BMW took about 6,000 pounds of XM Label Red to this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) in a bid to break the record for an SUV driving up the mountain. Rhys Millen set that record in 2018 behind the wheel of a 2018 Bentley Bentayga, taking 10:49.9 to cover the 12.42 miles and 156 turns through nearly 5,000 feet of elevation gain.
Matt Mullins, who is also the head instructor at BMW’s Performance Driving School in South Carolina, would drive the #728 XM Label Red on behalf of BMW Motorsports. Coming full circle, Mullins asked his friend and fellow stunt driver Millen to come on board as program director. Millen agreed.
It should be noted that in 2022, Pirelli test driver Simone Faggioli roared up the hill in a Lamborghini Urus in just 10:32.064, but that run took place in August, two months after the event. The organizing body of the PPIHC, of course, only recognizes records set during the event, so Millen’s name occupies a line in the books for now.
In fact, let’s note that Millen’s name occupies several lines, as the racer/drifter/stunt driver and all-around nice guy also owns the fastest times in the production car, modified electric car, and two-wheel-drive showroom stock categories. Millen had set a production car record of 10:18.488 in a 2019 Bentley Continental GT in 2018 before resetting the record this year in a BMW M8 as a side order to the XM main course, stopping the clock at 10:12.024.
BMW was surprisingly coy about both efforts, initially unsure if it would take the XM, and saying nothing about the XM involved until a few days before the race. Walk softly and carry a big old hybrid SUV and all that.
Or maybe BMW was keeping the mountain’s capriciousness in mind; Pikes Peak loves a surprise, many of which end in crumpled metal, some of which end in death. As it turned out, Mullins’ run was the victim of a crumpled metal kind of surprise. He went off the outside of a fast sweeper in the first section of the course and hit a tree. Fortunately he was unhurt.
BMW has cut a two-part video about the effort that went into the race, showing for the first time just how much work the company put into it. It’s a really cool video that shows what goes into a manufacturer’s effort to turn a luxury behemoth into both a race car and a credible hopeful for a hillclimb record. And yes, the editors included the crash footage and aftermath. Sensational.
After the race, BMW of North America released the following statement: “Unfortunately, our hopes for a record run with the BMW XM ended today with a race incident. Driver Matt Mullins is disappointed but unharmed. The focus now is on repairing the car and planning for another record attempt later this summer. Part 2 and the end of the record run should be available on YouTube soon.
