It was nearly ten years ago that I talked with Monster Tajima about his switch to electric power at Pikes Peak. He was already the King of the Mountain and had been for many years.

It was Tajima who first told me that electric power was the mountain’s future and that electric cars would be going up the hill is less than ten minutes. That was a magic ceiling at the time.

But, with the road fully paved now, ten minutes is nothing for the highly backed cars. Volkswagen last weekend proved that, taking an electric powered prototype up the hill in an unbelievable 7m57.148s.
VW EV Pikes Peak 2018
Think about that for a minute. We thought Sebastien Loeb’s record of 8m13.878s in a highly radical Peugeot 208. Even the Peugeot computers thought it would take 30 seconds longer.

Now Volkswagen Motorsport is popping its collar saying it’s record showed the World Rally Championship “what’s possible” with electric rally cars.

That may be a long way off until after battery storage improves greatly. But what I love is a manufacturer using motorsport to show us what’s possible again. We’re seeing what could end up in the driveway instead of the refrigerator or closet.

This is a step in the right direction after VW’s diesel mess.

Peace.