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…
2025 Pikes Peak: Tom Tang Finishes P6 in Unlimited, 11th Overall—Fastest Production Car & Fastest BMW
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.
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.
2024 Pikes Peak Documentary Short-Film
“Have fun. Don’t die. Finish. And then run a respectable time." -@tomchutang // These were the straightforward, and yet powerful goals Tom set for himself as he faced the 2024 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for the very first time. Join us for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes journey with Tom and his dedicated team as they tackle one of the most challenging and legendary races in the world with their Eibach powered, AiM Sports Data and JRZ Suspension equipped E46 BMW M3 on Toyo Tires, built by Trackspec Autosports.
10:31.372 at the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
The team arrived back in Colorado Springs on Saturday, June 15th and we were greeted at COS airport by some really cool window artwork promoting this year’s race. After leaving the airport, we immediately headed over to our home-away-from-home: Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs and we were met with another fun surprise; this year’s “Signature” car, a BMW Z3M coupe and “Parade of Champions” car, a new BMW i5 M60 electric performance sedan. The liveries for both cars were unique for the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Legendary PPIHC Hall Of Fame Inductee, Clint Vahsholtz, was this year’s driver of the “Parade of Champions” car; which meant that after the race on Sunday he would lead all of the competitors down from the summit of the mountain back to the start-line. It’s an incredible honor, and I can think of no one better for the job considering Clint has raced Pikes Peak 30 times. And out of those 30 times, he’s won his class 24 times and he was King of the Mountain in 2020. Wow!
Pikes Peak: First Test Weekend At The Mountain
Following several successful planned test days at our home track of Sonoma Raceway in April and May, we finally arrived at the first Official Test Weekend ahead of the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC). This weekend took place on Saturday and Sunday June 1st-2nd, and as a rookie I was informed by the event-organizers that my performance across both days would be evaluated in order to make a final determination of my eligibility to race on June 23rd. No pressure or anything, but game on.
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.