Sébastien Loeb and Peugeot smash Pikes Peak record "For me, this was the race of the year," said Loeb. At the beginning of my run there was a bit of pressure for sure because I knew there was so much work and investment from Peugeot and all the partners. Now, after all the practice, it was just down to me and I had to perform. The event is nicknamed the Race to the Clouds. It takes place near Colorado Springs and has been running since 1916, making it the second oldest car race in America, after the Indy 500. Drivers compete for the best time over a 12.4-mile course, which includes 156 corners and climbs to 5,000 feet. Loeb's time meant he averaged more than 87mph in the 875bhp Peugeot, which was built specifically for Pikes Peak. The four-wheel-drive car might look like a racing version of the French manufacturer's supermini, but that's where the similarities end. It has a steel spaceframe chassis and a mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged, 3.2-litre V6 engine, and can accelerate from 0-62mph in 1.8sec and from 0-150mph in 7sec. According to Peugeot's simulation, the 208 should have been capable of a time of 8m 15sec, but the nine-times World Rally Champion eclipsed that. "I really didn't expect anything better than 8m15s, so to do 8m13s was fantastic," said Loeb. Before the start I didn't really know if I should push absolutely to the maximum or if I should just push to a comfortable pace, in order to make sure of the victory. In the end, I decided to push to the limit. Loeb's latest achievement took place 25 years after another World Rally Champion, Ari Vatanen, broke the Pikes Peak record in a Peugeot 405 T16 with a time of 10m 47.22sec. In those days the race took place on a mixture of Tarmac and gravel roads, but in August 2011 the course became fully paved. Not that this should take away from Loeb's achievement; his time was not only 92sec faster than last year's record, but 49sec ahead of second place Rhys Millen in his Hyundai RMR PM580-T.