Ford Focus Electric, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, & Renault Zoe Jump Into British Racing

The organizers of another racing event have added fun and diversity via electric vehicles, this time via the Midland Automobile Club. The Midland Automobile Club added new classes for low emissions and electric cars this past weekend.

The Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb club dates back to 1901. It was established in the time of Queen Victoria at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham by members of the early motor industry. The club is considered by most as the oldest motor sports club in the world.

The brand new Ford Focus Electric won the BEV class, creating a rippling surprise. Even the current leader of the British Hill Climb Championship was quite impressed. “Trevor Willis accepted Ford’s invitation to drive it and by the end of the weekend was pleasantly surprised with his winning time of 45.29 seconds and was even tempted to take it home.”

That’s a beautiful blue, too. And let’s be honest — if we polled you ahead of time about which EV would win the BEV race, would any of you have pick the Ford Focus Electric?

Here’s more from Shelsley Walsh: “Renault entered their brand new long-range ZOE Dynamique, driven by Autocar’s journalists Steve Cropley and Sam Sheehan. Between them they set a best time of 48.63 seconds.”

“Mitsubishi not only provided their stylish Outlander PHEVs for course cars but also entered one in the PHEV class where they finished first in the hands of Simon Clark with a time of 44.78 seconds but also qualified for the SUV class finishing third against the Land Rover Discovery SI6 and the eventual winner Bentley Bentayga.”

Talk about a wide spectrum of speed — from the King of Speed, a Tesla Model S (P85+ trim), to the diminutive, fun Renault Twizy. Though, note that those two were used in test runs.

Adding even more fun, there was also “a classic VW Beetle that had been fully converted to electric power.”

“The event is a great sales opportunity and I hope that next year more of the manufacturers will get involved as this first event has been a great success. The public loved seeing the cars and being able to get a good look over them.”

Among the consumer market contenders, the Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV are consistently favorites in Europe, as well as the Nissan LEAF and BMW i3:

Related Stories:

• Faraday Future FF 91 To Race At Pikes Peak (w/Video)
• The New Formula E Car Is The Future Of Racing
• Videos Of Tesla Model S P100D Killing The Drag Race Competition (& Losing Drivers Whining)
• Tesla Model X Is The Fastest Production SUV In The World Does 0-100 MPH In 7-98 Seconds

All images by John Charters except Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, by Rob Macdonald. Images via Shelsley Walsh