PIKES PEAK, Colo. — Veteran driver Bruce Canepa and the Kenworth Truck Company race team set a record yesterday during qualifying for Saturday’s 80th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

For the third consecutive year, Canepa is driving the Kenworth T2000/CFI Peak Performer in the world-renowned event. The race to the Pikes Peak summit is held on a challenging 12.42-mile course, which features 156 twisting turns and 4,700-ft elevation gain.

Canepa’s time of six minutes 8.72 seconds over the six-mile qualifying course broke his own mark of six minutes 22.89 seconds set in 2000 in the Big Rig — Highway Division for tandem-axle trucks. During the record run, Canepa clocked a top speed of 86.8 mph.

The Kenworth T2000/CFI Peak Performer is powered by a Caterpillar C-16,
six-cylinder engine modified to provide an estimated 1,375hp at 2,600 rpm and 4,000 pound-feet of torque at the starting line elevation. By the time the vehicle reaches the summit, the thin air will drop the power to 1,290hp.

“The T2000 is definitely working better than ever, ” says Canepa following his record run. “The course was real hard with lots of loose gravel. But the CAT engine performance was smooth, the ZF gearbox was awesome, and the Bridgestone tires gave me as much traction as you can have on that kind of surface. It shows that all the changes we’ve made since last year have helped.”