Yes, the “Vatanen salute”! Just one iconic moment in one of the most iconic cinema verite car films of all time.
Towards the end of his record-breaking 1988 run up Pikes Peak in the Peugeot 405 Turbo 16, Ari Vatanen casually lifts his right hand to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight. We’ve all done it; just probably not while the car is sideways at full speed, dangling off a cliff.
The Pikes Peak hillclimb in Colorado is an historic event (first run in 1916), but the 1980s it became a real battleground for European carmakers, who wanted to show off their top-level rally knowhow.
Michele Mouton won in 1984 with a modified Audi Sport Quattro in 1984, did it again the next year… and suddenly it was all on.
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In fact, Audi dominated until 1988, when Peugeot and Finnish rally legend Ari Vatanen showed up in the epic 405 Turbo 16. Vatanen’s 10:47.220sec run set a new record, which stood until 1993.
Peugeot was apparently super-confident: it commissioned French director Jean Louis Mourney to create a film of the car on Pikes Peak; the result was a rare combination of driving and cinematic art. Climb Dance won several awards in 1990, including film festivals in Chamonix, Val d’Isere, Chicago and Houston.
Vatanen usually gets the glory – he was the record holder after all - but in fact Climb Dance is a composite of his run and another the next year, in the same car, by Robby Unser (son of Bobby, who drove for Audi three years earlier). Unser didn’t beat Vatanen’s time, but still won the 1989 event.