The 149-year-old Mt. WashingtonAuto Road has seen the likes of horses and carriages, camels, people, bicyclesand most famously, competition race cars. Yesterday, traveling at an averagespeed of nearly 72mph in a Vermont SportsCar prepared, BFGoodrich Tires-shod 2011Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car, four-time Rally America National Champion TravisPastrana made sure the project name, Red Bull Speed Chasers, lived up to itsname. He reached the summit faster than anyone else in history by clocking anofficially timed run of 6 minutes 20.47 seconds, besting the previous record bymore than twenty seconds. Amazingly, Pastrana achieved the impressive time onhis first ever high-speed run to the summit. Pastrana has effectively throwndown the gauntlet in advance of the legendary Mt. Washington “Climb to theClouds” Automobile Hillclimb, which will take place in 2011 after a 10-yearhiatus.
The 7.6-mile-long Mt. Washington Auto Road is oneof the ultimate challenges for driver and automobile, the serpentine tarmac andgravel road is … Details