HENRY HILL RETURNS TO PPIHC IN WOLF GB08 F1 EXTREME ON THE PROWL FOR A PODIUM FINISH
Colorado Springs, CO – Henry Hill of Cedar City, UT, returned to Pikes Peak in June for the first time since his Rookie of the Year performance in 2022, during the milestone 100th Running of the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, brought to you by Gran Turismo. Behind the wheel of his 2021 Wolf GB08 F1 Extreme, Hill clocked a rookie time of 11:36.502 in the Unlimited division, topping all other newcomers to America’s Mountain.
FIRST IMPRESSION
Like the wolf sometimes spotted in the Colorado wilderness, Hill’s Wolf GB08 is long, lean and built for speed. He was ready to put it through its paces during race week and dreamed of a great run on race day, but, as the saying goes, ‘the mountain decides.’
In 2022, the weather on race day was the big story. Conditions were cold and wet making tire grip unpredictable and limiting visibility.
MORE TO THE STORY
Hill shared his first-year experience and what it took to make it to the top. “2022 was a wild year!” he began. “During testing, I almost hit a bighorn sheep! Then, on qualifying day we had a crushing mechanical failure. The transmission case split and blew a ten-inch hole out the back, shearing off twelve differential bolts, and feeding about three pounds of aluminum chunks into the oil. We were pulling handfuls of it out of the transmission.”
“But, I think the next part is what PPIHC is all about. How quickly can you recover and how quickly can you get parts and fix major damage,” Hill remarked. “4D Engineering saved us. The team worked every day until it came time to load the car and take it to the mountain. We had to weld the case and just seal it closed hoping it worked. We hoped it held when I let the clutch out on the starting line, and that it would shift through the gears, and hold on to the top.”
Hill recalled, “With almost no practice time, I was lucky I even met the amount required to run as a rookie. It felt like it couldn’t have been much worse, but it didn’t turn out too bad. The car was very slow but I think crossing the line meant more to me and my team that we didn’t really care about the time at that point. We were just so glad I made it to the top.”
HIGH HOPES
In 2024, Hill and his team arrived with hopes of a different experience in June. Comparing his two runs and detailing the mechanical challenges he had to overcome, as well as the physical ones, Hill shared how that hope began to dim on race day. “With the speeds being lower in 2022, and our limited run time, I really felt like 2024 was my rookie year. This year the car was faster and had all new parts. I really felt we had a shot at third place. Then it happened…we damaged the car heavily, again in qualifying, and couldn’t get it fixed before the race. Control of the cam phasers was completely lost. We just had to lock them and didn’t have the time to tune for this.”
“I had to run the race this year at half power,” Hill explained, “If I went more than 75% throttle, the car would die. If I went under 50%, it would do the same. I didn’t know how bad it was until I started the race.”
Hill’s misfortune didn’t end there. He shared, “Then we had a cooling issue that popped up. It turned out the coolant cap failed, but we didn’t know that until after the race.”
“When I was only two minutes from the top, a red flag was thrown for an incident ahead of me, which meant I was forced to come back down, cool the car, and load it back up with coolant. Novembre Racing and my entire team did everything they could just to get me back to the line. Now that I understood the issue with the car I could drive it better with the limited power I had.”
“So, second run, and 30 seconds from the top, another red flag was thrown only 30 seconds from the summit. I had to roll all the way back down, cool the car again, and get ready for another run. I was completely burnt out at this point. Everyone’s dream is full course runs and I was so sick and weak I wasn’t sure if I would even make it. My slow reaction time wasn’t helping and I was making errors. By the time I finished my third run, I’d been in the car for nearly two and a half hours.”
MIND OVER MATTER
GET TO KNOW HENRY HILL
Fun Facts:
“I think most people would be surprised that I’m 6’6″ tall. That’s the main reason I picked this car. It was one of the few I could fit in. So, tall people can be racecar drivers, it’s just hard to find a car that fits!”
“I have the world’s greatest dog named Nelly. She’s old and sleeps all day in my office.”
Occupation:“I do high-speed computer storage design to pay the bills, and I hope to expand on the motorsports events I am running in the next few years…making more of an effort for enduros and other events. I think a lot of my life, events, and friends are based around either computers or racing. So, more of both is never a bad thing.”
Best advice you received?“Robin Shute told me my first year, ‘Don’t worry about sector time right now and just drive the course. Run time and experience will pay off more than anything.'”
Advice for someone hoping to race on Pikes Peak?“If possible get on a team. Just offer to pay your way and show up. You will get more knowledge from this than a year’s worth of planning for what you think you know. Talk to people who have been there and tell them your plan so they can tell you why it’s bad…because it is. Nothing will teach you more about Pikes Peak than being part of a team.
I had been to PPIHC for years prior to running, and I came in so overconfident and fell right on my face. I thought, ‘Show up, push car out, and run up a road for ten minutes, no problem. I race and transport this car all the time, this will be easy.’ It was great to have the PPIHC be the most humbling experience of my life.”
Favorite section? “Cove Creek to Elk Park is the best. The view is remarkable from my perspective, sitting flat in the car. I think it represents a mental switchover point in the course for me, too.”
Toughest section? “Boulder Park to Cog Cut. I wouldn’t have said this in 2022 because of how slow we were going in the bad weather, but the bumps there were insane for the really low cars in 2024. I had my ride height settings wrong, which caused the car to bottom so hard that it was worse than a wreck! I would’ve known this had I been able to test more during the week.”
Favorite track? “Daytona. The speed of the track and corner banking mixed with the overall environment. Everybody’s a race fan, and you’re in a giant bowl that gives you great views from any location.”
Watch Henry Hill Conquer the 156 Turns on Pikes Peak in his 2022 Weather-Impacted Run
Photos by: Larry Chen Photo; Larry Chen, Louis Yio, Luis Garcia, Charles Zhao, Jason Zindroski; Headshot, Henry Hill
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Contact:
Lisa Haight
Communications Manager / Historian
lisa@ppihc.org
(719) 685-4400
www.ppihc.org
