In last year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the Nobuhiro Monster Tajima, named for its driver, set a course record for the second time, won its sixth consecutive race and became the first car to break the 10 minute mark. This year, it’s setting itself a new challenge: winning the race in an EV.
The annual Pikes Peak event is the second oldest motor sports race in the country, and one of the coolest: cars race 12.42 miles on a winding road to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, covering an elevation gain of nearly 5,000 feet.
Joining Team APEV (Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles), Tajima wants to erase the connection between electric cars and a lack of power. According to Green Car Reports, the Nissan LEAF has competed in the Pikes Peak race before, but it didn’t bring the expertise or the prestige of the Tajima team to the mountain.
To give you an idea of what the challenge looks like, here’s the dashboard camera view of Monster’s 2011 race:
