i am thinking about scratching this one of the bucket list. Dos and dont's. Best place to watch? Once, up the hill is there any ability or breaks to allow for travel down the hill?
Do watch this car https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a19932381/volkswagen-id-r-pikes-peak-ev-deep-dive/
1. Meet me face to face. You have to decide if it is a do or a dont. Jokes aside, the experience is a bit muted these days as they tightly control access to the mountain. It used to be like a euro rally where you could set up and watch anywhere but modern day liability concerns ruined it. Do: Hydrate. Just like a race weekend. Its so, so dry. Wear sunscreen. This is no joke. You will burn to a crisp here. Be prepared to throw away following any sort of normal clock. Shit starts EARLY. Prepare for every type of weather. You may see all of them in the same day. Dont: Smoke weed on the mountain. Bring an RV unless you already have reservations or plan to put it many miles away from the mountain. Tent camping is allowed but those spots are likely all reserved. Read: http://ppihc.org/spectator-guide-competitors/
We used to like to watch from cove creek / glen cove. you have to get up somewhere around 3am, and there's a long ass line of cars to get into the park on race day. DO stay in manitou springs or winter park so that you don't have a half hour drive in the morning. once you go up, you cannot come down until the end of the day, usually around 6pm. bring a cooler and chairs, yes you will burn a lot worse up there so sunscreen is important. expect hail, it did that to us two years in a row, one of them was pretty violent with lightning right on top of us. If you decide to watch from devil's playground, it's probably the best vantage point and gives you a great appreciation for what's happening, but you will be very exposed. Also prepare for temps in the 30s in the morning, then it could be as nice as 70 by mid day, obviously the higher you go, the colder it will be. You can drive the full track on saturday before the race, and check out fanfest on friday night. bring a radio. book camping now if you can, it's likely sold out.
