King of the Mountain, the Legacy of Uncle Bobby: Bobby Unser – S1 Pikes Peak 40th Anniversary (1986)
By: Aaron Plante
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the Q3 issue of 2021 in quattro Magazine. Click here to view the magazine in full. Not yet a member? Join today to unlock this exclusive benefit and many more!
A few years ago, while traveling to New Mexico, I made a pit stop in Albuquerque to visit the Unser Racing Museum. Not being a huge Indy fan, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but any automobile or racing museum is usually worth the trip. As anyone who knows of the Unsers, the museum starts where the Swiss immigrants did: Colorado Springs, CO at the foot of Pikes Peak. After the main entrance, you hang a left into a relatively small nook filled with vintage motorcycles and open-wheeled racers that were built and raced by the Unser family since the 1930s. In the corner sits Al Unser’s 1961 Pikes Peak single seater atop faux granite gravel as well as a small block Chevy and a 1956 winning Jaguar six-cylinder.
In a window case highlighting Robby Unser’s career is a photo of an unknown Audi 5000 in racing livery…the only sign of the Unser Audi connection. An interesting choice considering Audi and Bobby Unser’s relationship in the mid-80s. I was expecting homage to the Talladega Audi 5000 CS or, more appropriately, the red, white, and blue livery Sport quattro S1 E2. But those are living at Olaf Manthey’s shop at the Nürburgring in the case of the 5000, while the S1 E2 chassis used in ’86 was reused again in ’87, a configuration it retains today in the Audi Tradition collection.
The Unser Museum did offer some great insight on what it was like to pilot anything and everything up the switchbacks of Pikes Peak as the air thinned and temperature cooled racing up to 14,000 feet. But the better way to get that feeling, is to go there yourself.
Watch Bobby address an Audi Club dinner at Pikes Peak in 2012
The Peak
While history tells us a tribe of Utes were the first to settle on Pikes Peak in 500 A.D., the Unsers (1950s A.D.) are arguably the most known tribe of people associated with the highest summit of the southern range of the Rocky Mountains. Pikes Peak, or El Capitan, as it was known by early Spanish settlers, has much to offer the casual tourist. You can scale the 13 miles on foot, via the Barr Trail, or take the world’s highest cog railroad (Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway) to enjoy a high-altitude doughnut and visit the gift shop. But if you want to earn that collapsible doughnut and feel what it’s like to scale the mountain like the legendary four rings, drive it yourself via Pikes Peak Highway.
This 19-mile stretch of switchbacks, dubbed “The W’s,” makes up the 12.42 miles of the world-famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb motor race. The twisties and high elevation are more than enough to make the mountain highway special, but in the early days it was all gravel and sand. Pulverized granite to be specific, thought to be the remnants of a magma flow crystallized beneath the Earth’s crust a billion years ago before being thrust up to create the summit. The pink Pikes Peak granite gives off the characteristic brick-red color that hill climbers have stirred up for decades. It also poses some unique challenges in maintaining the necessary grip to stay on the highway.
These challenges combined with modernization (and a lawsuit), prompted the city of Colorado Springs, set at the base of Pikes Peak, to pave the infamous road. Paving began in 2002, with about 10% completed per year. By 2012, the racing track portion of the highway was completely paved removing a core element of the track’s legacy. As more of the track became paved, times quickened iterating the challenge that granite posed in the early days of the race.
King of the Mountain
The adventurous, dangerous, and outright insane have been attempting to be the fastest to The Race to the Clouds since the race was established in 1916 by Spencer Penrose after widening the narrow gravel road into the Pikes Peak Highway. In the 30s, fierce rivalries were established between the then most winning driver, Glen Shultz, and Albuquerque-based Louis Unser who was determined to take the top spot. In 1934, Unser took the overall win in a Stutz Special with a time of 16:01.800. Unbeknownst to Unser, this was the start of a 70-year presence of Unsers on the peak with Robby Unser grabbing the last family victory in 2004 (11:47.280). Throughout those 70 years, the Unsers became synonymous with the mountain, as proved by yet another nickname for the mountain top: “Unser’s Peak.”
Bobby Unser first climbed the mountain as a passenger in the family car at the age of seven. He had always been scared of heights, but he used that to drive his passion for racing up the mountain. He caught the racing bug early, starting his racing career in 1949 at the age of 14 in a Modified (stock car). But it was watching his uncle Louis (who ended his career with 9 overall wins) speeding up the mountain a few years prior that started his fixation with Pikes Peak. He recalled watching his uncle and thinking he could do it better. So, with a knack for engineering and a death wish he set off to conquer the peak. He made his first attempt in 1955, finishing 5th overall behind two of his brothers. He spent that time between races making engineering improvements.
