2026 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb - Fastest BMW Once Again At America’s Mountain During The 104th Running Of The Race To The Clouds - 2nd Place In Unlimited Production Class - 15th Overall
As many readers know, I was pretty torn after 2025’s reduced race distance and on the fence about whether or not to even try and go back for another attempt. But after digesting what took place last year, and reflecting on how I would feel if I regretted not trying again— I realized something. It wasn’t that I just wanted to go back. We needed to go back.
You see, last year all the data pointed to the possibility that we had an overall package capable of going just under 10 minutes at Pikes Peak, which is something I and many other drivers have chased because of how hard that is to do. Setting aside weather and short courses for a second, here’s a fun fact: after 103 years of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb (while the race first began in 1916, it was paused during WWI and WWII), only 36 different drivers have ever achieved a sub-10 minute run. That is a very exclusive club! And one that I very much wanted to join. So, alas. Here we go…
Preparing for Pikes Peak 2025 - First Test Day!
We're gearing up for the 103rd running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, June 22, 2025! Team Trackspec is back and ready to race to the clouds, with Tom Tang behind the wheel once again.
Last 111, First Street Legal K20 Swap? (Part 3)
It’s been a while since we had an update on this car and a lot of people were starting to wonder what happened to it. Between the many obstacles to overcome, developing some custom parts, going back and forth on decisions, the owner of the car (and myself) having two having kids, this became a sideline project in the shop. Our usual chats shifted from the K20 swap to sharing our experiences raising two young children. Although progress was made slowly throughout, I wanted Part 3 to be the final part of the blog.
Restoring an Evora 400
On a Saturday evening earlier this year, I stopped by the shop and unexpectedly saw an Evora in our parking lot that looked like it had been in an accident. I later received an email confirming this, and it had been towed in for an evaluation.
Pikes peak build: part 4
Over the 2023 winter holiday break is when things got really serious for our Pikes Peak car. We used the downtime to get a lot done, including a full rebuild of our Drexler rear diff.
Trackspec's Exige S240 Project: Part 13, K24 Swap Rewire- Emtron ECU and AiM PDM32
It’s been over 3 years since I put the Honda K24 into our Lotus Exige and it was the first car that I made an engine harness for. Although the harness was reliable and never gave me any issues, I felt that my harness building skills have improved much since then. What I really wanted to do was get rid of all of the unused wiring and the mess under the dash.
Pikes peak build: part 3
This chapter of the blog might be the last time we talk about cooling for our 2024 Pikes Peak Hill Climb build…maybe. But in all seriousness, check out this sweet heat-shield setup designed to keep the hot headers from negatively affecting important components; like hard lines for the brake system.
Trackspec's Exige S240 Project: Part 12, Brake Bias Cage
About two years ago, we decided to run a 15/17” wheel stagger for more tire selection, and in doing so, we had to install smaller front calipers (More detail on that here). The Cup brakes that our S240 came with were too big for 15” wheels. We were able to get a few 15” wheels to fit over them, but it required running some large wheel spacers. The set up we decided on were the AP Radical front calipers and the OEM 2 Pot calipers in the rear. Since the changes, the brakes never felt as good as the stock set up. The larger calipers require more fluid volume, and with the stock master cylinder, that meant the pedal had more travel and felt softer. We also noticed more ABS “ice mode”, which could be related to the change in brake bias and front to rear tire diameter.
Pikes peak Build: Part 2
Picking up from where we left off in Part 1…over the past few weeks we have continued to work on ensuring our BMW E46 M3 survives the thin-air and increased cooling demands of Pikes Peak. I sourced a KSR hood vent (thanks Ken) which is the perfect size to serve as a ducted exit for the v-mounted intercooler. We also added an inlet to the driver side carbon fiber lens to feed the hungry Active Autowerke Rotrex C38 supercharger.
Pikes Peak Build: Part 1
Back in March, we announced our plans to tackle one of the most difficult motorsport events in the world; the 102nd running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2024. In preparation for this grueling challenge; which will test us as a team, me as a driver, and the car we build over a distance of 12.42 miles and around 156 turns on the way to a summit elevation of 14,115 feet, we decided to spend the next year taking our time to thoughtfully plan for a successful race to the clouds. While my mental-state and physical conditioning are equally important, for purposes of Part 1 let’s just focus on what most people care about more…the car!
Last 111, First Street Legal K20 Swap? (Part 2)
Before doing anything K-swap related to the new chassis, we started by transferring parts over from the original tub to the new one. Since this was a low mileage car, it wasn’t difficult selling the drivetrain. Timing worked out perfectly as there was another Elise in our shop needing a motor due to a failure.
Trackspec's Exige S240 Project: Part 11, Head Work + GTA
A few months ago, we decided to register for this year’s 2021 Global Time Attack and Super Lap Battle Finals at Buttonwillow. The Exige wasn’t built for time attack, but we thought it would be a fun place to compete and see how capable the Lotus with a K-series really is; even if it is heavily outgunned in its class (because of the rule set, the car falls into Limited, a class that normally sees cars with forced induction engine setups making well over 600whp). We decided to set our own goal of a sub 1:50 lap, which may be the first naturally aspirated Elige to do so. The best time this car had done previously at Buttonwillow 13CW was a 1:51.7 on Falken RT660s.