Kawasaki H2

[Firehawk068]

The initial buzz surrounding the release of this supercharged model has seemed to have died down.
Every once in awhile, I'll catch a little news clip about it, or some release video that is circulating.

Recently PPIHC released the 2015 competitor list for this year's Pikes Peak Hillclimb.
There is someone from Japan (Takahiro Itami) entered in the Exhibition class with a 2015 Kawasaki H2.
It says he is from "Arima Miyamaeku Kawasaki"

I'll be at the event, and am curious to see how this machine gets up the mountain.  

[Firehawk068]

As a side note:

There's a group called "Drive e0" that are returning this year with a new car.

It is the world's first One-Megawatt all-electric race car. It makes somewhere around 1368 horsepower, and is all wheel drive.



They are trying to be the first electric car to claim an overall win at Pikes peak.

This should be interesting.

[Pat Conlon]

Very cool Alan, thanks for the heads up!   I'll check the Drive e0 folks out

The more I think about it, and the inherent problems of tuning ICE for the drastic change in elevation, electric may prove to be the way to go.

[fj1289]

Pat - EFI has solved a lot of the quick change in altitude issues -- dual pressure sensors -- one for manifold pressure and one for barometric pressure. 

I'm more impressed with the performance of electric "specials" like this the more I see and learn

[Firehawk068]

With modern computer control, and fuel injection, I don't believe fuel tuning should be an issue.
I think what Pat is referring to is the drastic loss of power that combustion engines suffer from during the run. Considering the race starts at somewhere around 9,000 feet and climbs to 14,000 over the course of 12.5 miles or so, it is very steeply uphill the whole run. (That's equal to 3 and a half Empire State buildings!)

Turbos and Superchargers help a little, but are not enough to overcome the effects of the thinner air at altitude.

Electric cars (and motorcycles) face absolutely none of the power robbing effects of altitude, and hold the advantage of being able to produce exactly the same power at the top, as they would at sea-level.
They still suffer some of the drawbacks of racing at such an extreme altitude, such as less air density for the downforce-producing bodywork, and less air available for cooling.
A couple years ago I spent some time chatting with Rod Millen's crew (He was running a Toyota sponsored all-electric car), and they said their biggest challenge at Pikes peak was heat management.

[gumby302ho]

  I always wanted to go see a race at Pikes Peak, just pure motor abuse, they must build them tough to run up the peak. That H2 should have some serious grunt for the task at hand. Not knowing much about Pikes Peak but dont they race anything with a motor up that hill. I was always a fan of Al Unser Jr, I think little Al broke a record at one point up that coarse.....

[TexasDave]

With all the hype surrounding the power of the H2R it will be interesting to see how it will perform in the handling category. I look forward to see how it does on Pikes Peak and the Isle of Man.  Dave

[PaulG]

Question : the last time I saw any coverage of Pikes Peak (a long time ago), I thought they were racing on gravel/dirt.  Has it always been paved?  Or am I going senile?

Oh look, there's a pig flying over there!

[fj1289]

They have progressively paved more and more of the road.  I think the paving was completed 2 years ago.   So of course most of the records were reset

[Firehawk068]

They have progressively paved more and more of the road.  I think the paving was completed 2 years ago.   So of course most of the records were reset

Question : the last time I saw any coverage of Pikes Peak (a long time ago), I thought they were racing on gravel/dirt.  Has it always been paved?  Or am I going senile?

Oh look, there's a pig flying over there!

Chris is right. They finished the paving project a few years ago.  2012 was the first event that was held exclusively on pavement. Most of the records have been re-set since then.

Now that it is paved all the way to the top, I think it will draw more and more international drivers and manufacturers wanting to make their mark.
I hope someone comes along to try to challenge Peugeot and Sebastien Loeb's record.