2025 Pikes Peak: Tom Tang Finishes P6 in Unlimited, 11th Overall—Fastest Production Car & Fastest BMW
we finally get to go back to Pikes Peak
After nearly a year of anticipation, preparation, and planning the 2025 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was finally here! On Thursday June 12th, we finished loading up at the shop and after a nice dinner with the team, Jem and I got on the road for the 2 day drive from Fremont to Colorado Springs. We had a fun road-trip, stopping in Flagstaff for a night of rest along the way. Once we arrived on Saturday June 14th, we met up with Ian and Mike who had arrived before we did at the Airbnb. This year, we decided to rent a house that was much closer to downtown and it was a lot more convenient because we were only 20 minutes from Winslow BMW and only 20 minutes to the entrance of the mountain.
The first 4 to arrive. Of course we had to crack open a few welcome beers!
The next morning, on Father’s Day June 15th we headed over to our home away from home, Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs. We were greeted by many familiar faces and dear friends and it was wonderful to be back at our favorite BMW dealership in the entire world. Thank you to Gregg and the team for coming in on a Sunday to help get us situated too. We once again “moved in” to our storage room at Winslow where fuel from Ignite had also arrived (shout-out to Jay and Matt), along with new wheel studs and nuts from Ryan at Motorsport Hardware, and spare nitrous components from John at Nitrous Outlet.
For this year’s race week, Gregg had once again graciously set us up with some loaner cars from the dealership to use; a BMW 5-series and a BMW X3 M Sport. Such sweet rides! After running a few errands, including a trip to Safeway and another to Costco, we welcomed additional team members, Nick and Marc.
Race Week Day 1: Registration & Tech inspection
The next morning, we brought the truck and trailer with my race car inside over to the Broadmoor World Arena for scrutineering. I also met PPIHC’s new content creator, Cecilia, and we did a quick on-camera interview together.
After registration, the car along with me and my gear were weighed together to ensure compliance with classing and rulesets.
PPIHC has a very rigorous technical inspection process; both to ensure fairness for the sport and also safety for drivers, crew, staff, and volunteers.
A lot of work goes into this small sticker. I was thrilled to give my Crew Chief, Mike, the honors of putting our tech stickers onto the car this year. We had officially been approved to race in the 103rd running!
For 2025, PPIHC launched a new competitor badge design. I like that they now have photos on them.
After tech, a few of us decided to head up to the mountain. By this time, Edgar and Drew along with Erik and David from JRZ had arrived— marking 11 total for this year’s team. And though they couldn’t be there with us in-person this year— Jon, Victoria, Harley, Bowen, Al, Thelma, Nate, Matteo, Lamson, Bryc, Jessica, Raena, Austin, and Brian were all with us in spirit.
I enjoyed being able to drive up to the summit for a few reasons: to start getting acclimated, because it’s always a gorgeous drive, and so that members of the team who didn’t get a chance to go up there last year could check that box. We also snuck in a few push-ups to try and build some red blood cell count. Don’t laugh at our terrible form!
And of course, the team just had to eat some donuts at the summit. As usual, I was the only one to skip out because of my (now one-year old) tradition to wait until after I reach the summit on race day. Ian, Drew, and Edgar also picked up some souvenirs for loved ones at home. I was digging the dinosaur.
Race Week Day 2: Practice & Qualifying in the Lower section
The next morning, we were assigned to run the Lower Section of the mountain (from Start Line to just before Glen Cove) because it was Qualifying for the Unlimited Class and the Open Wheel Class. I ended up laying down a 4:10.128 which represented a 4.6~ second improvement over last year’s qualifying time. However, because competition was much higher this year it put me only 8th in Unlimited Class and the 15th Fastest Overall this year by the end of the week. Ride-along with me for that run here:
After leaving the mountain, we went back to Winslow BMW to give the car a thorough once-over, checking every nut and bolt, as well as the alignment. We also pulled the spark plugs to make sure they were healthy (given the use of nitrous this year) and to top off the n2o bottles. The next morning, we would be running the Middle Section of the mountain, from Glen Cove to just before Devil’s Playground.
