Did you know this Belgian Gillet Vertigo made Pikes Peak history?
Did you know that one of Belgium’s most remarkable competition cars once raced to the clouds?
In 2018, Automobiles Gillet took on one of the most demanding challenges in global motorsport: the legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Known as the Race to the Clouds, the event climbs nearly 20 kilometres through 156 corners before finishing at more than 4,300 metres above sea level. The car was a Gillet Vertigo. The driver was Vanina Ickx.
A Belgian car on an American mountain
Founded by Tony Gillet in the early 1990s, Automobiles Gillet built its reputation on lightweight engineering, compact proportions and a very Belgian kind of stubbornness. The Vertigo was never designed to follow the supercar rulebook. It was built around lightness, response and purity at a time when many performance cars were chasing more power, more weight and more complication.
It became known far beyond Belgium thanks to its appearances in Gran Turismo, but its motorsport record is what gives it real depth. The Vertigo claimed three FIA GT Championship G2 titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008, making it one of the most successful Belgian-built racing cars of its era.
The Race to the Clouds
Pikes Peak is not a normal race. It is a mountain climb that punishes everything: cooling, brakes, tyres, aerodynamics, power delivery, driver confidence and concentration. For a small Belgian manufacturer to bring a specially developed Vertigo to that stage was already ambitious. To do it with Vanina Ickx behind the wheel made the story even stronger.
Ickx completed the 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 10:54.901, finishing 34th overall and 6th in the Time Attack 1 category. At the time, that performance made her the fastest woman in the event’s history, a record that added another layer to the Vertigo’s already unusual story.
Why this Vertigo matters
The Gillet Vertigo Pikes Peak is not just rare because few Vertigos exist. It is rare because it brings together several stories at once. It is a Belgian-built race car with factory connection. It carries FIA GT pedigree. It has a Gran Turismo connection that made it recognisable to an entire generation of enthusiasts. And it has real Pikes Peak history with one of Belgium’s most respected racing names behind the wheel.
That combination is difficult to recreate. Many collector cars are rare. Fewer have a story that is this specific. This Vertigo is not just a car that participated in an event. It represents a moment when a small Belgian manufacturer decided to take its lightweight philosophy to one of the most brutal motorsport environments on the planet.
Now offered for sale
Today, this same Gillet Vertigo Pikes Peak is being offered for sale. According to the listing, the car is accompanied by an official expert valuation and supporting documentation, adding further confidence around its authenticity, provenance and historical significance.
A car like this is not bought purely on performance figures. It is bought because of what it represents: a factory-linked Belgian competition car, a Pikes Peak finisher, a Vanina Ickx-driven machine and a physical reminder of how unusual Automobiles Gillet has always been.
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The 2018 Pikes Peak run with Vanina Ickx gives this car emotional weight. The FIA GT titles give the Vertigo name credibility. The Gran Turismo connection gives it cultural reach. And the fact that this exact car is now for sale turns the story from a historical footnote into a genuine collector opportunity.
For Belgium, this is more than just another race car listing. It is a piece of national motorsport identity. And honestly, those do not come up for sale very often.
