In about a month’s time, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will kick off and while electric racers have been surging in popularity at the event, many are still going down the more traditional route.
Take Australian shop Race Innovations and Targa Tasmania driver Tony Quinn for example. Rather than opting for an electric powertrain which won’t lose power at altitude, the tuner has acquired the 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine of a Nissan GT-R and shoehorned it into a Ford Focus.
That’s what been done on paper at least. In reality, the car may resemble a Focus but the only parts it shares with the hatchback are the pillars and windscreen. Everything else is custom including the all-wheel drive system, race suspension, mid-engine layout and pretty much every other square millimeter of this wild creation.
All up, the hillclimber weighs just 2,171 lbs (985 kg) and produces 2,204 lbs (999 kg) of downforce at 124 mph (200 km/h). The GT-R engine has been modified to deliver 850 hp and 976 Nm of torque on 20 psi of boost, meaning this car should be capable of some extraordinary things at Pikes Peak.
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