Let The Sound Of Rod Millen’s Pikes Peak Tacoma On A Dyno Take You Back In Time

A couple of months back we heard that Rod Millen was going back to Pikes Peak for the 100th race to the clouds in his legendary Toyota Tacoma race truck. Now, we’re getting the chance to hear it sing on a dynamometer as the team works to return it to race worthiness. If the results are indicative of this car’s future, it’ll be a wild run up the mountain.

This is the same exact truck that Millen ran up Pikes peak in 1998, 1999, and 2000. In fact, it was in this truck that Millen finished his dominance of the Peak by winning four times in five years concluding in 1999. The only person to beat him in that span was the also legendary Nobuhiro Tajima. Put simply, this truck and its driver are a perfect addition to the 100th-anniversary celebration of the race in the Exhibition category.

In this video both Rod and his son Rhys take us through the car and all of the work that’s already been done to return it to racing condition. For one thing, the entire fueling system had to be changed over to a more modern one. That in turn, requires a full retuning of the engine and in this case, it means putting it on a four-wheel dynamometer to get the right fuel to air mixture.

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Testing seen in this video is all completed at sea level in California though so once the shakedowns are complete and the car goes back up to elevation it’ll need to be retuned for the thinner air. Despite that, it seems clear that the Tacoma is more than up to the task of taking on the race once again. During initial dyno runs it consistently makes more than 600 hp (447 kW) at the wheels.

According to the tuner, it wouldn’t be shocking if the drivetrain was actually sapping somewhere around 30 percent from that number though. If true, it would mean that this 25-year-old race truck is making close to its original power figure of approximately 1,100-hp (820 kW).

Of course, that’s one of the coolest things about Pikes Peak. The Unlimited class where this truck ran back in the day is truly unlimited aside from safety equipment. It might not keep up with today’s hill climb monsters but we can’t wait to hear it howling again as it races on June 26.

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