P84
FEATURE I PIKES PEAK HILLCLIMB REVISITED
by far—tourist attraction in Colorado
Springs), the local council paved the
road all the way to the summit, and as
speeds went up, records immediately
fell. Here we meet Mr. Dunne and the
company he is synonymous with, Ducati.
Carlin was already a winner of The
Race To The Clouds in 2011 when he
piloted a Ducati Multistrada to victory
while the track was a hybrid of half
dirt, half tarmac. From 2011 to 2013,
Carlin remained undefeated, taking the
course record on full tarmac in 2012 at
9:52.819 from factory Ducati teammate
and former race winner Greg Tracy.
They were the first riders to break the
mythical 10-minute barrier. Ducati de
-
cided to commemorate this occasion
by creating the Multistrada Pikes Peak,
a model that continues to this day.
Carlin shook up the establishment
still further in 2013, when he joined
fledgling electric motorcycle company
Lightning and rode the exotic LS218 to
the only overall victory for a non-inter
-
Yet more halting of motorcycle competition
would follow, this gap stretching from 1976 to
1980. Two more years of racing were met with the
death of competitor Bill Gross in 1982 and another
elimination of the motorcycle program until 1991.
The return of motorcycle racing to
Pikes Peak brought with it a change of
format, one where the riders were timed
in the traditional hill climb style rather
than being a banzai mass start.
The 1991 return heralded the golden
era for bike competition at Pikes Peak,
the race running uninterrupted for the
next 28 years. But it was in 2012 that the
race began to take off.
Due to pressure from the increasing
number of tourists visiting the mountain
(an average of over 22 million visit the mountain
each year, making Pikes Peak the number one—
(Right) Dunne
poses during the
2019 media event
for the race. (Below)
Fillmore's prowess
of the mountain was
absolute. His victory
in the Lightweight
category in 2019
meant he never
lost a race in three
attempts at
Pikes Peak.
