Hello, dear reader, and welcome back. I'm home this week, and next, which is an absolutely delightful thing after spending most of the last few months bouncing around the world driving this, watching that, missing sleep and flight connections all along the way.

This past week, I was in Germany, driving the new Porsche 911 GT3 S/C, the open-top flavor of one of the company’s more purposeful machines. How was it? I sadly can't tell you just yet, other than sweaty thanks to Europe’s current heat wave, but I can at least talk about the weekend I spent in Colorado spent just before.

Last weekend was the 104th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), one of the greatest and most historic motorsports events in the world. Competitors from all over compete to get from bottom to top in less time than the rest to win their classes, but equally important is the goal of setting new all-time records.

Chevrolet was in pursuit of one of those, and the company's reps kindly invited me out to embed with the team to watch the proceedings, while also getting some extended seat time in a brand-new Corvette Grand Sport X -- more on that in a future update.

Chevrolet’s goal was, without a doubt, to set a new production car record, to beat the 2022 time of 9:53.541 seconds set by David Donner in the 000 Porsche 911 Turbo S. However, since that time was set on a non-race day, it wasn't an official PPIHC record.

Ahead of the race, Tony Roma, GM's Executive Chief Engineer, made it abundantly clear to me why they were there: "Our goal is to go after the fastest production car, period. And I think right now there's a difference in the record on race day and not on race day, so we're hoping to just settle that."

On that day one week ago, IndyCar racer JR Hildebrand, at the wheel of a 1,250-horsepower Corvette ZR1X, the one with the electric motor at the front axle, roared to the top in 9:30.104, 23 seconds faster than Donner's time from 2022.

Donner, meanwhile, ran a 9:53.740 in the exact same 2022 911 Turbo S. That’s within two tenths of his previous run, a remarkable demonstration of consistency from four years earlier.

So, a new record for Chevrolet, right? Yes and no. Though built from a development mule and upfitted with safety hardware, the ZR1X is substantially still a production car, and it went faster than Donner’s 2022 time. So, it set a new best time for production cars up the mountain.

However, per PPIHC regulations, cars with any amount of electrification are not eligible for the non-division Production Car records set on race day. Therefore, according to PPIHC officials, it was actually Donner who set a new record on Sunday despite being two-tenths slower than in 2022.

Here’s the quote from the press release:

Why? Remember, Donner's earlier time was not set on a race day. This one was, and it's now the official number to beat. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if PPIHC adds a “Production Hybrid” record to its official list of Race Records, which would surely go to the Corvette.

Anyhow, until then, there are records, and there are Records, and Hildebrand's time is still a remarkably impressive one for a car that is substantially the same as you or I could buy — if indeed we had a little over $200,000 to spare. It was also fast enough to handily win the Time Attack 1 class, which is certainly worth celebrating as well.

Much, much more on how Hildebrand prepared for that ultra-high-pressure run and the modifications made to his car in my full event writeup for Ars Technica.

We learned this week that Polestar is sadly not long for American shores. In what sure feels like a remarkable exhibit of singling out brands that certain people in the government haven’t heard of, Polestar received a U.S. sales ban this week that will prevent it from selling any future models here.

That's despite, of course, Polestar sharing corporate parentage, platforms, technology, and even manufacturing with Volvo, a company that can happily carry on with its American business.

Why was Polestar singled out? Officially, it's because the company's information technology infrastructure points back to China rather than to Scandinavia. That seems like a scant distinction to me.

As my friend (and former Polestar Americas Head of Communications and Public Relations) JP Canton posted on LinkedIn, this shows the increased importance of having a strong division within your company focused entirely on government policy, if only to keep the right pieces of bread well-buttered.

Anyhow, enough said on that. Going to be a bit of a slow week for me, one in which I'm desperately hoping to recharge my batteries. I'm completely wiped out after so many early mornings and late nights, but I’m also looking forward to tinkering on a few projects for a few features. More on those as they surface.

Until then, be well and do good.