# Pikes Peak EVs: My Observances



## winzeracer (Apr 3, 2012)

Hey All,

I just got back from Pikes Peak Hill Climb, what an event! A friend of mine, that builds prototype parts for streetable race cars, and I road tripped from Los Angeles, which was a blast. 

I have not seen much on here or elsewhere about people's Pikes Peak experience, so I would like to convey my experience of the event while addressing the EV's and how the race crowd perceived them.

My friend and I had a camping pass for the night before the race. We drove up the mountain on Saturday at about 1pm ( gates opened at noon). Our campsite was at the highest elevation they allowed camping, Glen Cove which sat at about 11,400 ft IIRC. We set up camp and made friends with a couple of local veteran spectators, who informed us that they were not even setting up a tent because when the mountain opened for uphill traffic at 3am they were headed up to Devil's Playground, the highest place you can park to watch the race at about 12,700ft ( IIRC). We hung out with them and went to bed early. We were awaken by the sounds of ICE cars headed up the mountain at about 2:30am so we broke down camp in the dark after about 5 hours of sleep. We arrived up at Devil's Playground and walked down to Mile 16 Corner to set up day camp, which was set up by 3:15am. We watched the spectator cars flow in till about 7am, my friend napped but I was too excited. 

The race started at about 8am with the motorcycles, which was fun to watch even though I am not much of a two wheel guy. Towards the end of the string of bikes came the Lightening Motorcycle, which had the Helicopter following it, he certainly was flying! It was great to see him win over Moto GP bikes and monster Ducattis.

After we waited for a bike wreck to be cleared and the last few bikes, the Unlimited Class ( CRAZY ICE's) ran, with Sebastian Loeb up front. His run was great to watch. Peugeot decided not to run the 24 Hours of La Mans, and devote the entire unlimited budget towards building the Peugeot T16 208, this thing had variable boost that increased with altitude ( loss of air) to try to give constant power from 9,000 ft to over 14,000 ft, some creative engineering for sure. Of course Loeb killed the record with a time of 8:13, a full 1:30 quicker than the previous record! The rest of the unlimited class was also incredible to watch, as I am a Motorsports fan even before I was an EV fan.

As the Unlimited Class finished it began to rain and hail, the weather up there can turn quick and get real nasty. The Electrics ran on a wet cold track, as compared to the dry semi-warm track that the Unlimited Class had abused. The officials also make all the Electrics run really annoying sirens for safety. I completely understand the need for some sound to get people off the track, since there were some complete bozoz's standing in places that they would be killed instantly. However, the siren alienates the current racing fans and makes EVs seem even more foreign. I like the idea of having a microphone near the motor and amplifying the natural sound of EV's rather than making unnatural noise makers. Another thing that seemed to put a barrier between the ICE fans and the EVs, was all of the EV's that run are Formula based chassis, I belive that if we had an Electric Time Attack class with production based chassis and amplification of natural sounds that the current race fans could relate more.

All that said the Electrics ran very well considering that Monster Tajima ran less than 45 seconds behind Rhys Millen's 9:02 ( Let's be honest Loeb was in a class of his own), on a wet track. I think that next year if both classes have similar track conditions we will see similar times. 



Here is the track layout, the finishing times, and a cool vid about the Electrics which also showcases the horrible siren.

http://youtu.be/CRSZJvl7-GE


Finishing Times: http://gas2.org/2013/07/01/race-results-pikes-peak-2013/

*So what do you all think about Electric race cars relating to current racing fans? How feasable is an Electric Time Attack class? *

Regards,

Brock


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

Thanks for the post. I am 100% with you on the ridiculous noise maker requirement for the EVs alienating spectators and your idea for amplifying the motor noise is a good one. As long as the motor doesn't have a dried-out bearing; I might take the fake noise maker over that


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## winzeracer (Apr 3, 2012)

Tesseract said:


> Thanks for the post. I am 100% with you on the ridiculous noise maker requirement for the EVs alienating spectators and your idea for amplifying the motor noise is a good one. As long as the motor doesn't have a dried-out bearing; I might take the fake noise maker over that


Haha. A spectacular motor failure might sound cool bouncing off the mountain! On a serious note, that siren noise REALLY needs to be replaced. It is horrible, giving EV's a bad look.


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