Mitsubishi i Pikes Peak rally car

[Mr Gear]

rtz62 said:

Er, and the point if this car is.....?
Why would it make me want to watch Pikes Peak; it wouldn't.
Less of the yoghurt weaving, muesli sandle wearing Eco-mentalist rubbish, we want to watch 600+bhp monsters spitting flames n going sideways.... Oh sorry, just had a flashback to Gp B.....

Clarkson? Is that you?


...Or is it just some pathetic person on the internet trying to copy you?

[Perra]

rtz62 said:

Er, and the point if this car is.....?
Why would it make me want to watch Pikes Peak; it wouldn't.
Less of the yoghurt weaving, muesli sandle wearing Eco-mentalist rubbish, we want to watch 600+bhp monsters spitting flames n going sideways.... Oh sorry, just had a flashback to Gp B.....

What's the point in anything?

[xRIEx]

EDLT said:

RenesisEvo said:

Parsnip said:

A 1000hp fire breathing turbo mentalmobile going sideways on gravel or a 325hp mobility scooter pootling up a tarmac road?

It's a toughie for sure...

Electric power should be an advantage at Pikes Peak. At the top of the climb the air is much thinner, so normal internal combustion engines generally struggle to generate the same level as power as at the bottom of the hill, as they can't get enough air. Turbos help to a point, but still suffer. You could lose 10% or more. Electric motors don't have this issue, so can provide the same power all the way through the climb. And with many hairpins, having huge torque available from low rpms could also help.

I agree, however, that from a spectator point of view, it's not a hard choice. Sadly there won't be much gravel left soon anyway.

But even if the 1000hp car loses 10% of its power it will still have 575 more than the i-Mievo and at the risk of sounding like Clarkson, more is more.

You could also argue that petrol-burning cars have the advantage of getting lighter as they use their fuel, electric cars don't.

Another factor (although I don't know if it would have a significant effect) is that batteries have diminished capacity at lower temperatures. If I remember my GCSE physics lessons correctly, there could be about a 14degC difference in temperature at the ends of the hillclimb.

[rhinochopig]

xRIEx said:

You could also argue that petrol-burning cars have the advantage of getting lighter as they use their fuel, electric cars don't.

Another factor (although I don't know if it would have a significant effect) is that batteries have diminished capacity at lower temperatures. If I remember my GCSE physics lessons correctly, there could be about a 14degC difference in temperature at the ends of the hillclimb.

But a motor generates heat, the waste heat can be used to maintain batt temps.

[Chris71]

rhinochopig said:

xRIEx said:

You could also argue that petrol-burning cars have the advantage of getting lighter as they use their fuel, electric cars don't.

Another factor (although I don't know if it would have a significant effect) is that batteries have diminished capacity at lower temperatures. If I remember my GCSE physics lessons correctly, there could be about a 14degC difference in temperature at the ends of the hillclimb.

But a motor generates heat, the waste heat can be used to maintain batt temps.

In general, the problem (temperature-wise) with EVs in motorsport is cooling. I'm sure you'd still need some sort of system to regulate the battery temperature, but it might not be a bad thing if the heat given off by the battery pack increases as the ambient temperature of Pikes Peak decreases.

[RenesisEvo]

Chris71 said:

In general, the problem (temperature-wise) with EVs in motorsport is cooling.

EFA

And some valid points being raised - it's a shame we dont know the torque figures.

[danieru]

As much as I love petrol and 4 rotor wankels I think its a nice move to promote technical advances in the electric vehicle field that all of us know is inevitable. Cheers

[Mastodon2]

While I'd rather see top tarmac spec cars tearing up the hill, these electrics could be interesting. As long as the focus of the competition does not lose sight of the petrol cars, the electrics could serve as an interesting side class. At the very least, I'd rather watch an electric go up the hill than a diesel.

[Flood]

How many EVs are competing? 4? Its a pretty big event, I'm sure there will still be one or two petrol entries running...

[FerrousOxide]

Noddy does Pike's Peak

[EDLT]

Flood said:

How many EVs are competing? 4? Its a pretty big event, I'm sure there will still be one or two petrol entries running...

There are a lot of cars, but it seems that many of the no limit class cars are not coming back or have been replaced with electrickery.

[dtrump]

Something I just dont understand...

So it's an electric mitsubishi racer, yup got. But why does it look sooo fking lame. Thats the problem with most electric cars. The guys building them feel the need to make them look different. 9 times out of 10 that means that it ends up looking flower friendly

Even Mr Tajima's new car. Ok so its not flower friendly, but its not a patch on his suzuki monster.