2015 Pike's Peak Entry List. One of the electric entries might not be Electric

[rich.carroll]

Curiously, the Ryan Millan entry in the Pikes Peak event seems to be a 2WD gas powered version.



See:  http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/toyotas-going-rally-racing-with-this-2wd-rav4-1702862873?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

But he is entered in the Electric Class.


Somebody has it wrong, or perhaps it has been changed.

[ted.lowe]

What the heck?

[rich.carroll]

Rhys has announced that he is not running pistons, but volts:


What a beautiful motor.  796 lb ft of torque, 680 hp.  The picture shows triple stacked Yasa motors.  Are you ready!  This is the drive for the front wheels!!!  Another triple stacked Yasa motor powers the rear wheels.

https://www.facebook.com/183019475070115/photos/a.183524205019642.35685.183019475070115/901422426563146/?type=1&fref=nf

[ted.lowe]

Wow... when i first saw this image, i thought it looked like an ICE with input and output manifolds, but probably input power connections and liquid cooling.  Can't wait to see the electrics kick ass :-)

[rich.carroll]

Rimac Automobili, a company that develops ultra high performance electric vehicles in Croatia, has announced that their new Pike's Peak racer named "Rimac E-Runner Concept One" will be driven by Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima.  You will remember Monster as the current EV record holder at Pikes Peak, and a perennial contender.  Rimac has made an interesting splash with their advertising, see:  http://ecomento.com/2015/06/05/rimac-e-runner-concept-one-pikes-peak-monster-tajima/.  Curiously, the official entry list at http://www.ppihc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015-PPIHC-Competitor-List.pdf shows Monster Tajima driving a car from Tajima Motor Racing, although the car name is similar.  Methinks that Monster has picked up a Rimac sponsorship and using their name and his car.  But Rimac is no rookie to high performance EV's.  Obviously, very interesting to me is their four minute video on what happens to battery powered cars at sub-zero (well sub-zero Celcius at least) temps.  See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTlyqNLe2Jo which is a video from three years ago.  Very nice instrumentation on their conversion BMW.

It does appear that last year they produced an EV super coupe with four motors, using a unique torque vectoring system to aid handling. (Curiously, that was the first Concept_One), which makes me further believe that the E-Runner Concept One is really just a sponsor's name on Monster's own creation.  Watch the video Rimac produced last year, although some of the scenes are obviously CGI.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ3rvI4Pw8c 

Above all, experience is a big factor.  Monster's nine overall wins in the unlimited class (including six straight years from 2006 to 2011, and stopping as he switched to electrics in 2012) are certainly a 'monsterous' factor.

I predict a very interesting month, until the actual date of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 28.  It's Monster's fourth year in an EV, and the event this year falls on his 65th birthday.  I hope he has a spectacular birthday.

[rich.carroll]

There is a great, comprehensive write up on the EV's running this year at Pikes Peak.  http://www.electricautosport.com/2015/06/tajima-and-rimac-reveal-1100kw-electric-pikes-peak-racer-photos-and-specs/  Read the complete article first, then go on to the Monster Tajima video.

There is a great video of the effort by Monster Tajima, and a nice interview with Monster in English (with subtitles due to his heavy accent) and you need to watch the video carefully or perhaps multiple times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0DF9mAeRvG8   Look closely at the Tajima shops, and the "Monster" tires.  This is not a small, low budget race shop. 

He's talking 1500 HP, with 0 - 100 km/hr (62 mph) in 2.2 seconds, 0 - 200 km/hr (124 mph) in 5.4 seconds.  Sometimes, it's not as meaningful to just publish power ratings.  The four wheel motors he uses (no differentials, no gearboxes) combine for more than twice the power he had last year when he won his EV class in 9:43.90.  Double the power of last year! 

The Rimac torque vectoring system adjusts the torque of each motor 100 times a second. The torque at EACH WHEEL is adjusted for speed, steering angle, longitudinal and lateral forces, yaw rates and several other variables. Reportedly, the car is limited to 270 km/h (168 mph), although with 156 turns in 12.42 miles, it is unlikely he will be in that range often.

