It is difficult to maneuver on this narrow road.
The Mt. The Washington Auto Road, located in New Hampshire, has been in use since 1861. It has hosted motorsport events ever since 1904. It is a popular tourist spot with over 45,000 people driving it annually in recent years. Travis Pastrana, a racer, broke the hillclimb record twice. The narrow Auto Road was a five-mile stretch that needed to be paved. However, it proved difficult to pave.
It is extremely narrow with very little runoff and cliffs covering most of it. This makes it difficult to maneuver the paving equipment. The drivers had to reverse their dump trucks along the five-mile stretch in order to pave the road without getting stuck on the mountain behind fresh asphalt.
One photo shows a large, three-axle dumptruck that looks huge on the road. However, there is plenty of space for it and its crew. The dump truck can’t turn around because it is too long and the road too narrow.
Travis Pastrana was able in 2021 to cut 16 seconds from the previous time he did in 2017. He set a new time at 5:28.67 It was done in a Subaru WRX STI with a turbocharged 2.3 liter flat-four. This produced a staggering 862 horsepower (623 kilowatts), and 664 poundfeet (900 Newton-meters of torque) which is far better than his 2017 time of 5:28.67.
Hillclimbing is a serious event. It covers 7.6 miles (12.2-kilometers) to climb Mt. Washington Auto Road has a 12 percent gradient and uneven surface. The five-mile stretch of dirt that was the road will be gone, which will present new challenges for drivers. It is also one of the most difficult motorsport events in America.
Mt. Washington Auto Road thanked Central Paving’s crew, and their drivers in a Facebook post. The paving took just a few days. It was difficult to reverse the truck on the narrow road. There is little room for error and certain corners are tight.