2010 Rookie of the Year

Savannah Rickli, Rookie of the Year Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2010, announces return to world’s most famous hill climb.

Savannah Rickli, the youngest ever driver to cross the finish line at the world famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, is proud to formally announce her entry into the 2011 event scheduled to be held on June 26^th 2011. Savannah was 16 years and 11 months old when she finished the PPIHC in 2010, and was awarded the prestigious “rookie of the year” award by event organizers. Rebecca Greek, one of the most respected co-drivers in North America, will once again partner with Savannah, guiding her up one of the most treacherous race courses in the world.

Savannah, now 17, from Littleton, Colorado, started racing at age 11 in a go-kart that she purchased using her own savings money. Born into a racing family, speed was always in her blood, and Savannah has pursued her dream of becoming a professional race car driver with a burning desire and deep passion. In the 11 months since Savannah signed a motorsports management contract with Grant Barclay and Mark Baer of SCR Management, her accomplishments have been literally amazing. Apart from her achievements racing at Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, finishing 3^rd in Time Attack 2wd, Savannah has managed to work towards her SCCA National License; competed in a full season of Ice Racing; raced in SCCA Rally Cross Nationals; appeared as the one of the drivers featured by 9 News Denver during sweeps week; debuted her Mini Cooper S at the 2010 Denver Auto Show; and has managed to drive thousands of miles while training in her Rotax go-kart and race prepared Mini Cooper S.

The 2003 Mini Cooper S that Savannah Rickli races is owned and prepared by Built-By-Bones, a Fort Collins, CO race team. Support at events is provided by SCR Performance, a Loveland, CO business specializing in aftermarket and performance products for European car brands, both companies have supported Savannah since the start of her pro-racing career. Grant Barclay, Team Principal of Built-By-Bones, was quoted saying “Savannah has a sense of maturity and professionalism that I have not seen in many drivers in my 25 years of Pro Racing. Her dedication to being successful in motor sport is what first attracted my attention to this young lady, and when she expressed an interest in racing at Pikes Peak, I committed to help her in any way I could”. Barclay committed his race car and team, and brought along the many contacts acquired during a long career in racing. He and Mark Baer, president of SCR Performance, formed SCR Management to manage and market Savannah Rickli as she works her way to a full time professional driving contract.

Savannah and her team are still working on finalizing sponsorship deals for the 2011 season, but have already signed several new and existing sponsors to support the team.

DirtFish Rally School, Located in Snoqualmie, WA, Just 30 minutes from Seattle, provides training programs for rally drivers, from those new to rally driving right through to competitive racers. With the Pikes Peak Race course containing 2.5 miles of dirt road in 2011, Savannah is excited to spend 3 days at Dirtfish in March to train and improve her dirt driving skills. www.dirfish.com

Group4 Autosport, a leader in Aerodynamic performance parts for Mini’s and other Brands, is supporting Savannah and her team with development of parts specifically for Pikes Peak, including wings, canards, splitters and diffusers. Several of the Group4 Autosport Team will be in attendance at PPIHC 2011 and will have their products on display at FanFest on Friday June 24^th, in downtown Colorado Springs, on the Mini Cooper S Hill Climb Special. Mark Baer, one of Savannah’s managers, said “we are so excited to have a company like Group4Autosport sign up to be part of the team. Their support, helping Savannah build a reputation at PPIHC, has already shown results, with a substantial improvement in lap times of the race car”.www.group4autosport.com

MC2 – The independent magazine for all Mini owners. MC2 is a returning sponsor, and will be featuring Savannah and her Mini Cooper S hill Climb Special in several issues in 2011. Check out the Annual Racing Issue, Issue # 30 March 2011. Available through subscription, or at your local Mini Dealer, MC2 remains the best Mini-specific publication printed.www.MC2magazine.com

Race Central TV and Media is your home for everything motorsports. Kurt Hansen, host of Race Central, is one of Savannah’s original sponsors, and returns for the 2011 season. Race Central TV is seen in over 85 million households throughout the USA, and is also available online for download. In addition to the TV show, Kurt also hosts a weekly radio show on Denver’s Mile High Sports, FM 93.7.www.racecentalmedia.com

Lift Up America, a nonprofit humanitarian aid movement that provides hope and opportunities for success to the less fortunate by engaging today’s leaders and partnering with corporations, sports and entertainment, education, media, government, and nonprofit organizations. Through unique events that expand one’s worldview, Lift Up America provides life aid to help support the physical, emotional and personal development of the less fortunate, and challenges them to become ambassadors of compassion to help lift up their own communities and America. Savannah will be speaking at several events hosted by Lift Up America, and is excited to be involved with such an inspiring organization, she hopes to serve as an example of an athlete who works extremely hard to achieve her goals.www.liftupamerica.org

SCR Performance, a Loveland, CO aftermarket and performance product company that specializes in European Car brands like BMW, Audi, Porsche, Mini and Volkswagen. SCR Performance build high quality street, track and race vehicles, with the ability to provide track support for a variety of motor sport events. From something as simple as race alignments and corner balancing, to full arrive-and-drive, driver instruction programs, SCR Performance can help you improve your racing results. Our advice comes from having tried – and occasionally failed! – Solutions to the issues you may have with your car, or with your driving.  www.scrperformance.com

Built-By-Bones, Ft Collins, CO is a Race Engineering and Fabrication company that designs, builds and supports race vehicles in many disciplines of racing, both on and off road. Experience in all forms of racing, winners of several National Championships, Built-By-Bones is truly a company with a history of on-time, on-spec, on budget successful projects.

Wattle and Daub contractors, a project management and construction company, founded in Torrington, WY (1978), is focused exclusively on historic building preservation, restoration and construction. Wattle and Daub specialize in restoration of important public buildings such as state capitols, courthouses, museums, theatres, churches and schools. Wattle and Daub President, Tom Tisthammer, was one of the very first patrons of Savannah’s career.

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2011

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, PPIHC, is a world famous hill climb that will be held on June 26^th 2011. The 89^th running of the Event, also known as the Race to the Clouds, will attract automobile and motorcycle entrants from all over the world, to tackle the 156 turns over 12.4 miles of paved and dirt roads. The PPIHC is a weeklong celebration of speed and daring, with competitors spending the early part of the week practicing, qualifying and preparing their race machines. Fan-Fest in downtown Colorado Springs on the Friday Evening preceding the race attracts over 35000 fans to see the race cars, race bikes, and race trucks, and allows fans to mingle with their driving hero’s.

With only a couple of miles of unpaved road remaining on the race course, there is a strong possibility that the fabled 10:00 minute barrier may fall to one of the Unlimited Class Vehicles. The current record of 10:01.408 was set in 2007 By Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima.

Savannah Rickli

Savannah Rickli is a 17 year old from Littleton Colorado who has dreams of becoming a professional race car driver. Her family has been racing for decades, and they are long-time volunteers at PPIHC, , so Savannah was born with racing in her blood. Her desire and passion for racing has been evident since she was 11, and used her own savings money to purchase a racing go-kart. After 6 years of karting, Savannah moved to the road race ranks, while still managing to ice race, autocross, and rally-x. She has raced with the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) in the Super Touring Class, and will soon have enough experience for her National License. Savannah hopes to enter the Pro-Driving ranks through the World Challenge series, run by SCCA ProRacing. Savannah graduated a semester early from high school, and is currently enrolled at Metro State College in Denver working towards a degree in Marketing. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends when she is not training as a race car driver.