This might be the gnarliest thing that Travis Pastrana has ever done. The Mount Washington Hillclimb runs up one of the steepest, narrowest, bumpiest roads in the country, next to thousand foot drops. Pastrana broke his own record with a 5:44 run, half off the mountain itself.
The Climb to the Clouds is like the Pikes Peak hillclimb, only steeper, rougher and more challenging. It runs up to the top of Mt. Washington, the tallest mountain in the northeast. You look down on the clouds up there, and you have maybe a lane and a half of broken pavement and dirt between you and all that free air.
The standing record from the event’s last running in 2014 was surely going to fall this year, as Subaru’s cars for the 2017 event were running a good 600 horsepower and no co-drivers weighing things down. Pastrana’s car was on another level of speed. But beyond that his driving was utterly unhinged. When you see him tipping a wheel off the side of the mountain, know that he’s completely bonkers.
Here he is sideways through the finish line:
And here he is with the flag he earned breaking his own record, taking it from teammate David Higgins who crashed earlier in the day.
I can’t wait to see the full onboard.
UPDATE: Subaru’s Launch Control video team just finished editing the run in full.