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Latvian electric car - Pikes Peak 2015

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Rhys Millen wins Pikes Peak under all-electric power

An ICE may never again win this event. The age of internal combustion is coming to an end.

I think we have a good decade or so before we really start to see petrol even starting to be phased out of motor sports. It's coming, for sure, but not for a while still...like, a decade or two. BEV technology needs to improve and BEV costs need to come down. Until then, ev racing will be largely supplementary to petrol (TT Zero, formula E), not supplanting petrol.

It will also take a LOT to beat Seb Loeb's record on pikes peak...that was one of the greatest drives in history, by one of the greatest drivers in history, in one of the greatest purpose built cars in history. That record will stand for a while.
 
I think we have a good decade or so before we really start to see petrol even starting to be phased out of motor sports. It's coming, for sure, but not for a while still...like, a decade or two. BEV technology needs to improve and BEV costs need to come down. Until then, ev racing will be largely supplementary to petrol (TT Zero, formula E), not supplanting petrol.

It will also take a LOT to beat Seb Loeb's record on pikes peak...that was one of the greatest drives in history, by one of the greatest drivers in history, in one of the greatest purpose built cars in history. That record will stand for a while.

Given time, that record will fall to an EV. Yes it will take a lot. A great driver, a purpose built car, and the continued rapid evolution of EVs.

The high altitude nature of Pike's Peak means that EVs have a huge advantage over cars that need to breathe air.
At the summit, gas cars have lost 42% of the power they would have at sea level. Pikes peak was the natural first place for EVs to exceed ICEs because of this.
 
Electric Pikes PEak

Mitsubishi invited me two years ago to cover the race at Pikes Peak and it was spectacular. It wasn't just the results, but what people were saying, and especially the kids. I heard one kid excitedly tell his dad about the whooshing sound the EV racer made. It was also that year that I saw Richard Hatfield's Lightning Motorcycle put 21 seconds on the best Ducatti there. Richard's first words to me after the win was: "Vindicated!"

I think we have more than reached the tipping point and after eight years of witnessing it first row, I'm excited to see how far and how quickly we got here. Makes you look forward to tomorrow.
 
The high altitude nature of Pike's Peak means that EVs have a huge advantage over cars that need to breathe air.

Absolutely agree, and as an EV enthusiast I'm pretty stoked that they're not just competing, but excelling at Pike's Peak. With just a evolutionary step or two in battery mass density I think we'll start to see EV's competing side by side with ICEs in more race series.
 
Given time, that record will fall to an EV. Yes it will take a lot. A great driver, a purpose built car, and the continued rapid evolution of EVs.

The high altitude nature of Pike's Peak means that EVs have a huge advantage over cars that need to breathe air.
At the summit, gas cars have lost 42% of the power they would have at sea level. Pikes peak was the natural first place for EVs to exceed ICEs because of this.
Hybrids will be faster than EVs or ICE, always. The only way an EV or ICE will beat a hybrid is through outlawing them or putting them in a separate class.
 
Hybrids will be faster than EVs or ICE, always. The only way an EV or ICE will beat a hybrid is through outlawing them or putting them in a separate class.

I see no evidence for this. Speed = power to weight ratio. ICEs have been better for almost 100 years. EVs are now surpassing them - better in some conditions ( high altitude, very short distance ). During the transition period, a hybrid that combines the best of both may excel, but I think it is temporary.
Eventually the ICE will be inferior in all respects - then the addition of an ICE will only be a handicap.