On the way to Rocky Mountain Natl Park for our end of Summer camping trip, we had to stay a night in Colorado Springs. So it was a perfect nature to make a short trip to the top of Pikes Peak, at the elevation of 14,110 feet (+- 15 feet, depends which rock you're standing).
After filling up the gas in one of the downtown COS, we head west on Hwy-24 towards the town of Cascade, where the entrance to Pikes Peak is.
The fun part starts when the pavement ends and the dirt road starts, as you can feel the rush similar to those race car drivers of Pikes Peak Hill Climb for a couple of seconds, until I got stuck behind a gray haired couple in a red S2000.
Note: don't forget to turn off TCS to feel the rush
ScanGauge report:
Going up: engine load is around 72 to 79, and the 30 miles (from downtown COS) trip to the peak takes 3 gal of gas (which needs to be corrected by 10% as ScanGauge is 10% high).
Going down: with gear at "1" which is perfect to hold the van to stay at 20 MPH, engine load is 15% and throttle position is at 9.
I used so little brake on the way down, due to the perfect gearing of "1" with combination of "2", that the park service 'ranger' at the mandatory brake check halfway down was surprised at how low his reading was.
After filling up the gas in one of the downtown COS, we head west on Hwy-24 towards the town of Cascade, where the entrance to Pikes Peak is.
The fun part starts when the pavement ends and the dirt road starts, as you can feel the rush similar to those race car drivers of Pikes Peak Hill Climb for a couple of seconds, until I got stuck behind a gray haired couple in a red S2000.
Note: don't forget to turn off TCS to feel the rush
ScanGauge report:
Going up: engine load is around 72 to 79, and the 30 miles (from downtown COS) trip to the peak takes 3 gal of gas (which needs to be corrected by 10% as ScanGauge is 10% high).
Going down: with gear at "1" which is perfect to hold the van to stay at 20 MPH, engine load is 15% and throttle position is at 9.
I used so little brake on the way down, due to the perfect gearing of "1" with combination of "2", that the park service 'ranger' at the mandatory brake check halfway down was surprised at how low his reading was.
