Savannah Rickli, the youngest ever driver to cross the finish line at the world famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, is proud to formally announce her entry into the 2011 event scheduled to be held on June 26th 2011. Savannah was 16 years and 11 months old when she finished the PPIHC in 2010, and was awarded the prestigious "rookie of the year" award by event organizers. Rebecca Greek, one of the most respected co-drivers in North America, will once again partner with Savannah, guiding her up one of the most treacherous race courses in the world. Savannah, now 17, from Littleton, Colorado, started racing at age 11 in a go-kart that she purchased using her own savings money. Born into a racing family, speed was always in her blood, and Savannah has pursued her dream of becoming a professional race car driver with a burning desire and deep passion. In the 11 months since Savannah signed a motorsports management contract with Grant Barclay and Mark Baer of SCR Management, her accomplishments have been literally amazing. Apart from her achievements racing at Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, finishing 3rd in Time Attack 2wd, Savannah has managed to work towards her SCCA National License; competed in a full season of Ice Racing; raced in SCCA Rally Cross Nationals; appeared as the one of the drivers featured by 9 News Denver during sweeps week; debuted her Mini Cooper S at the 2010 Denver Auto Show; and has managed to drive thousands of miles while training in her Rotax go-kart and race prepared Mini Cooper S. The 2003 Mini Cooper S that Savannah Rickli races is owned and prepared by Built-By-Bones, a Fort Collins, CO race team. Support at events is provided by SCR Performance, a Loveland, CO business specializing in aftermarket and performance products for European car brands, both companies have supported Savannah since the start of her pro-racing career. Grant Barclay, Team Principal of Built-By-Bones, was quoted saying "Savannah has a sense of maturity and professionalism that I have not seen in many drivers in my 25 years of Pro Racing. Her dedication to being successful in motor sport is what first attracted my attention to this young lady, and when she expressed an interest in racing at Pikes Peak, I committed to help her in any way I could". Barclay committed his race car and team, and brought along the many contacts acquired during a long career in racing. He and Mark Baer, president of SCR Performance, formed SCR Management to manage and market Savannah Rickli as she works her way to a full time professional driving contract. Savannah and her team are still working on finalizing sponsorship deals for the 2011 season, but have already signed several new and existing sponsors to support the team.
More news from Savannah.... We are less than a week away from the first official testing day of the 2011 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb! Holy Cow!! It's exciting to look back on where we were just one year ago. The team has made immense progress, and, we have had a ton of fun along the way! It's always funny how we can spend an entire year getting ready for a race, and no matter what it always comes down to the final weeks. The team has been spending quite a bit of time on the MINI getting new parts on it and taking the old graphics off. We are putting some new TCE Performance Products brakes on the car. We all are keeping our fingers crossed that our Federal Tires will arrive into the country and get to Colorado in time for our test at PPIR on Thursday. It's been a bit stressful, but I have a great team behind me and I have no doubt that everything will come together. This past Saturday, Rebecca and I went down to Pikes Peak to perfect our rally notes. Due to some extremely high winds, we were only able to make it Glen Cove, which is about halfway up the mountain. Though we were bummed we didn't make it to the summit, we both found the time on the bottom half to make some final adjustments quite useful. Rebecca and I are both getting very excited for testing on Pikes Peak this weekend. Spending time with her on Saturday made me remember how truly fortunate I am to be running with Rebecca, who is one of the best navigators in the country. She is truly talented, and I have no doubt that this will be another June to remember!
Latest news from Savannah There is no denying that June is my favorite month of the year. May is a pretty cool month for racing...but here in Colorado, June is even better! We are just a few weeks away from the 89th Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. This past weekend was the Official Tire Test weekend on the peak. There were 12 cars and about 25 motorcycles that participated in the test. It was so great to see all of the familiar faces and catch up with the other drivers about what they've been up to the past eleven months. Race day is sure to be exciting this year. Paul Dallenbach will be racing his car in Unlimited again this year...it only has about 1,100 more horsepower than our MINI does! There are several other drivers entered in the Unlimited class that are not going to go down without a fight. The Time Attack class has also had immense growth this season. The test weekend went really well. It felt so good to be back in the car with Rebecca Greek on the mountain. Rebecca is such a talented navigator and I'm so very excited to be working with her once again this year. There is just about two and a half miles of dirt left of the Peak this year. Though there isn't much dirt left, it was still a big part of the weekend. The highway is getting ready to have the last stretch paved, so the dirt was very different than it was last year. It was a lot more "slippy". It gave me a good chance to practice my new rally skills that I learned at DirtFish Rally School this past spring! The Federal Tires did arrive in the states just in time for the weekend! They arrived into California on Tuesday and we had them shipped overnight to Colorado so we could test them on Thursday. What great tires!! After testing them at Pikes Peak International Raceway I was really looking forward to running the tires on the Peak. They have lots of grip to them! The team was very pleased with the tire performance and we are looking forward to race week! In the next couple of weeks we will be making final changes to the car. In additional to mechanical preperations, I'll continue my physical and mental training off the track.