It’s not easy for a car to climb on a 5,000 feet (1.5 km) mountain and it’s even harder to race on such a course.
First of all there is the road’s gradient that will make the engine work extra and burn more fuel, followed by the oxygen rarefaction after certain heights. Add all those bends that will make you brake a lot and you can imagine through what ordeal Pikes Peak race cars are going through every year.
However, the course is easier for an EV car, like Toyota’s TMG EV P002 racer that we saw climbing this year. Electric motors don’t need oxygen to run and their power is available instantly at the push of the throttle.
The P002 electric race car puts down an equivalent of 600 hp and 900 lb-ft (1,220 Nm) of torque. All that power propelling a lightweight frame and shell with huge wings at each end to stick it to the asphalt sounds pretty crazy, right?
It is. Look at Engadget’s review bellow which got to test the electric monster on the track.
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