Carlin Dunne and Lightning Motorcycles made history at this year’s Pike’s Peak Hill Climb, as their electric motorcycle was the fastest two-wheeled vehicle to make it to the top, the first time an EV has beaten its gas-powered competitors on the 12.42-mile “Race to the Clouds.”

The 500 lb, 200 hp “Flying Banana” finished in ninth place overall (out of 140). Dunne’s time of 10:00.694 beat the best that the ICE motorcycle world could muster, demolishing the second-place bike – a Ducati Multistrada 1200 S that finished at 10:21.323. Several Zero electric bikes also scored impressive times.

The 4-wheeled EVs did even better, although a gas-powered Peugeot 208 took overall first place with 8:13.878. Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima, a six-time winner at Pikes Peak, took first in the EV class with his Monster Sport E-RUNNER Pikes Peak Special. Monster posted a time of 9:46.530 – fifth place overall, 29 seconds better than last year’s EV record, and the first time an EV has cracked 10 minutes on The Peak.

Second and third in the EV class (13th and 14th overall) went to Hiroshi Masuoka and Greg Tracy, both in the Mitsubishi MiEV Evolution II, with times of 10:23.649 and 10:21.866.

Rainy weather conditions foiled some competitors, notably Rod Millen in the Toyota TMG EV P002, which was a favorite before the race. According to Toyota, “practice runs had shown the TMG EV P002 likely to break the electric record of 10:15.380 it set last year. However, a slippery track made it impossible to improve on that mark.”

Complete results are at: http://www.livetiming.net/PPIHC/

Photo: Jensen Beeler/Asphalt & Rubber
Sources: Autoevolution, InsideEVs