Electric Vehicles at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb: Race report

Randels Media Group/Revvolution.com, Official Photographers of the PPIHC

Despite a blown engine that prevented any running on the Friday before the race—and an epic case of jet lag after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans the week before—Romain Dumas was the fastest man of the day at Pikes Peak, setting the second-fastest time ever.

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb turned 100 this year, making it five years younger than the Indianapolis 500. Other than age, the two events have very little in common. The first Indy 500 came about because Carl Fisher wanted to give America's new car builders somewhere to test their creations; in contrast, Spencer Penrose organized the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1916 to help draw tourists to the mountain (and in turn, his hotel the Broadmoor). Ironic then that all these years later it's Pikes Peak—rather than Indianapolis—that's being used to test the cutting edge of automotive technology.

In particular, people have been bringing electric cars and motorbikes (you can read about those later today) to test them on the hill climb. The 12.4-mile (19.99km) course is short enough that they don't need to be overburdened with batteries, for one. And unlike internal combustion engines, electric motors don't care whether they're at sea level, the start line (9.390 feet/2,862m), or the 14,110-foot (4,300m) summit—they make the same amount of power everywhere.

When last we checked in from America's Mountain, Romain Dumas and his Norma M20 RD Limited Spec-2016 were the fastest combination of man and machine, topping the qualifying charts. This somewhat upset the narrative—for the Norma runs in the Unlimited class, and does so on gasoline, not electrons. As the fastest overall qualifier, Dumas would be the first of the cars to set off, some two hours later than planned. Below the tree line the weather was perfect but icy conditions up top saw several motorbikes crash, causing several lengthy delays.

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