Photo Credit: Larry Chen

Emelia Hartford just made history on the most dangerous ribbon of pavement in America. After a month of living and preparing for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, she strapped into her 2026 Corvette ZR1, pointed it toward the 14,115-ft summit, and raced into history as the fastest woman to ever run the Pikes Peak hill climb.

Her official time of 10:11.018 seconds placed her seventeenth overall and fourth in the Time Attack 1 division.

If you watched her previous video in which she announced her participation in the 104th Pikes Peak International Hill climb event, you know how much this race meant for her. Pikes Peak is a one-shot event with no redos or second chances. The course is 12.4 miles with 156 turns that climbs to the 14,000-ft summit. Emelia knows that with her 1,064-hp Corvette ZR1, she has the chance to not only set a production car record for rear-wheel drive vehicles, but she could set the time as the fastest woman to ever take on the famous mountain course.

To properly prepare for the Pikes Peak challenge, Emelia and the Hartford Racing crew relocated to Colorado for one month to get acclimated to the high altitude while also prepping the ZR1 for its run. In the leadup to the event, there was some drama.

Pikes Peak officials had banned carbon fiber wheels after an unrelated failure. Emelia fought back and brought receipts from the Department of Transportation and safety data and with those points she was able to get approval and race with the Carbon Revolution wheels on the ZR1.

Michelin also raised concerns over the very aggressive rear camber for the ZR1. The ZR1 was running 2.5-degrees of rear camber, well beyond the Corvette recommended limit of 1.12-degrees. The team believed the combination of downforce and torque demanded the aggressive setup, and Emelia pushed forward with it.

Two days before the race during practice, the ZR1 nearly cooked itself. Coolant temps spiked to 266-degrees as the car boiled over and sucked air into the system. At those altitudes there is no ability to run a cool-down lap like at a regular track. You make the run up the mountain, and then shut the car off. After figuring out the cause, the team bled the system and all was better.

After all that, the car failed a technical inspection due to the roll cage needing additional gusseting. The team worked late into the night to strip the interior and got the welding done right. The next morning, officials gave her ZR1 the green light.

During the preparation, a new racing livery for the ZR1 was revealed which paid tribute to “Phoenix,” her record-setting 2020 Corvette Stingray. She also showed off a new custom-painted helmet and a new Italian-made racing suit. Ready now for qualifying, Emelia had one of her best runs up the mountain yet and despite nearly losing control at the top, she stayed with it and finished the run.

In the video, Emelia shares the full 10-minute run up the mountain so you can experience the ride with her. As she closes out the video after the run, she hints that she’ll be back to do it again.

Source:
Emelia Hartford / YouTube

Related:
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[VIDEO] Emelia Preps Her 2026 Corvette ZR1 for the Pike Peak International Hillclimb
[VIDEO] Salvage Corvette Z06 is the Fastest Corvette Ever at Pikes Peak

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