This year’s annual Pikes Peak Hillclimb, the first to be run on a fully-paved venue, is shaping up to be a true tour de force for electric vehicles. Among the heavyweights on the EV entry list is the factory-backed Mitsubishi i-MiEV Evolution as well as high-powered privateer entries from Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima — who holds the overall absolute record for sprinting up the mountain — and the current king of the EV hill chargers, Iuko Hanawa, who returns to defend his title in a Summit HEC-02. Latest challenger to announce a bid for zero emissions honors in 2012 is Toyota Motorsport GmbH. The automaker’s German-based competition operation that established a new EV mark around the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in 2011 with its TMG EV P001 sports racer will take on Pikes Peak with a new and improved variant, the TMG EV P002. To be driven by multiple Japanese rally champion, Fumio Nutahara, the EV P002 will be part of a project from Japanese company RK1 Inc.
Also based on a Radical chassis, the TMG EV P002 uses a pair of new and even more potent axial flux motors that collectively turn out 469 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque. Each is energized by the car’s 42kWh lithium-ceramic battery pack and geared to give the EV P002 a top speed of 149 mph. The car successfully underwent several days of shakedown testing in May at the Paul Ricard Circuit in southern France. Based on that outing, Ludwig Zeller, General Manager Electric & Electronics is confident the EV P002 will be ready to for its Race to the Clouds debut that will take place from July 3-8.
