Here’s some exciting on-board footage from a Yamaha R1 racing up this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. This particular rider posted a 11:02.201 which was good for 2nd in class, 4th fastest motorcycle and 14th overall. The overall motorcycle record was a 9:52.819 set by Carlin Dunne on a Ducati Multistrada 1200 S. Even though the course was fully paved this year, Ducati still though the adventure bike had more benefits than an all out street bike. If I had to guess, I would say it probably has to do with acceleration torque coming out of the tight bends.
The last of the coverage from this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is still trickling in. I came across a couple of videos of the Toyota Motorsports Group EV P002 and Monster Tajima’s E-Runner that presented a nice opportunity to do a side by side comparison. What makes this interesting is that the E-Runner DNF’ed due to technical failure, but was dominating the EV class during practice. Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima beat Fumio Nutahara in the Toyota by almost 13 seconds on the 5.16 mile lower section of the course during qualifying. Tajima had set up the E-Runner with a mixed tarmac and gravel suspension settings on the first day because he was expecting a lot of gravel to be pulled onto the road surface from the side of the road which never happened. Monster switched to a faster pure tarmac setup for the later practice runs on the middle and top sections of the course. Nutahara won the EV class in the TMG EV P002 on race day and was less than 30 seconds off of the overall record set by Rhys Millen in his Formula D car. Monster Tajima DNF’ed with a motor failure, but what if he had been able to finish? Would he have been in contention to defend his overall record? After watching these two videos, I think he could have done it. This is footage of both the Toyota Motorsports Group EV P002 and Monster Tajima’s E-Runner on the top section of the course on the last day of practice before race day. Identical course and conditions make this an excellent comparison of speed. The two cars aren’t worlds apart, but the E-Runner is visibly faster and seems more stable. I think it definitely would have been within the realm of possibility for the E-Runner to pull a 30 second gap on the Toyota over the length of the 12.42 mile course. Hopefully Monster Tajima can get the kinks worked out for the race next year and put an EV on top of the overall podium.
Video 1: Fumio Nutahara in the Toyota Motorsports Group EV P002 practice run on the top section of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2012.
Video 2: Monster Tajima in the E-Runner on the same course on the same day:
Rhys Millen set the overall record up the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this past weekend in Colorado. This year was the first time the entire course has been paved. Millen set the record in his V8 Hyundai Genesis Formula D drift car. This is pretty much just raw in-car footage. I will update this if he releases something better.
Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima was the defending race winner coming into the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb having set the overall record last year while the course was still part tarmac and part gravel. 2012 marks the first year where the entire course has been paved. Monster and Team APEV of Japan built a new car called the E-Runner which is tarmac specific and electric powered. Though Team APEV did the engineering and fabrication on the E-Runner, Monster Tajima promotes the use of electric race cars in Japan with his own EV company called Tajima Natural Energy. Monster qualified first in the EV category by a large margin using a mixed gravel and tarmac suspension setup. Tajima had anticipated that a lot of dirt from the side of the track would be dragged onto the road surface but changed to a tarmac specific setup when he saw the course stayed clean during practice. Many people thought he would set the new overall record in an electric vehicle. Here is video of his qualifying run from Day 1 of practice on the lower section of the course:
Mitsubishi released this video of their EV program at this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. They fielded two cars, a stock i-Miev and a tube frame i-Miev Evolution that has three motors and almost twice the output. There is footage of the i-Miev Evolution being crashed in practice. The team repaired the car and it came back to place second in the EV category and 8th overall with a 10:30.850. The stock i-Miev was the only showroom stock car to compete and finished with a 15:10.557. For reference, the Toyota P002 finished first in the EV class and 6th overall with a 10:15.380 which is less than 30 seconds off the overall record. Monster Tajima’s E-Runner DNF’ed with technical problems after running strong in practice. The P002 now owns the EV record for the Nurburgring Nordschleife and Pikes Peak.