Keep an eye open for the results on Sunday, as there is a strong likelihood that the EV's may be the overall winner this year.

[rich.carroll]

Rhys Millen broke the electric qualifying record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this week, bettering the old electric class record by 6 seconds.  In addition, Rhys was clearly ahead of Monster Tajima and all the gasoline entries:



In addition, Honda has withdrawn their ARX-04B LMP2 Prototype.  Apparently,  struggling to be competitive, the LMP2 did not run qualifying, and will not run on Sunday. 

Rhys has said that his car has much more than he used, claiming at least another 20% in performance.  Rhys most fitting comment was, "The car is faster than I am. It's the first time in 22 years I've said that. I'm looking for more out of myself and that will only come with time."

Qualifying and practice use a complicated formula, running different parts of the course on different days, but Rhys has the best time on the lower section and on the middle section. 

Unfortunately, multiple year participant Carl Sorensen lost his life on the Hill Climb during practice, when his motorcycle went over a cliff near the top of the mountain. 

[rich.carroll]

Preliminary, but most of the ultra fast cars have run.  Rhys Millen clearly the fastest (9:07.222) , with Monster Tajima a clear second (9:32.401). Four seconds behind Tajima was the fastest gas powered open wheel, and ten more seconds back was Jeff Zwart in his Porsche 911. 

[rich.carroll]

There are some surprising details in the first and second overall Winners from the 2015 Pike's Peak Hillclimb.

	Rhys Millen	Monster Tajima
Model	eO PP03	Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept_One
Motor Made in:	Latvia	Croatia
Motor Manufacturer	e0	Rimac Automobili
Manufacturer Site	http://driveeo.com/	http://www.rimac-automobili.com/
Number of Motors	Six	Four
Arrangement	Three stacked in series for each axle	One driving each wheel
Controllers synced	F - R modulated	Each Wheel modulated separately
Battery Size	50 kWh	57 kWh
Claimed horsepower	1368	1475
Claimed torque (lbs.-ft)	1593	1106 (Claimed as 1500 nM)
Weight	1200 Kg (2640 lbs)	1500 Kg (3300 lbs)

Assessment:  this is VERY early in the development of EV racing, and EV hillclimbs.  Getting the front/rear power balance right takes incredible development.  Witness the World Rally Cars that for several years had adjustable (from the driver's seat) balancing of torque (torque proportioning valve), as they found what was ideal for pavement didn't work on gravel, and what worked on gravel wasn't ideal in the rain.

I do think that if the released numbers are correct, the only significant difference is the drive train and the total weight.  Both of these cars were absolutely driven by the very best drivers available.  Driving skill is no longer an issue at skill levels like this.  They should be incredibly close.  It's curious that both teams (with incredible budgets) both went to eastern Europe for their drive trains and controllers.

[jeffrey.miller]

The aerospace industry has been pouring money in to Eastern Europe for 10 years that I know of by moving engineering work there.  The longer we outsource engineering work to cheaper labor countries the more competition US companies will have from foreign entities.  Our corporations are amazingly short sighted in these types of things.  I understand how it happens as you strive to make the next year more profitable than this one and so forth.  But like all things the best and brightest come, get trained, and leave to do something else.  The best of the best leave and become your competition.  When they are in the US that isn't so bad but when they are somewhere cheaper that tends to cause future competition that is tough to deal with.  This is a trend that has done nothing but accelerate. 

Since the only guy that seems to be interested in moving work here is Musk we continue to struggle to find good employment for a good chunk of our people.  On the topic of Musk Tesla seems to have developed a very nice all wheel drive system with the Model S D version.  I don't know how well it would work in a racing environment but I am guessing we won't have to wait that long to find out.

Ok dismounting my soapbox. 

I really like the way Monster Tajima's car looks but the extra 300 kg didn't do him any favors on the mountain.