Looking at the http://director.usacracing.com/ppihc/files/pdfs/competitor_list.pdf, there seems no Tesla on the competitor list. The race is on Jul 8 and I suppose the will be Model S's on the road by that time ...
An Alpha with its already gutted interior would be perfect for this and the Laguna Seca race in July. Add a Performance controller and a fresh battery if needed plus a roll cage and maybe bigger brake rotors. It should be good to go. Come on Tesla. It will cost almost nothing and should get some good publicity!
Maybe next year, their agenda is pretty dense at the moment. Actually, I don't expect Tesla to ever send a team and car up there. More likely, some independent team will take a Tesla car, tune it up and make the run.
Tesla cars are a bit expensive for "tuning up" the way they should for that race. I think even stock Roadster Sport could make a good time there, but Model S is a bit too large for really good time (even with performance package).
Those cars in "electric" -category are quite beasts (except the normal i-MiEV, and I don't know what the Toyota model is). Lightning is seriously fast car, same goes for that BMW and i-MiEV Evolution (which has very little to do with standard i-MiEV) and Her-02 are specially build race cars. I don't think Model S could do very well with that kind of competition. It just isn't made for that kind of race.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikes_Peak_International_Hill_Climb a Nissan Leaf has the record for the first production electric car. This should be a Tesla... So dear Model S owners (once you have your car in July), go and defend the Tesla colors! For me it doesn't have to be a modified car.
In order break production car record it can't be modified. If that is Leaf then it should be easy task to break that record. However that race is nearly as much about driver as it is about car, so before attempting you should know your car and your limits. It isn't the safest race (that little I have seen about it).
Maybe the Tesla Model S driver that was chased through Palo Alto Hills (google: Tesla Model S chased through Palo Alto Hills), can do the job. He was able to outrun a fast BMW in his Alpha.
Argh! I wanted to see the video! Anyone know where it can be had?
Mark;
Doubt it. The owner pulled it off YouTube, and unless someone else is (illegally?) hosting it ... or maybe downloaded it and is willing to send it to you, I think you're SOL.
more on the chase: http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/new-video-model-s-test-drive
Electric Pikes Peak Attack -- Wow! ;-)
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/05/21/monster-tajimas-electric-pikes-peak...
Is tesla getting ready for the peak? Already 6 Model s cars in the www.refuelraces.com And they are preforming better then the roadster
Noticed in results these two lines:
Driver Car model Lap time event laps
AARON BAILEY Tesla Model S 1:58.038 CARS 2 1
SEAN WHEELER Tesla Model S 1:56.767 CARS 2 1
If I don't miss anything those are only times under two minutes. Both driven with Model S. Sounds great.
Damn missed / in closing tag of h2. I didn't mean to yell :-)
Edit, where are thou?
Make that "event" a "session". Uh, better make some coffee, I'm starting to make inattention errors.
Not sure what's up with the listed times, but the lead-in on the home page says "KleenSpeed's WX-11 returned to smash their previous year's track record with a 1:32.046". That time's nowhere to be found on the results page.
That's in "SportElectric TT" results.
Model S is well presented there too. Production-class Model S best time is 1:51.832, losing only two seconds to Summit HER-02.
Performance Model S is not mentioned there, but Roadster Sport is, so I guess no-one has been driven performance there yet. Looking very good for Model S, and forecasting very bright future for smaller GenIII Roadster -like sport car.
For Refuel 2012, you really want this link...
http://www.refuelraces.com/sportelectric.html
And here's the data for those that don't feel like clicking:
CLASS PLACE DRIVER VEHICLE LAP TIME SPEED
(AVG)
PROTOTYPE 1 KEVIN MITZ Kleenspeed EV-X11 01:32.0 87.5
PROTOTYPE 2 IKUO HANAWA Summit HER-02 01:48.9 73.9
PROTOTYPE 3 MATT BROWN Tesla Model S Prototype 01:59.5 67.4
PROTOTYPE 4 STEVEN MUSCARELLI Custom Electric Kart 02:25.4 55.4
----------
PRODUCTION 1 SEAN WHEELER Tesla Model S 01:51.8 72.0
PRODUCTION 2 AARON BAILEY Tesla Model S 01:52.8 71.4
PRODUCTION 3 JOHN SPRUILL Tesla Model S 01:52.9 71.3
PRODUCTION 4 DALE SIEVWRIGHT Tesla Model S 01:56.1 69.4
PRODUCTION 5 BILL ARNETT Tesla Roadster 01:58.4 68.0
PRODUCTION 6 HUIBERT MEES Tesla Model S 01:59.5 67.4
PRODUCTION 7 JOHN ROBISON Tesla Roadster Sport 02:00.2 67.0
PRODUCTION 8 STEVE HAND Tesla Roadster 02:02.1 66.0
PRODUCTION 9 NADER ASSEMI Nissan Leaf 02:02.9 65.6
PRODUCTION 10 TIMOTHY RODGERS Tesla Roadster 02:03.0 65.5
PRODUCTION 11 DAVID ALLMON Tesla Roadster 02:03.2 65.4
PRODUCTION 12 STUART CHESHIRE Tesla Roadster 02:04.0 65.0
PRODUCTION 13 DON LOUV BMW ActiveE 02:06.5 63.7
PRODUCTION 14 BENNETT LEEDS Tesla Roadster 02:09.0 62.4
PRODUCTION 15 JON PARKER BMW ActiveE 02:11.5 61.3
PRODUCTION 16 CORY LAGOE CODA 1.0 02:12.1 61.0
PRODUCTION 17 ADRIAN COCKCROFT Nissan Leaf 02:12.3 60.9
PRODUCTION 18 MATT WALTON Nissan Leaf 02:13.3 60.4
PRODUCTION 19 JACK BROWN BMW ActiveE 02:15.9 59.3
PRODUCTION 20 RICK UMSTATTD Nissan Leaf 02:16.5 59.0
PRODUCTION 21 EMRE TUNCER BMW ActiveE 02:17.0 58.8
PRODUCTION 22 STEPHEN CASNER Tesla Roadster 02:19.5 57.7
PRODUCTION 23 JER GRANUCCI BMW ActiveE 02:22.1 56.6
PRODUCTION 24 HOWARD CLEARFIELD Nissan Leaf 02:41.4 49.9
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CONVERSION 1 RICHARD RODRIGUEZ Porsche 914 Conversion 02:37.0 51.3
CONVERSION 2 STEPHEN JOHNSEN Pontiac Fiero Conversion 02:42.0 49.7
CONVERSION 3 MARK BUSH Bradley GT-E 02:46.3 48.4
Hopefully I didn't mess up the PRE tag...
13 Teslas, including the top 8.
Not tea bags!
>:)
5 Production Model S entries. Wasn't aware that many were out and about for this kind of thing.
I'm hopping to see a bunch of Teslas this year at Pikes Peak!!
Sorry, hoping...
Hopping sounds like even more fun!
None so far.
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