Why Hyundai Beating Tesla's Pikes Peak Record Is Huge News
Why Hyundai Beating Tesla's Pikes Peak Record Is Huge News
The Hyundai that's 24 seconds quicker than the fastest-ever Tesla on the world's most demanding course
Hyundai has had an incredible few years. They hired Albert Biermann, former head of BMW M, in 2015 to make fast, engaging, desirable cars, giving birth to their highly praised “N” models. They have also created incredible EVs like the IONIQ 5 and 6, which go toe-to-toe with the likes of Tesla. Not only has this taken Hyundai from an unpalatable brand to the talk of the town, but it has also massively increased sales. They recently combined the two, possibly creating the most performance-orientated EV ever with the IONIQ 5 N. Now, you might think a high-performance electric SUV can’t possibly be that good. But a relatively lightly modified version of this car, piloted by three-time World Rally Championship stage winner and Hyundai WRC driver Dani Sordo, utterly destroyed the fastest-ever Tesla on the world’s most challenging course, the 20 kilometre Pike’s Peak, taking the Tesla’s record. But there is more to this than just a racing win.
The car Sordo drove was put together incredibly quickly. Most manufacture supported Pike’s Peak record attempts take years of R&D and preparation to pull off. In comparison, his IONIQ 5 was developed, assembled and tested in just six months! This meant the team couldn’t modify the car too much. They increased the power by a marginal 40 horsepower, giving it 680 horsepower, a massive 340 less than the record-setting Tesla. They used CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to quickly develop the car’s aero package and used rapid production techniques, such as 3D printing, to build the car in time. This aero package includes a splitter, underfloor and spoiler, and it is incredibly effective, delivering vast amounts of downforce with minimal drag. They also modified the suspension with a highly tuneable configuration. The team wanted to change the battery pack and modify the chassis to lose over 227 kg (500 lbs) of weight but didn’t have time. As such, despite the race car having a stripped-out interior, it only weighs 68 kg (150 lbs) less than a 2,100 kg (4650 lbs) stock IONIQ 5 and uses the standard IONIQ 5 N battery pack and cooling system.
But a year ago, one of Sordo’s teammates, Randy Probst, set the fastest modified electric vehicle at Pikes Peak record with a modified Tesla Model S Plaid known as Dark Helmet. Dark Helmet, like Sordo’s IONIQ 5, is a lightly modified street-legal car. It uses the Tesla’s standard 1,020 horsepower drive train and battery but has upgraded suspension with off-the-shelf components, as well as an aero package that includes a giant splitter, underfloor and spoiler. However, unlike the Hyundai, Dark Helmet’s development took years!
Last year, Probst took this Tesla, which had already set lap records around the US, and laid down a time at Pike’s Peak of 9:54.901. Pike’s Peak is well suited for EVs, as it has an elevation of 14,000 feet, and the thin air significantly reduces the power of combustion engines. In fact, the overall record is still held by the all-electric VW ID.R at a blistering 7:57.148. For some context, only a handful of custom-made racecars set a sub-10-minute time last year.
Skip forward to just a few days ago, and Sordo attempted the course with the Tesla within its sights. Sordo had never raced at Pike’s Peak before and only had one attempt to get it right. He had to somehow nail the 156 turn, mixed surface course in one go. Even for a veteran rally driver, that is a tall order. But Sordo smashed it, setting a time of 09:30.852, taking Tesla’s record by a massive margin.
For some context, that is over 24 seconds, or 20% faster than the Tesla!
How is this possible? Well, the Tesla had a massive overheating issue that unplugged (the team that developed it) couldn’t solve. Its cooling system, batteries, and drivetrain were simply not up to the task without melting. As such, it could only use its 1,020 horsepower for a fraction of the course. Meanwhile, the Hyundai had an excellent cooling system right from the factory, allowing it to use all of its 680 horsepower across the entire course. Reportedly, the Hyundai’s suspension set-up and the aero package were far more effective and worked far better together. This shouldn’t be surprising, as Hyundai’s in-house team was heavily involved, while only a handful of engineers worked on Dark Helmet.
Okay, so why should we, non-race car drivers, care?
Well, it shows that Hyundai is using racing to develop and refine its technology. The team that helped develop this insane car will also work on their upcoming EVs. They will have learnt invaluable lessons in getting the drivetrain and battery to perform under such stressful conditions, creating an aero package that can create downforce without excessive drag, and refining the suspension to perform well with the car’s huge on-demand power and massive weight. This, in turn, will allow them to make their upcoming cars significantly more efficient, faster, better handling, safer and even faster charging (thanks to better cooling). Meanwhile, Tesla, who hasn’t even worked with Unplugged and has yet to participate in racing, won’t get these valuable insights.
This also demonstrates how utterly solid the IONIQ platform is. It wasn’t modified any more than Dark Helmet and had far less development, yet utterly smashed it. What’s more, the stock IONIQ 5 is a massive £35,000 ($44,000) cheaper than the stock Model S Plaid.
As such, Hyundai taking Tesla’s record with a much cheaper, yet way more capable EV, shows how rapidly they are catching up to the US giant, and how they could soon leave them in the dust.
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Sources: Hyundai, Inside EVs, Autocar, Unplugged, Racer