Race week day 3: practice in the middle section
As usual, we got up to the mountain right at 3:30am when gates opened, and quickly set up our pit area before warming the tires. Mike graciously offered to keep me warm too. What a gentleman, haha!
In 2024, I had very little practice in the Middle Section because of rain, ice, and fog. Well, it seemed as if the mountain was determined to make it challenging for me in the Middle Section once again this year, because we began the morning with wet and icy conditions— as such, I ran the first two runs on Toyo Wet tires.
Making my way back down to the pit area after my second run of the morning.
However, Codie (thank you) let me know that he felt conditions were good enough for slicks, so long as I was careful to avoid a few key areas and as long as I went straight in a few areas over the sketchy bits. I trusted his judgment and decided to go for it on the final run of the day, resulting in a time of 2:46.120. Some of it was definitely still sketch! Ride-along with me for that run here:
After getting off the mountain, we did our usual end of day prep procedures on the car, before having a delicious dinner back at the Airbnb.
Race week day 4: practice in the upper section
This day ended up being pretty rough because on run two, after my initial sight lap, I ended up snapping an axle in the incredibly bumpy Boulder Park area of the run. Doh! All of the veterans were right, the bumps were way worse this year compared to in 2024. Yikes.
As such, it ended our day early but that didn’t stop us from getting the car back together quickly (we had spares waiting at Winslow BMW), analyzing data/video to find even more speed in the setup, and enjoying some delicious tacos made by Mike at the house.
Race week day 5: practice in the upper section (again)
Because our Thursday was cut short by broken drivetrain components, I reached out to Dan and Alex at PPIHC to see if they would allow us to run the Upper Section again (since we were originally assigned to the Lower Section) on Friday morning— and they graciously accommodated (thank you guys!) This time, with fresh axles on the car and a revised driving line and damper setup, we were in business. The car was flying, and my confidence was back. Ride-along with me for the second fastest run (2:44. 740) of the day, behind only Romain Dumas in the Ford Super Mach-E (2:20.329) here:
Friday fan fest in downtown colorado springs: June 20th
Fan Fest is always one of my favorite events during race week because it’s awesome to see the entire community of Colorado Springs and race-fans from all over the world come out to support the 73 drivers and teams. As a returning member of the “Fast 15” I was once again invited to sign autographs for fans at the Optima Battery stage, and this year we were joined by a LEGEND of the sport, Michele Mouton! To date, she is the only “Queen of the Mountain” earning the title in 1985 when she was the overall winner of Pikes Peak in a factory-backed Audi Sport Quattro S1. Her run of 11:25.39 set a new overall record at the mountain that year. For those of you who don’t know who she is, prior to Pikes Peak, Michele finished 2nd in the World Rally Championship in 1982 behind her Audi works teammate, Walter Rohl. Together, they helped Audi secure its first ever WRC Manufacturers Title. I was so unbelievably stoked to get her autograph, and to take a photo with her and her adorable granddaughter. She also signed my 2025 “Fast 15” award!
I was once again surprised with a new poster of my car at the mountain during Fan Fest. We definitely need to keep this tradition going dude!
After the “Fast 15” signing, I went back to the Toyo Tires booth where my car was on display. I had so much fun hanging out with the team, meeting new fans and friends, and seeing how lit the Leen Customs booth was this year. There were so many cool new pins to collect!
No one handed me any babies this year, but I did sign a car hood, a motorcycle helmet, and I got to rock a new watch for the day.
After a long night at Fan Fest, we brought the car over to Winslow BMW ahead of the next day’s Pre-Race Event. Fun fact: the E46 M3 turned 25 years old in 2025, but it still looks amazing in the BMW dealership service drive.
