#ElectricRaceCars

Mitsubishi has unveiled its entry for this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

One of the most hallowed racetracks in the world recently got an electric shave, and not just from a weedwhacker. The Nissan Leaf NISMO RC, which debuted at the New York Auto Show a few months prior, finally got a thrashing around the Circuit de la Sarthe. It was quiet, yet not entirely unexciting.

Nissan’s Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares was behind the wheel of the electric race car, for an event called the “Le Mans vers le futur” that attempts to take the oxymoron out of the phrase “electric race car.”

Click the jump for the video, and skip ahead to 3:00 where things really start to get lively. And if you’re wondering, it took Tavares 22 minutes to lap the track, or about the same about of time it took Duncan Hamilton to get completely smashed on brandy Alexanders.

This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans has only just finished ( and what a race it was), but some teams are already making plans for 2012. No, we’re not talking about Audi or Corvette Racing, but a newcomer to the series, GreenGT. And the team won’t just be piloting a new car, but a whole new method of getting around the track, with the GreenGT LMP H2 race car an electric vehicle.

The ACO (Automobile Club de L’Ouest), which is responsible for the Le Mans race, has confirmed the car will compete in an experimental race class, meaning it won’t be up against the top dogs, but it will be racing, using a hydrogen-powered electric engine which is expected to make around 402-hp and what will likely be more torque than the whole rest of the field put together.

Unconvinced? Check out the video of the car testing on track after the jump:

Rumors had indicated that Nissan would unveil the next-generation Versa at the New York Auto Show this week, but no one saw this coming. Above is a lone image of what the Japanese automaker is calling the Leaf NISMO RC (Racing Competition). Yes, a Leaf race car!

This new series will be performed on tracks around the world and in terms of performance will rival the current FIA Formula-3 series, which uses 2.0-liter gas engines.