything about Pikes Peak. I learn how to drive on Pikes Peak!

    4. Kurei

      If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say weather – or more probable – ‘war’ caused the event to take a back seat at some point.

  4. Rubencho

    I’m starting to think that GT is the key for Kaz to do all the things he really wanted to do in the first place, of course I’d like to participate and attend the same thing he does but I wouldn’t let the fans feel so detached and unheard, in the end it’s thanks to all of us why he is relevant to car culture.

    1. johnnyman123

      Completely agreed. Ive been saying this for a few years now. Kaz uses Gran Turismo as his stepping stone to bigger and better things….I dont think he really cares about the fans and the series too much…and thats why I cant support GT anymore.

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