Monster Tajima will be again driving his Tajima Motors E-Runner, which was forced out of the race last year when Tajima developed a small fire aboard the electric vehicle. He has won the Unlimited division eight times, and was the first driver to crack the ten-minute mark when he clocked a 9:51.278 in winning the title in 2011.
Millen is making his debut in the electric division and will be driving the Toyota TMG EV P002. That car won the electric division last year when driven by Japan’s Fumio Nutahara. Millen has won 9 titles on Pikes Peak including five wins in the Unlimited division.
Nutahara will be back but obviously not driving for Toyota, but the car has yet to be determined.
Current entrants in the Electric Car division are:
- Elias Anderson, of Austin TX, driving what’s described as an HCE XP-13. He drove the 3rd fastest electric car in the 2012 PPIHC, and finished in the top 10 of the cars.
- Michael Breem, of San Marcos CA, driving an electric BMW conversion. He drove this car in the 2012 PPIHC, was the 4th fastest electric car, and placed 54th overall.
- Ikuo Hanawa, of Ibaraki Japan, driving what’s described as a Summit HER-02. This is the Yokohama Tires entry, and in 2012 their car placed 55th overall.
- Janis Horeliks, of Ogresgala pagasts Latvia, driving what’s described as an “e0 PP01”. S/He is a rookie to the PPIHC.
- Rod Millen, of Salisbury North Carolina, driving the aforementioned Toyota TMG EV P002.
- Tajima Nobohiru, of Shibuya-ku Japan, driving the aforementioned E-Runner. He raced in the 2012 PPIHC but was forced out when smoke began billowing from the battery pack.
- Roy Richards, of Boron CA, driving a Honda Fit. He is a rookie to the PPIHC.
The 2013 running also has an electric motorcycle division all of whom will be riding Zero Motorcycles bikes
- Nathan Barker, of Rocklin CA, riding a 2013 Zero FX.
- Jeff Clark, of Orange CA, riding a 2013 Zero FX.
- Aaron Frank of Milwaukee WI, riding a 2013 Zero MX.
- Jeremiah Johnson, of St. Petersburg FL, riding a 2013 Zero S.
- Kenyon Kluge, of Santa Cruz CA, riding a 2013 Zero S. Kluge is a Zero Motorcycles employee.
- Brandon Nozaki Miller, of Thousand Oaks CA, riding a 2012 Zero S.
All are rookies to the PPIHC.
Jeremiah Johnson is a pro motorcycle racer who has participated in the TTXGP, including the World Championship in Daytona last fall.
Brandon Miller is new to racing, and is working through the system to become the first certified motorcycle racer without ever throwing his leg over a gas bike. In 2012 he took his Zero S to the Bonneville Salt Flats and set a land speed record for lightweight electric motorcycles
.
Kenyon Kluge has an AMA racing license and has raced in the TTXGP since the 2010 season. During the 2012 season he organized the eSuperStock award group which consisted of 4 2012 Zero S’s racing in the TTXGP.
There are several other potential electric entrants in the 2013 PPIHC.
Sources:
- Is there enough Grid Capacity for Hydrogen Fuel Cell or Battery Electric cars? - April 23, 2023
- Is Tesla finagling to grab federal NEVI dollars for Supercharger network? - November 15, 2022
- Tesla announces the North American Charging Standard charging connector - November 11, 2022
- Lightning Motorcycles adopts Silicon battery, 5 minute charge time gives 135 miles range - November 9, 2022
- Tesla Autopilot under US Dept of Transportation scrutiny - June 13, 2022
- Spectacular CNG bus fire misrepresented as EV bus fire - April 21, 2022
- Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia, and the European Energy Crisis - December 21, 2021
- Li-Bridge leading the USA across lithium battery chasm - October 29, 2021
- USA increasing domestic lithium battery research and manufacturing - October 28, 2021
- Electrify America building USA/Canada-wide EV charging network - October 27, 2021
