While New Zealand-born Rhys Millen has become a race and drift legend in his own right, his father Rod Millen was taming the tarmac long before Rhys was born – holding the Pikes Peak world record for an astonishing 13 years from 1994 to 2007.
Now Rhys is set on returning that record to the Millen family, aiming to clock the first ever sub-10 minute time for the 20km “Run to the Clouds” – in a Hyundai.
Rhys Millen Racing is fabricating a modern Le Mans-style racer, called the RMR Hyundai Genesis PM580, powered by a 4.1-liter Hyundai Lambda turbocharged V6 engine to accomplish his goal of claiming the track record in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Unlimited Class.
As its name would suggest, the ‘Unlimited’ class allows teams to conquer the legendary mountain in whatever they like – without restrictions.
In the case of Rhys Millen Racing, this means around 560kW in a car weighing less than 850 kilograms – more than enough to tackle the mountain.
The car will feature an aerodynamic carbon fibre body with an active rear wing – a technology outlawed it most forms of racing – to create less drag during the straight-aways and much-needed downforce through the twisty parts and when braking.
“We are building a car for today’s road,” said Millen “The car will have a sleek aerodynamic body, the grip of Toyo Proxy tires and the power and durability of a Hyundai engine. This is the package I need to break the record.”
It will use an active centre differential typical of most road-rally cars which will allow a 10 to 100 percent torque split to the front wheels to adapt to the track as it transitions from asphalt to dirt and back again.
This, according to Rhys Millen Racing, will address a fundamental reason on perhaps why the 10-minute record has not fallen, with most race cars not performing well on both dirt and asphalt.
