► Honda’s new Pikes Peak prototype racer
► It’s an EV – but with butch NSX body
► Four-wheel drive, electric drive only
Should F1 take a leaf out of the more leftfield motorsport categories out there? Honda today showcased its new Pikes Peak challenger – a madcap all-electric prototype racer designed to tear up the fabled hillclimb in Broadmoor, US in uncanny silence.
Called simply the EV Concept, the prototype uses much of the hardware – and bodywork, albeit on steroids – from the Honda NSX hybrid supercar.
But this is unlike any goody-two-shoes NSX you’ve ever seen before…
Honda EV Concept by NSX: the lowdown
This car will compete in the Electric Modified Class at the 2016 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and runs a four-motor EV set-up. It’s an evolution of the CR-Z-based car that won at the 2015 Pikes Peak race and shuffles drive to each wheel with digital precision for proper torque vectoring. You can see why they’ve slung the warped NSX bodyshell on top, albeit in silhouette racer form.
It’ll be driven by Tetsuya Yamano, who drove the all-electric CR-Z last year. The 2016 NSX-alike prototype boasts three times more power, however – suggesting the snaking, 156-corner route of Pikes Peak will be dispatched in pretty short, silent order…
