Nissan Leaf Sets New Record at 2011 Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Content courtesy of TorqueNews.com

by Patrick Rall

The 2011 Pikes Peak Hill Climb took place last weekend and when the smoke cleared, the racing world beheld a handful of new records which included two new milestones for electric vehicles. The 2011 Nissan Leaf competed in fully stock form, piloted by experienced Pikes Peak and Nissan off-road truck racer Chad Hord. The Leaf was the first ever production electric vehicle to take a turn racing up the mountain, so with a time of 14 minutes and 33 seconds, the Nissan Leaf set a record for being the fastest production electric vehicle to take on the Hill Climb ever – but only because it is the only production electric vehicle to take on the Hill Climb. I guess that in this case, being the best by default is better than not being the best at all, right?

In any case, the Nissan Leaf went a step further in showing that an
electric vehicle can do pretty much anything that a gas powered vehicle
can – so long as it doesn’t exceed the range of the electrical system.
The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is comprised of 12.42 miles of roadway, racing
through 156 turns as it reaches the summit, and with the
instant-torque-supplying drivetrain of the Leaf, Hord was able to pull
quickly out of the low speed turns, so while the car may have not been
the best handling car in the field – instant torque allowed it to turn
in a respectable time.

The other electric vehicle at the 2011
Pikes Peak Hill Climb was a purpose built, open wheel racer using a high
performance version of the electric propulsion system originally found
in the Mini E Concept. This car, built by AC Propulsion and piloted by
Japanese driver Ikuo Hanawa, set the record last year for an electric
vehicle in the Hill Climb with a time of 13:17.575, but Hanawa smashed
that record this year, turning in a time of 12:20.084.

If you are
not familiar with the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, check out the video below
of Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima’s 9:51.278 dash up the massive mountain
track as he took home his 6th straight Hill Climb title courtesy of his
sponsor GoPro cameras. Tajima is driving a purpose built Suzuki SX4 with
around 910hp…far from the production version of the Japanese compact.