Originally scheduled for July 8, the event was placed on hold when massive fires swept the area around Pikes Peak and nearby Colorado Springs, destroying over 350 homes. The Colorado Forestry service met with the organisers and it was agreed to postpone the 2012 event until the fires were fully contained.
Skelta’s driver Jeff Denmeade says he fully understands the reasons behind the postponement: “Coming from the Aussie bush that occasionally ignites in similar fashion our team empathizes with the Pikes Peak organisers and our thoughts are primarily with the people of the Colorado Springs area many of whom have been hit so hard by this fire.”
“While it’s going to be financially tough on us, because we will be flying home and then back to Colorado a few weeks later, but putting it all into perspective our problems fade almost into insignificance when compared to the disastrous outcome for people who lost their homes.
“We just have to bite the bullet, power-up and push on,” added Denmeade.
“It almost seems that chasing a good result in the hill climb is not our first concern. Instead, our priority is to get back to Colorado Springs to show our support for these wonderful people who have hosted the event for the past 96 years.
“These are great people and we’ve ended up with friends for life from our first visit to Pikes Peak in 2010.’
FACT: Pikes Peak has only been cancelled twice in its history and that was during the two world wars.
At first our team considered to skip the re-dated 2012 event, leave the vehicle and parts in storage in Colorado for 12 months and go with the 2013 event. But after a meeting of the heads for our team, it was decided to push through and run the rescheduled 2012 event.
The team wishes to thank Honda Racing HPD (USA) for its support and assistance offered to us all during this event, and also our head ECU engineer David Hinde (from NSW) for his on-event input bringing the Skelta up to spec for high altitude running.
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