EVs Finish 1-2 at Pikes Peak; Mercedes Sets Diesel Record

Race car driver Rhys Millen won the annual race to the top of Pikes Peak this week, piloting an electric race car up the 12.4-mile route in nine minutes and seven seconds (watch winning run). Second-place Nobuhiro Tajima finished 25 seconds behind in Rimac Automobili's all-wheel-drive E-Runner electric car.

The victory marks the first time an EV has won the annual Colorado hill climb, now in its 93rd year. But Millen's time was well off the record 8:13-minute pace set in 2013 by legendary World Rally driver Sebastian Loeb in a conventionally powered Peugeot 208 T116 car.

Millen's Latvian-made Drive eO PP03 features a 50-kW lithium-ion battery and six electric motors three stacked in series at each axle. The vehicle generates 1,368 hp and 1,593 lb-ft of torque. But the car's battery pack adds significant weight, making the PP03 about 770 lbs heavier than the significantly modified Peugeot 208 record-holder.

The challenging course includes 156 turns with an average uphill gradient of 7% that rises more than 4,700 feet to a height of 14,100 feet at the finish line.

Paul Dallanbach finished third in this year's event in a specially designed open-wheel model. Powered by a naturally aspirated gasoline engine, the vehicle shattered the previous open-wheel record by 20 seconds with a time of 9:36.

The fastest car in the Unlimited class was Dominic Dobson's Radical SR8 with a time of 10:15. An all-electric version of Honda's CR-Z hybrid coupe finished nine seconds behind to win the Exhibition class.

Mercedes-Benz set a new record (11:37 minutes) for diesels at Pikes Peak with a nearly stock version of its C300 d 4MATIC sport sedan. The C300 d (known as the 250 d in Europe) is powered by a 4-cylinder diesel with a two-stage turbocharger and 7-speed automatic transmission.