Photo: Unplugged Performance
After a winning Tesla Model S Plaid run at last year’s International Pikes Peak Hill Climb in Colorado, the electric vehicle (EV) is officially headed back to the competition.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is back, and Unplugged Performance’s Tesla Model S Plaid, dubbed “Dark Helmet,” is competing under the control of driver Randy Pobst, as seen in a new video shared on Tuesday.
The four-minute video details Pobst’s experience on the road, including the fact that the road is super bumpy, negatively affecting Dark Helmet’s handling.
Pobst also talks about balancing the needs of the heat of the regenerative brakes and the battery, to keep the entire vehicle cool, ensuring top speeds despite less-than-ideal conditions
The race was originally founded in 1916, and the recent half of a decade has seen a handful of EVs win the race, including Pobst and the Unplugged team multiple times.
Pobst has called the road “terrifying” in a test run in years past, and he even had a semi-serious accident in the 2020 iteration of the race.
In a documentary shared last year, Unplugged Performance talked with Pobst about the crash, releasing just weeks ahead of the 2021 Hill Climb.
You can watch Randy Pobst’s full discussion on Day 2 of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, including details on Unplugged Performance’s highly-modded Tesla Model S below.
