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" Suzuki and Hyundai might have garnered most coverage in last Sunday&amp;#039;s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, but if you look at other results I think the most significant were posted by three electric vehicles. I see a future where an electric-powered race car could take the overall win. An electric motor is inherently more efficient as it does not loose power at altitude like a gasoline-powered engine. Nissan entered a stock Leaf driven by Chad Hord who finished in 14:33.429 minutes, beating ten other cars. When you consider it&amp;#039;s electric motor is equivalent to a 107 horsepower gasoline engine, it was probably the least powerful car competing.  The Leaf was not the fastest electric car as that title went to Ikuo Honawa in a special Yokohama EV single seater. It has an AC Propulsion electric motor, similar to the one in the Mini E, producing 268 horsepower. His time was 12:20.084. There was also an electric motorcycle in the running. The 240 horsepower (with 400 ft lbs torque) bike ridden by Chip Yates climbed the mountain in 12.50.094. It was ninth fastest among 112 bikes in the first paved section but lost out on the unpaved section where it was a lowly 97th fastest. Incidentally the winning bike, a Ducati ridden by Carlin Dunne, broke the overall bike record with a time of 11:11.329 minutes.  My gut tells me that if someone like Rhys or Rod Millen put their minds to it, with a decent budget, they could construct an electric car to become King of the Mountain. From an historical perspective the winning car at Pikes Peak has changed over the years, so an electric win would be not be inappropriate. When I first went to Pikes Peak in 1975, traditional Sprint Cars and Stock Cars were still the dominant force although two young brothers, Roger and Rick Mears, had shaken the status quo in lightweight VW- and Porsche-powered buggies. In a magazine article I suggested a rally car could win. Roger Clark, one of my heroes at the time, actually called me to get more information about the event, which was almost unknown in Europe at the time. He tried to persuade Ford to send him over the next year to compete in a factory Ford Escort but it did not transpire. In 1981 Rod Millen, driving a Mazda RX-7, became the first rally driver to compete. John Buffum then appeared in an Audi Quattro and Europeans, in Audi and Peugeot rally cars, then began their triumphant run \u2014 breaking the record year by year for a decade. Fans of the Pikes Peak race wish the course could have remained as a dirt road, but sadly the environmentalists have forced it to be paved over. Next year the course will be fully paved, which will totally alter the event making different types of cars capable of taking the win. For example, could a modified F1 car be the way to go. Or an electric car? Which would you rather witness break Nobuhiro `Monster&amp;#039; Tajima&amp;#039;s record run in his mighty Suzuki SX4?     Related posts:  Mitsubishi Electric Race Car to Enter Pikes Peak Least Favorite Car At Pikes Peak 10 Minute Barrier at Pikes Peak Broken by &amp;quot;Monster&amp;quot; Tajima  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a2680/pikes-peak-could-an-electric-car-win-overall-23423/>