The 2012 running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was delayed from its original July date due to the severe forest fires plaguing the area surrounding Colorado Springs, Colorado. Rescheduled for August 12, the event is shaping up to be a memorable one.

Purists will cry “foul,” because the the road to the summit of Pikes Peak is now a continuous ribbon of asphalt. That doesn’t bother us, since we expect it will create even closer competition in the no-holes-barred Unlimited Class.

One Unlimited Class entry in this year's running is the 850-horsepower Acura NSX built by Corey Loveland and his NSX-focused tuning shop, LoveFab. Starting with a goal of 2,200 pounds dry, the LoveFab NSX boasts as much as 6,000 pounds of downforce from its custom bodywork, which requires more than a little bit of chassis and suspension tuning to dial in.

The car is capable of a 175 mile-per-hour top speed with the bodywork in place, and it looks like a handful to drive on loose gravel at 125 mph. Fortunately for Loveland, the paved road to the summit means that the rear-drive NSX should prove to be competitive against the all-wheel-drive Unlimited Class entries.

As PistonHeads explains, that list includes a pair of Ford RS200s, originally built for WRC Group B rally competition. One bit of good news for Loveland and the others running in the Unlimited Class is this: perennial fastest-man-up-the-mountain, Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima, has switched to running an electric car in this year’s event.