LEAF to take on Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Pikes Peak LEAF

Dressed in NISMO LEAF livery, Chad Hord to take on Pikes Peak

On June 26 Nissan will attack the Race to the Clouds in an essentially stock Nissan LEAF.

Off-road truck racing champion Chad Hord will pilot the LEAF which will be stock with the exception of required safety equipment such as a roll cage, harnesses and racing seats. This will be more or less an exhibition run, as the electric car record is held by a purpose built electric race car run by Yokohama (to promote their tires), set during last years race. What this will show is that the LEAF is a capable vehicle in varying environments.

An interesting side note – Yokohama was running an electric race car to show off an orange oil infused tire. The benefit? Reducing petroleum use by 20% in the tire construction. While Yokohama has released no further word on the development of this tire, it had been in competition use since 2009. This shows that it is not only in the area of propulsion that petroleum reduction efforts are being examined. We will keep our eye out for further word on the development of alternative tire development – from Yokohama or others.

This entry was posted in Fun!, Industry News, LEAF Information, Other EVs. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to LEAF to take on Pikes Peak Hill Climb

  1. indyflick says:

    Nowadays the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a far far different event than it was nearly a hundred years ago. Originally it not only challenged a drivers skill through the switch backs but also stressed the vehicle performance (due to reduced oxygen) through the altitude change from 9,000 feet to 14,000 feet! The later is no longer an issue with computer controlled engines and would never be on issue with an EV.

    • Ernie Hernandez (LEAFguy) says:

      Also of significance – in the beginning it was mostly unpaved with only some segments receiving that benefit. Now the bottom and top portions are paved, with only a segment in the middle left unpaved.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.