A New Zealand-developed V8 engine has helped power a podium finish at the 104th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado, USA, with the Kiwi-backed Sendy Club entry finishing second overall and setting a new rear-wheel-drive record.
Auckland-based Prototipo was brought into Robin Shute’s Sendy Club project to develop the car’s powertrain in a bid to challenge the outright record previously set by the Volkswagen ID.R.
Simon Longdill and the team at Prototipo developed a 2.33-litre turbocharged V8 based on the BMW S1000 RR, producing up to 670kW at sea level and revving to 13,000rpm.
Installed in a heavily modified Tatuus Formula 4 chassis weighing less than 600kg and generating 500kg of downforce at 160km/h, the car completed the famous Colorado hill climb in 8min 29sec.
The time was enough to win the Super Unlimited class, set a new rear-wheel-drive record and become the second-fastest internal combustion-powered car ever to tackle Pikes Peak.
Overall, the Sendy Club entry finished second only to Ford’s all-electric Ford Super Mustang Mach-E, ending up 11 seconds behind the factory-backed entry. It also recorded the fourth-fastest time in the event’s history, behind factory efforts from Ford, Volkswagen and Peugeot.
Longdill says the result demonstrates the car’s potential despite limited development time.
“Most encouragingly the car was genuinely quick out of the box with extremely limited time for optimisation. With a year of development ahead there is a genuine belief that we can hit the goals that we originally set,” he says.
“The event is in its 105th running in 2027 and has an intriguing battle now between the top EV and ICE powered vehicles, about the only event where both compete for honours on a very even footing.”
