Toyota TMG EV P002 to race at Pike's Peak

[madfast]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Wd01o1oT4"]500 HP Toyota Pikes Peak Electric Race-car TMG EV P002 - YouTube[/ame]

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/06/08/t...or-pikes-peak/

The age of the Hybrid/EV is amongst us. And the pikes peak hill climb will be the new Group B. Monster tajima will run in an EV. Mitsu will run a factory backed i miev evo. now toyota is running with their EV.

on the production side, the Enzo replacement F70 will have a hybrid/KERS drivetrain. the porsche 918 is a hybrid. bmw i8 is EV/Plug in. Nsx is hybrid. the "supra" is rumored as being a hybrid. the LF-LC is poised to replace the LF-A and that is a hybrid. the list goes on and on.... the age of performance hybrids/EVs is here. dont fight it, embrace it....

[old greg]

Originally Posted by madfast

And the pikes peak hill climb will be the new Group B.

The Pikes Peak unlimited class was Group B on steroids. Case in point:

Group B Ford RS200 - ~700 bhp


Pikes Peak Unlimited Class RS200 - 1150 bhp


Now it's just a tarmac hillclimb.

[madfast]

i meant for EVs/Hybrids. Sure LeMans will have them as well as WEC, but they have strict rules etc. pikes peak on the other hand is more of a spectacle imo and therefore we get weird entries like the i Miev evolution. this can only be good for the future of performance oriented hybrids/EVs...

oh yeah, i do miss the dirt, but if the tarmac attracts more high profile entries, then im all for that.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by old greg

Now it's just a tarmac hillclimb.

"just"

so cars that weight under 1 ton and make over 1000 horsepower that used to run on gravel now get a ten times the grip and you say "just"

sheesh

[old greg]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

sheesh

I don't mean to denigrate the cars that will be running, but they will be just tarmac cars. I love stuff that is weird for a reason, and it was the combination of tarmac and gravel that made the cars so interesting from a that perspective. The low speeds and lack of traction on the gravel portions are what drove the cars to have such insane aero packages, which forced a compromise because that much downforce was slowing the cars down through the tarmac sections. Now with the course entirely paved that issue has disappeared and the cars will be just like any number of LMP or Formula style cars. In fact, a retired F1 car with a "Monaco" aero package fitted and it's ballast removed would now make Tajima's 9:51 run look pathetic, and I find that sad.

Yes the new cars will be fast as hell and that's always cool, but I mourn the demise of the current cars. To me it's as if a rare creature, only found in a single place, has just been driven into extinction by an invasive species.