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Honda aims for record breaking Pikes Peak

American Honda is targeting record-breaking success at this year's legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (29-30 June).

The company has taken limited sponsorship of the event and will also campaign vehicles in multiple classes with an eye toward challenging for the overall victory, as well as setting a record for the number of classes entered by a single manufacturer. Underlining the breadth of Honda's product range of cars, motorcycles and ATVs, a total of 10 Honda vehicles have been granted entries.

Often called ‘The Race to the Clouds', Pikes Peak is regarded as the ultimate hill climb and one of the most spectacular motor sports events on Earth. The 12.42-mile course starts at 9,390 feet and culminates at 156 turns later at the 14,110 foot summit of Pikes Peak - America's Mountain.

Although the road surface has been entirely asphalted since 2011, the intrepid competitors still face huge challenges while engines suffer a 30 per cent power loss due to the thin air at the high-altitude finish.

Promising Debut for Uprated HPD Le Mans Prototype
The latest Honda Performance Development ARX-03c made an encouraging, if ultimately unfulfilled, debut in the opening round of this year's FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Silverstone (14 April).

Racing on home ground, the Strakka Racing entry of British trio Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts was forced to start from the very back of the grid after encountering issues during what was a controversial new qualifying format on Saturday.

Undaunted by that setback, Kane underlined the uprated ARX's potential to challenge for top honours among the LMP1 Privateers, coming from 30th on the grid to seventh place in just six laps.

By the start of lap 58 - and with Leventis now at the wheel - the HPD prototype's astonishing progress had reduced the gap to its LMP1 Privateer rivals to just 22 seconds - and closing. The impressive progress, though, was halted when Leventis was squeezed onto the grass when lapping a slower back marker. The car spun and then collided with a Ferrari. The impact broke the hard-charging HPD ARX-03c's front right suspension resulting in immediate retirement.

The Silverstone-based team now will be looking for better luck in round two of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on 4 May and thereafter at the classic Le Mans 24 Hours in June.