Many of these tweaks were ground-breaking. Firestone was the only company available in the early days making a mud and snow tire. The Unsers were often short on cash back then and couldn’t afford Firestones, so they worked with a local guy that recapped tires. This gave them the ability to experiment with lots of different rubber and miscellaneous materials, as well as using two-ply tires. They tried adding many materials, such as crushed batteries but settled on walnut shells. As the tire was ground down by the granite, the walnut shells would fly out of the rubber making the tire surface spongelike. The spongey layer would grab onto the granite track offering three times more grip than standard rubber.
This was a game changer for the Unsers who would dominate the hill climb. Soon after, Unser contacted Goodyear and got them to produce prototypes with different sizes of crushed walnuts. Unser picked the one that “looked right” and Goodyear went into production. This became the tire of choice for racing up Pikes Peak, and variants of this compound are still in use today.
Another innovation was the engine. His father, Jerry Unser, was an auto mechanic and had a garage and gas station in Albuquerque where they did most of their work on the homemade race cars. Jerry Unser was used to working with foreign cars and became the first to build a 3.8L Jaguar engine out of their 3.4L block. This went into the Unser Special that took his first win in 1956. Jaguar later took that design to make their own version of the now famous 3.8L that was the engine of choice for the first series E-types. He raced the Special with annual tweaks for the next seven years winning six consecutive hill climbs from 1958 to 1963.
During that time Unser continued to hone his engineering skills focusing on suspension, engine modifications, and tires. Unser’s intimacy with the circuit and the cars propelled him to a living legend. When he wasn’t winning at Pikes Peak, he was still involved with the family wins of his brother Al and later son Robby. He had also started his Indy racing career around the same time. Nevertheless, by 1968 Unser had amassed nine wins matching Uncle Louis’s record. He stepped away from the mountain, and in the 70s turned his focus to Indy. The record would stand for another 18 years until his rendezvous with Audi.
The Audi Sport quattro
While Unser was focusing on Indy, Audi was focusing on the quattro production car. But its vision went beyond placing an all-wheel drive system into a coupe. By 1978 the Audi Sport Department was created to rally race the FWD Audi 80. In the early 80s the quattro had stolen the spotlight and championships in the rally world, virtually unbeatable. Soon after, the Audi quattro A2 was developed to maintain domination in the sport.
By 1984, the competition had leveraged the liberal Group B rally regulations entering mid-engine race cars designed purely for rally racing and only visually resembling production cars. While Audi did have a secret program working on the same, concurrently it evolved the true production model Audi quattro into the Sport quattro S1. The S1 was significantly shorter to reduce weight and improve handling. However, it wasn’t enough to counter the now heavier (62%) front axle weight distribution (up 2% from the A2’s 60/40 front/rear distribution). Nonetheless, the short rear allowed for quicker turn-in and reduced rear stability offsetting the understeer challenges of the quattro. In addition, the engine block was switched to aluminum and upgraded from 10 to 20 valves giving the five-cylinder 450 bhp. The only way to optimize these upgrades was to throw the car into turns running best at full throttle and sideways. Despite these upgrades, the S1 struggled to compete against the purpose-bred rally entries of Peugeot and Lancia with even the A2 beating the S1 for season stats.
In 1985, Audi Sport engineers sought to compensate for the weight distribution issue and overall performance with the Sport quattro S1 E2. When you think quattro and rally, you likely think of the E2. This iteration moved anything (and everything) that could be relocated to the rear of the car. Key components like the alternator, and engine cooling elements such as the radiator, and oil and transmission cooler were all stowed behind the rear wheels. This drastically improved the weight distribution to 51/49 front to rear and also improved engine access for pit stops. In addition, the engine was updated with more torque and 590 bhp. The E2 was more competitive but no longer dominated in Group B. Audi secretly shifted focus to their mid-engine prototype.
This was also the year that Audi claim their first overall victory at Pikes Peak with Audi Sport rally driver Michele Mouton at the wheel of an S1. She was the first (and only) woman to win the hill climb and broke the course record with a time of 11:25.390.
In 1986, Audi’s plans changed yet again as the Group B rally came to a tragic end in the spring with the death of a spectator during the Portugal Rally. Audi pulled its coupes out of factory-backed rally racing with the end of Group B and the end of the Audi Sport quattro’s era seemed imminent.
But Audi and the Sport quattro S1 E2 still had something to prove. As did Bobby Unser.
An Audi, an Unser, and the Peak
The end of Group B, Mouton’s 1985 win at Pikes Peak in the earlier S1, and Unser’s Audi 5000 CS promotional work with Audi earlier that year would prove to be serendipitous. Audi wanted the S1 E2 to take a victory and without Group B rally, Pikes Peak was the next best place. Unser couldn’t let go of the fact a French woman had taken the Pikes Peak overall win and course record (nothing against the French…he would later say) and wanted to reclaim his “King of the Mountain” throne.
