Tanner Foust to take on infamous Pikes Peak hill climb with 700bhp Radford special
One-off car built to compete in 12.5-mile 'race to the clouds'
California-based British coachbuilder Radford, fronted by ex-F1 driver Jenson Button and celebrity engineer Ant Anstead, has announced that it will be competing at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in June with a special one-off sports car piloted by American TV star and racing driver Tanner Foust.
The Radford Type 62-2 Pikes Peak Edition is based on the company’s Type 62-2 two-seat sports car — itself a modern interpretation of the stillborn Lotus Type 62 project — but features new composite bodywork that incorporates a huge rear wing for maximum downforce.
Pikes Peak is a unique and gruelling event that sees competitors race up a 12.42-mile course featuring 156 turns and a 4,720 feet ascent from the start line to the top of the hill. As a result, cars are tailored for the course to include large wings for downforce, while powertrains are optimised to extract maximum performance as the atmosphere gets thinner towards the top of the course.
The Type 62-2 Pikes Peak Edition has been fitted out with a composite monocoque (also known as a unibody construction in which the bodyshell takes the loads) featuring a central driving position in place of the road car’s aluminium chassis.
The competition model is 23mm wider and gains bodywork additions design for the specific demands of Pikes Peak, including a front wing and enormous rear wing, with a revised rear underbody and splitter for maximum downforce. The whole package has been wind-tunnel tested by Radford.
New front and rear subframes and revised suspension geometry complete the chassis updates.
Completing the car’s looks is a black and gold livery that harks back to the famous John Player Special colours worn by the Lotus Formula One team, last seen in the 1986 season when Ayrton Senna was driving for the outfit. It’s also one of the liveries that’s available for the Type 62-2 road car.
Power comes from the same Toyota-sourced 3.5-litre supercharged V6 as the standard Type 62-2, but the engine has been reworked to produce 700bhp — an increase of around 200bhp over the most powerful roadgoing model.
The engine is connected to a sequential-shift gearbox, and with a total vehicle weight of 861kg the Radford Type 62-2 Pikes Peak Edition can sprint from standstill to 60mph in a hypercar-like 2.2 seconds before reaching its top speed of 160mph.
Bringing everything to a halt are bespoke carbon brake discs and pads from AP Racing, while carbon-composite Dymag wheels are shod in sticky Yokohama tyres.
Foust, who has previously been a class winner at Pikes Peak, said: “I am honoured to have the chance to pilot this machine up the Pikes Peak course. It has been great working with the whole team at Radford and I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel.”
Speaking at the car’s unveiling, Radford co-founder Anstead said: “We are incredibly excited to take part in this iconic event. Pikes Peak is the quintessential American hill climb so it made perfect sense for Radford to create a bespoke one-off model for the occasion.
“We have been in development with this car since January and we are looking forward to seeing the [it] in action. To have JPS colours appear again in international motor sport is like a boyhood dream come true.”
The 101st running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb takes place on June 25, 2023.
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