Spectre 341 Challenge Hill Climb 2010
By Brian Jones, Photography by Larry Chen
With professional drivers and a 910hp-equipped entrant nicknamed “Monster”, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb gathers a large amount of the media spotlight during late June. But it’s not the only hill climb west of the Mississippi and certainly not the most exciting.
Photo by Larry Chen
Run for more than three decades, most famously with the Ferrari Club, the Virginia City Hill Climb was a dangerous and very quick 5.2-mile hill climb race just outside of Virginia City, Nevada. The race took place on Highway 341 North, a local trucking route, and the road would be purposely closed for the event with the assistance of local law enforcement.
Consisting of more than twenty turns and multiple long straightaways, the hill climb in the desert covered a 1,200-foot change in elevation and was often missing guardrails on the outside of high-speed turns.
Still, drawn by a truly hardcore course setup and laidback atmosphere, owners of some of the nicest supercars around would attempt to showcase their brass ones on the hill. Over the years it wasn’t uncommon to spy a Chevy Corvette, Dodge Viper, Porsche 911, Ford Mustang, Shelby Cobra, or Ferrari in the field. Rally car specials and high-powered kit cars were also regulars at the events. Porsche-based manufacturer RUF even made quite a bit of their mid-1990s American reputation at the hill climb.
But, to this day, a Ferrari holds the overall record at the Virginia City Hill Climb. Amir Rosenbaum, founder of parts manufacturer Spectre Performance, clinched that title years ago with a 3:10 run in his tuned Ferrari F40.
We suppose, after you hit the road course and the Bonneville Salt Flats in an F40, sometimes you have to head back to the mountain.
Photo by Larry Chen
During the weekend of the 2010 running of Pikes Peak, Rosenbaum and Spectre Performance decided to hold the first Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge event.
Mirroring the Virginia City Hill Climb, the Spectre 341 Challenge was nearly the same run up the hill, just with a different name and a few regulations. Racecars were banned from the Spectre hill climb, as the rules required fully registered and street legal cars that ran on 100 UTQG and higher tires.
Some of the biggest names in the aftermarket industry showed up to take on the hill climb including Griggs Racing, Lou Gigliotti and Steve Millen. But even if you didn’t own a Targa Newfoundland Nissan GT-R or tuned Corvette ZR1, you could have some real fun.
The field of entrants was diverse, filled with Porsche 911s, stock-looking Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, and a few classic Camaros. There was even one very mean looking turbocharged and flared GMC Syclone pickup truck.
Unfortunately, the first Spectre 341 Challenge has been overshadowed by the death of Alexander Djordjevic, an entrant who was competing in a Porsche 911 Turbo. On the second day of competition, Djordjevic took his silver 996 out for one final run up the hill, eventually plummeting off the side of the course in a fatal accident.
Even before the first Spectre event finished, it was apparent that nobody would be coming close to dethroning Rosenbaum’s 3:10 record. It seems unlikely to us that anybody will be able to break the record on 100 UTQG tires, an illegal tire-equipped 2010 Viper ACR ran a 3:19.414 this year, but anything is possible next year. The mountain isn’t going anywhere.
Contact
Spectre 341 Challenge
www.spectre341challenge.com
www.spectreperformance.com
Looks like a cool event. Like mountain running but with a closed road.
Would love to enter this event. Is it open to the public?