While it may sound like a win:win, there was one problem…Walter Röhrl. The Germans wanted their rally star and Sport quattro S1 E2 driver to pilot the new S1 E2 up the mountain. Bobby had other ideas. With the Talladega promotions (see Q2_2021, pp. 44-45), Bobby had earned the Audi engineers’ respect. He was heavily involved in modifying the 5000 CS to get it where it needed to beat the 16 or so records. Then there was his unmatched knowledge of Pikes Peak itself and the engineering innovations he had used to make Uncle Louis’s record of nine overall wins.
Audi, on the other hand, wanted their star car and driver together to take the Pikes Peak course win. They also weren’t keen on an American winning in the S1. To pile on, Peugeot had also fielded an entry that was lighter and faster. Following the Group B rally end, Audi was keen on defeating Peugeot in the dirt. As the details were being worked out, Unser took a spin in the S1 E2 with Audi’s German rally star Walter Röhrl. He did four laps on a track to show Unser the car. Unser then famously asked if he could take the wheel and beat Röhrl’s record with him in the car.
Bobby also hadn’t signed a release and leveraged the newly minted world records, and engineering knowledge to push Audi to put him behind the wheel for ‘86. Unser wanted another go at the record, so Röhrl would have to wait another year. This line of thinking didn’t go unchallenged, even by Unser’s own brother Al, who told him he was crazy. At 52 years old, he could ruin his reputation if he lost Pikes Peak with the best car on the track. But Unser had to do it.
Both parties came to an understanding and Unser and the Audi engineers set to work on modifying the S1 E2 for Pikes Peak. Together they worked on tires, throttle bodies (swapping out one for two smaller units with equal airflow), and the glorious turbo. Unser and Röhrl alike loved the driver-controlled turbo that never shut off unless the driver flipped the switch. This gave them full power all the time which worked beautifully with the all-wheel drive quattro.
After a few months of engineering, and a day of practice, on July 12, 1986, Bobby Unser set to reclaim his title of King of the Mountain, take the overall record, and become the winningest driver of Pikes Peak. With a time of 11:09.220, Unser took back the crown breaking Mouton’s time by 16 seconds. He still holds the record for most overall wins (10) at Pikes Peak, with his uncle in second place with nine wins.
Sport quattro Pikes Peak Edition
But the story wasn’t over. Audi and Unser owed Röhrl a shot at the mountain and the Audi Sport quattro S1 E2 had one more evolution in its frame. In 1987, Audi returned to Unser Peak. Dubbed the S1 E2 Pikes Peak, this famous Audi was purpose bred for The Rally to the Clouds. Further efforts were made to lighten the car resulting in a new perfect 50/50 weight distribution. The aero was completely revisualized to improve downforce and cornering including a giant front spoiler and the iconic double-stack rear spoiler. The engine was retuned again with focus on improving horsepower and ensuring it could more easily cool in the thin air atop the mountain’s 14,000-foot summit. While figures vary from 650 bhp to 1000 bhp, Röhrl claimed in an interview it was 750 bhp. More improvements were made to the turbo as well as the inclusion of an anti-lag system to keep the turbo spinning.
Meanwhile Unser was at home preparing to watch the race. From his perspective, Röhrl had been a good sport, having given Unser room in last year’s race and he wanted to return the favor. But earlier that week, Unser got a call from Audi to come to Pikes Peak. Unser explained he had no interest in interfering, but Audi pushed him and he soon realized something must be wrong.
The car wasn’t performing. According to Unser, the car was set up for a rally, not for Pikes Peak (see inset for instructions on how to drive fast at Pikes Peak). Working with Audi engineers, Unser helped set the car up as he had raced it in 1986 and told Röhrl he couldn’t run Pikes Peak like a rally and told him to watch videos of his climb. The next morning, Röhrl had copied Unser’s style and nailed it. Unser was quick to note that Röhrl was an incredible driver and that only a great driver can change technique that quickly and effectively.
The Audi Sport quattro got one last run to victory before retiring. Walter Röhrl and the S1 E2 PP (Pikes Peak) tore up Pikes Peak in 10:47.850. The first to break the 11-minute barrier and third consecutive over-all win at Pikes Peak for Audi.
The End
Although Audi and Unser’s collaboration was short, it made for a lot of history and legend. Unser admitted in an interview with Marshall Pruett, that had they not paved the road, many of his secrets (walnuts in tires, suspension and handling modifications) would have never been revealed. Unser was racing royalty from Pikes Peak to Indy and will be remembered. This past May, Bobby Unser passed away at the age of 87 in his home in Albuquerque, NM.
If you get the chance, I encourage you to visit the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque to see his family’s impact on auto racing and the city.
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