Nobuhiro Monster Tajima and his experienced team of engineers, and fabricators have been continuously evolving the Monster Sport E-RUNNER Pikes Peak Special since its debut at Pikes Peak in 2012. While 2012 was not a year that team Monster Sport would like to remember, the 2013 race showed great promise and potential for this platform. Monster Tajima experienced a slightly drier course than some of his competitors which helped him set a time of 9:46.53 and win the Electric Division overall.
Nevertheless the drive that Monster and his fellow competitors such as Greg Tracy and Rod Millen displayed was incredibly impressive. All three teams were able to set times up the mountain that left some petrol-powered competitors gasping for air. (No pun intended). The electric car field will continue to grow over the coming years at Pikes Peak. Not only do they not lose power when climbing up the mountain, but they have shown to have instant speed off the line. No lag, no fuss, just constant climbing torque. When you factor in that the cars produce no emissions whatsoever, the statistics become even more amazing.
Monster Tajima and Team APEV have been documenting the development of the car for 2014. A different choice of wheels, more power from the two liquid cooled electric motors, and sticker tires may be just what Monster needs to best his competitors again this year. That shouldn’t make one think that the competition from Yokohama Tire and Mitsubishi Motors are resting on their laurels though. The details of Mitsubishi’s new rides for Greg Tracy and Hiroshi Masuoka have not been finalized, but expect them to build upon last year’s cars to create something truly special. Utilizing the best Mitsubishi MIEV technology to get the task done.
About this project
With the preservation of the environment and a goal of a sustainable society at heart, APEV (Chairman, Soichiro Fukutake) organized the Pikes Peak EV Challenge Committee to take on the challenge once again as ‘Team APEV with Monster Sport’ in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb to be held in July 29th, 2014 in Colorado, USA.
As many people are aware, global environment problems such as global warming and disasters caused by unusual weather is an indicator to the increasing seriousness of our environmental problems. As an effective solution to the world wide problem, countries from all over are working towards the global proliferation of the use of high performance electric vehicles.
Continuing on with the project from 2years ago start up, the project has caught the attention of Japan, U.S.A., and on to Europe as Nobuhiro Tajima, the defending Champion of 6 consecutive wins has switched to EV (Electric Vehicle) and many broadcasting media such as Television and Newspapers have put spotlights to the project.
Japanese cutting edge engineering and technology were all implemented to develop the EV Racing car, and achieved performances that far exceed combustion engines. Many challenges were encountered and all were overcome through hard work in the extremes of racing, in turn, produced much fruitful results. Once again this year, alongside the challenge of the race, The Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles (APEV) will be actively working towards the preservation of the global environment and the proliferation of EV (electric vehicles) throughout the World.
More information about the project can be found here: http://www.apev.jp/teamapev/2014/team_e.html