Saturday morning pre-race day event at winslow bMW of colorado springs: June 21st
My other favorite event during Pikes Peak race week is the pre-race day event at Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs. This year, they once again teamed up with some amazing food truck vendors, and Period Correct for a fun car-show and gathering of motorsports and automotive enthusiasts. It was also the perfect time for us to take some photos together as a team.
Gregg surprised us with a few bottles of TANG because…well, you know. Haha. Too much fun! Thank you, my friend.
After the event ended, we did our final once-over of the car before loading up and heading over to the mountain to get set up for race day.
This year, our friends at Leen Customs made crew shirts for everyone and they look so sick.
I really love how the roof looks this year.
sunday morning: race day for the 103rd running of the pikes peak international hill climb
Race day had finally arrived— once again, we had to get up at 1:30am in order to get to the mountain early enough before they began letting fans in. I continue to be so impressed by how dedicated and passionate Pikes Peak fans are, it’s really amazing. After we got back up to our pit area with Toyo Tires on Pikes Peak Highway, we settled down to take a nap. Once the sun came up though, it was game time.
This year, the format for the start was a bit different. Rather than inverting the “Fast 15” like in 2024, PPIHC would run Enthusiast Class 3/2/1, all of GT4 Class slowest to fastest, Time Attack Class 3/2/1, Open Wheel Class 3/2/1, Pikes Peak Open Class 3/2/1, Unlimited Class 3/2/1, and then the rest by qualifying time (fastest to slowest). As such, my 15th Overall qualifying position resulted in me being 25th on race day to take the green flag. By my estimates with a 7:30am start time, I was expecting to enter the start-box some time between 9:45am and 10:30am.
Unfortunately, the mountain had other ideas. Around 7am we learned that the race start would be delayed by 30 minutes. At 8am, we were told an additional delay would be implemented. By 8:30am, all drivers were asked to gather by the stage for a second driver’s meeting (we had our first meeting at 6:30am). After waiting around until 9:15am, with rumors and questions swirling, we learned from PPIHC Officials that due to 80+ MPH winds up top, with flying rocks, debris, and dangerous conditions for drivers and safety workers— the 103rd running would be shortened to just after Glen Cove.
Drivers would turn around after George's Corner and wait to go back down until the end of the event. And while I fully respected and understood the rationale for safety; personally I was bummed to not be able to race the full distance. My team and I, along with our incredible partners all worked so hard to prepare for a sub-10 minute record attempt and it was heartbreaking to not be allowed to try and achieve our collective goal— especially when data confirmed that it was well within reach.
For what it's worth, during practice and qualifying on Tuesday June 17th through Friday June 20th, my sector times were as follows:
Lower 4:10.128 (Sector 1 and 2: Start Line to just before Glen Cove)
Middle 2:46.120 (Sector 3: Glen Cove to just before Devil's Playground)
Upper 2:44.740 (Sector 4: Devil's Playground to the Finish Line)
If you add these times up, you'll see that we would have landed in the low 9:5x or perhaps even a high 9:4x had we been able to go to the summit. Definitely frustrating that I didn't get to try and put it all together on race day. But as many veterans have told me before, "the mountain decides."
^ Everyone on the team signed my carbon kevlar nitrous bottle to wish me good luck and to commemorate the run. It was like they were all riding along with me up the mountain. Love you guys, seriously.
And now, for the race day run. For the reduced official race distance, I clocked a 4:20.729 which was good enough for 6th in Unlimited Class (P1-P5 were either prototype carbon tubbed cars or full tube-frame chassis), and 11th Overall out of 73 competitors. I was also the fastest production vehicle of the day. These are tremendous results for any team, and even more so for one that has only been to the mountain twice ever. It is truly something that we, my team and my partners, should all be very very proud of.
It was hilarious to see all of the drivers, myself included, putting rocks in front of there wheels since we were all parked on a downhill slope. And of course, we still got our donuts!
