Skyscraper, A Technical Look Inside Rhys Millen's Hyundai Genesis PM580 Pikes Peak Open Class Slate Cleaner

The RMR PM580 at speed is a strikingly beautiful car.  Its small, lightweight and tight.  It kinda resembles the bull on the Red Bull logo.

Rod Millen is a guy that has won plenty of titles at Pikes Peak, 13 to be exact, most notably winning the unlimited class in 1994 in a "Toyota Celica" which was really a turbo 4WD tube framed monster that sported more aero downforce than a modern F1 car.  His time of 10.04.06 stood for thirteen years until Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima finally broke it with a time of 10.01.408 in the 1000 hp Suzuki XL7 in 2007.

Car Porn. Like a hot chick the RMR PM580 looks good naked!  Keep going and we will get into the car's private parts.

Rod's son Rhys is not a stranger to the hill either. Although mostly known for his skill on the Formula D circuit, Rhys has won the Open Class and has held Rookie of the Year honors as well as capturing the record in Time Attack Class in his Hyundai Genesis Formula D drift car in 2009.

We got to tag along with the team when they went testing the PM580 the first time at the old El Toro Marine base.

We had heard rumors that Rhys was working with Hyundai and Red Bull to build something fantastic, an unlimited class supercar for Pikes Peak.  Since we are on the Formula D Circuit with Rhys, we asked him what was up and he invited us to his shop for a closer look and to go testing with his team as he rolled the car out for the first time at El Toro.  Amazingly the car was built by the RMR crew in only 4 months.

We also got to see the car at RMR headquarters while it was being prepped for Pikes Peak.

When we arrived at Rhys Millen Racing's Huntington Beach headquarters we were shocked and amazed at the machine that greeted our eyes.  Our jaws dropped at the sight of a slippery and sleek dry carbon body more reminiscent of a ALMS LMP, Daytona Prototype, IMSA GTP or Group C prototype than your typical rally based or Wells Coyote hill climb special Pikes Peak Racer.  In our opinion the RMR Genesis Hill Climb car is the most sophisticated vehicle that anyone in our branch of the performance industry has yet to create.

The driver protection is much improved over the base Palmer chassis, needed for a car that could go off of a several thousand foot cliff!

Rhys's goal is to bring the overall record back under the control of the Millen family and he felt that he had to build a really unique vehicle to do so.  The car had to be lightweight and be uncompromised in its ability to create aerodynamic downforce, especially in thin, low density, high altitude air. Rhys wanted to make the car small, lightweight, nimble and compact.  A small car could be more accurately placed on line on the narrow and tight road to the summit of Pikes Peak.

The crew makes some suspension adjustments during testing at El Toro.

The driver's compartment features a carbon tech seat from a shifter kart, Sparco harness, carbon dash, Sparco wheel, Racepack electronic driver display.  To the left of the driver's seat you can see the Kevlar and stainless steel armored shielded front driveshaft.