On a challenging racing day when running was restricted owing to bad weather, Ford’s Super Mustang Mach-E won its class at the 103rd running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, demonstrating the continued dominance of electric vehicles.
Since 1916, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb has been staged 103 times, making it one of the world’s oldest competitions.
With an average vertical slope of 7.2%, the race is renowned for its difficulty, beginning at an already high elevation of 9,390 feet (2,862 metres) and ending at 14,110 feet (4,300 metres). Cars still frequently leave the track and crash into the woods or, worse, tumble down the mountain because the track was mostly unpaved until 2011 and was accessible only by dirt or gravel roads. Rain, snow, fog, or other bad weather—the kind you typically get at the summit of mountains—also frequently stops the race.
Specifically, the race’s high altitude (which gave it the moniker “Race to the Clouds“) has historically been challenging since there is less oxygen at high elevations, which results in less fuel combustion. This implies that in order to perform successfully, gas-powered race cars must have extraordinarily large engines.
Since electric vehicles don’t require oxygen to burn, they are exempt from this challenge, which is why they have been outperforming other vehicles for years.
In fact, the all-electric Volkswagen ID.R, piloted by Romain Dumas (stick a pin in that name), established the record for the 12.42-mile (20-kilometre) hill climb in 2018 with a time of 7:57.148.
As a result, EVs perform well here, and manufacturers (or private teams) frequently display them.
EVs did quite well last year; Ford, Rivian, and Hyundai all had electric vehicles at the top of their respective categories.
The Ford SuperTruck set the fastest time of the day, but it didn’t set a record because it lost about half a minute when it abruptly lost power on the course and needed to reboot. The R1T Quad Max set a production truck record (gas or electric), the Ioniq 5N set a record for unmodified EVs (which the R1T Quad Max had set about five minutes earlier), and it was only three tenths of a second off the overall production SUV record. It would have broken the class record set by Ford’s SuperVan the year before if it hadn’t had that shutdown.
This year’s submission from Ford is the insane 1400-horsepower Super Mustang Mach-E.
Ford had a lot of work ahead of it this year, but it provided the appropriate vehicle.
The Super Mustang Mach-E is the replacement for Ford’s absurd 1400-horsepower SuperVan and SuperTruck. It has a similar powertrain to the previous two cars, but it has a racing-appropriate form factor (and, to be honest, doesn’t look anything like a Mach-E, though we’d love to see one like this on the road). It appears to be a race car rather than a huge box. What an idea!
In addition to having a more functional appearance, the new version’s lower and smaller body improves performance in a number of areas, particularly during a hill climb. Reduced weight distribution results in improved handling on the winding track, a smaller front cross-sectional area reduces drag, and a smaller vehicle equals less weight to carry up a mountain.
Additionally, the car boasts 6,125 pounds of downforce, which is crucial on those winding corners in the mountain’s thin air.
And do you recall the name I previously instructed you to pin? To demonstrate that it is serious about setting a record, Ford enlisted Romain Dumas, the current overall record holder, to drive its entry once more. It would be difficult because the VW ID.R was a specially designed beast, but their choice of driver shows that they are serious about winning this race.
This year, three more intriguing EVs were run.
Although a few other EVs competed this year, they weren’t necessarily fighting for first place.
One is an Ioniq 5N that Evasive Motorsports has race-prepared. It has undergone extensive modification, including a new suspension, aerodynamic wheel covers, a bodykit with improved aerodynamics, and a stripped interior that saves 500 pounds of weight. In the past, Evasive experienced an electrical problem during a race up the mountain in a customised Tesla Model 3.
Next up is the Honda CR-V e:FCEV, a fuel cell plug-in hybrid automobile with an ambiguous moniker (read more about that vehicle here). Along with necessary safety upgrades like a roll cage, it only had minor changes from Honda Racing Corporation, such as a lowered suspension, racing brake pads, and modified wheels and tyres.
And a “Volkswagen Fun Cup” vehicle is the most entertaining. A European racing series called Fun Cup features cars with bodywork inspired by vintage VW Beetles. However, Electric Classic Cars has switched this one to an electric engine in place of the typical 1.8L engine found in that series. It is known as the “BugZappa”.
As it frequently does, the weather showed its ugly head.
Pike’s Peak is known for being difficult, and today’s race demonstrated the challenging conditions.
High gusts were causing boulders and other debris to be blown onto the circuit at the top, delaying the start of the race. The race would eventually be limited to the lower part of the track, from the start at 9,390 feet to Glen Cove at 11,440 feet.
Due to the fact that combustion becomes more challenging in thin air at higher elevations, EVs are at a modest disadvantage when compared to regular driving circumstances.
EVs were still impressive, though.
How the EVs did
Daijiro Yoshihara drove the Honda, which was the first vehicle to go into service that day. With a time of 5:55.744, it completed the shorter route. It didn’t want to set a record, but since it was the first hydrogen vehicle to compete in this hillclimb, you could call it that. However, since everyone was forced to run the short route today due to bad weather, there isn’t really anything to compare it to.
Robert Walker set a more representative benchmark time of 4:23.858 shortly after Evasive’s race-prepped Ioniq 5N took a shot. Even on this abbreviated track, a complete minute-and-a-half improvement over the CR-V’s time demonstrates the stark contrast between a performance vehicle prepared for competition and a commuting car. For a while, the Ioniq 5N maintained its lead against a number of gas-powered rivals, such as Porsche GT4 and GT3 cup cars. Only after a few of the more serious open-wheel or purpose-built race cars from the Pikes Peak Open, open-wheel and unrestricted classes, went overboard did it fall.
The Super Mustang Mach-E, which competed in the Pikes Peak Open class, was one of those specially designed vehicles. Dumas was the driver, and all eyes were on this entry, anticipating that it would set a new record for the day. With a final time of 3:42.252 on the short track, the Super Mustang Mach-E was by far the best in its class but only the second-best time overall.
Ford’s limited running proved to be its undoing, as Simone Faggioli’s ultralight prototype racer, the Nova Proto NP01, beat the Ford by five seconds with a time of 3:37.196. Ford won a class in the more stringent open class because the NP01 was entered in the looser-rules “unlimited” class, but Dumas would not be declared “King of the Mountain” on this particular day.
In a post-race interview, Dumas stated that “the mountain decides“, but that his Ford would have probably had the advantage if the entire track had been open because of the lighter air at the summit.
Another EV, the “Fun Cup” vehicle, didn’t compete for first place because it ran late in the day. It was successful in setting a time of 5:03.800.