Watch this clip shot on my Osmo Pocket 3 at the finish area:
Roadtrip Home to california
After another memorable Parade of Champions drive back down to wave at so many incredible fans on Sunday afternoon, we packed up the car and went back to the Airbnb for a well-deserved celebration dinner as a team. In the morning, we got back on the road for the drive home to California. Jem and I were both pretty pumped up still from race day, so we decided to one-shot it back. We made it in 30~ hours, which included stops for gas, bathroom breaks, and food. Pretty impressive!
Unfortunately, when we got back to the shop we noticed our rear trailer hatch/ramp was slightly opened. Odd. When opened the trailer, we were devastated to discover that the car had been damaged during strong wind gusts on Pacheco Pass, just 75 miles from home. I remember feeling our trailer being aggressively blown sideways, and seeing a semi-truck tank slap in front of us in the same section of road. The gusts must have moved the trailer so hard sideways, that one of the E-Track strap pins snapped; freeing the car. Ugh. The car left Colorado in mint condition, and got damaged by weather just 90 minutes from home, in between when we last checked on it and when we arrived. What are the odds…
We’re still assessing everything, but so far it looks like we have a broken front end plate, bent wing uprights and support bracing inside the trunk area, a broken APR GT-1000 wing, and a broken trunk. Clearly, wind has not been our friend this year. =/
immense gratitude…Thank You
As you guys know by now, I always save the best part for last. So once again, I would like to give huge thanks to these amazing people for their support in making this effort and result possible:
Mike, Jon, Matteo, Nate, Lamson, and Vic at Trackspec Autosports
Karl, Cameron, Dionne, Stan, and Steve at Toyo Tires
Hansel at Leen Customs
Mike, Robbie, and Roger at AIM Sports Data
Mark and Vittorio at Eibach
Erik, David, and Tom at JRZ Suspension Engineering
Jei at Blacktrax Performance
Ben and Nick at EMtron
Eddie and Jimmy at Titan-7 Wheels
Bart and Ruud at Drenth Gearboxes
Tony at VAC Motorsport
Martin and Willy at Supertech Performance
Nate at Steeldust Machine
John at Nitrous Outlet
Karl, Craig, and Sandra at Active Autowerke
Casper at Rotrex Superchargers
Aaron at Radium Engineering
Mikko at MRT Engineering
Ryan at Motorsport Hardware
Danny at G-LOC Brakes
Dominik at Flossman Motorsport
KC at APR Performance
Alli, Shareef, and Sean at SS Customs
Max at Alpinestars
HaoMing at WSGlobal
Nick at Cahill Films
Ian at Mini Camera Media
Jessi, Rob, and Charles at SafeCraft Racing
Edgar at EMP for your epic still-captures and for jumping into video work this year
Jem for safely bringing the car and everything we needed to/from the mountain
Marc for once again being willing to jump in and help as needed
Drew for coming to share in an unforgettable adventure with me and for all of your help— since day one bro!
Robb, Codie, and Clint for your mentorship and guidance at the mountain
Alex, Lisa, Dan, Randy, Josh, Matt, Melissa, Cecilia, and the entire team of volunteers, stewards, officials, medical, and safety crews at PPIHC— you guys are such a world class organization
Gregg, Phil, Ann, Bryan, Derek, Josh, and the entire team at Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs for making us feel so at home and a part of the family when we were thousands of miles away
what’s next
I’ve already been asked this question quite a few times since Sunday, and it is something that I am also asking myself about. For now, I am unsure as to whether or not we will return to the mountain in 2026. This event is a huge lift, especially for a privateer such as myself and I expended every resource available to get my team to/from Pikes Peak this year. But it certainly feels like we have unfinished business at the mountain.
My hope is that we can rally the right amount of support with new and existing partners/sponsors to mount a return. As we’ve shown this year, the record and perhaps even a podium finish and/or a win is absolutely on the table. Regardless of where things end up, I know one thing is for certain: we will come back stronger. Always.
All photos above were either taken by me on my iPhone or by Edgar Molina (thank you).