Monster's electric charge

Electric power isn’t new in Colorado’s Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb. EVs are even putting in some decent times now, with last year’s Exhibition Class winner, Ikuo Hanawa, putting in a 12:20.1 in his Summit Motorsport HER-02 (pictured) for 21st place in a 71-strong field.

But last year, all the attention went to the petrol-powered field, with the all-conquering Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima running the first ever sub-ten minute race in the event’s 85-year history, in a Suzuki SX4 like no SX4 you’ll ever see on the road. Watch that run here, care of a year’s production from sponsor GoPro’s camera factory...

For this year’s race, scheduled for July 8, Summit has some serious competition on its hands among the EVs. Gizmag reports that the avuncular 62 year-old doyen of the Peak has announced plans to bring an all-electric ride to the 2012 event, in cohorts with the Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles (APEV). As a promotional stunt for electric power, it’s a sure-fire winner, despite Team APEV’s press release, which states:

‘We will prove the excellence of EV (Electric Vehicle) by challenging to the high-power engine car with our EV which is developed by Japanese great technology at the world highest stage. Also to promote the dissemination of EV with the activity and technology which has been developed for this race challenge is the ultimate goal of our challenge.’

Never mind. Tajima’s name is enough to say it all. After all, the man chalked up his first win in 1993 and, in cahoots with close affiliate Suzuki, has virtually owned the Climb since 2006. Whatever the result, there’s no better way to tell the folks that electric power is here to stay. It will most certainly become more prominent in motor sport. It’s making far greater advances year on year than conventional power – last year, Summit’s Hanawa bettered his 2010 time by no less than a minute.

Here’s a preview of the car, care of Team APEV.

To look at Tajima and his cohorts in action you’d think Pike’s Peak was the place mad people go to die: a 20km run taking in 156 turns, rising 1439m up grades averaging seven per cent, from a starting altitude of 2862m at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway. In Yankeespeak, that starts at about 10,000 feet and ends up somewhere over 14,000 – oxygen deprivation territory. And until last year, a good stretch was gravel.

To date, however, the event has taken surprisingly few lives – just three in its history, the last one in 2001. This year heralds a new era – figuring they were stretching the friendship with the Almighty, the locals finished paving the road end-to-end in 2011.

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...