(Wed 22 Oct 08)

Despite being strictly an amateur sport, hillclimbing has been the inspiration for some remarkable motoring developments for more than a century - but perhaps never more so than in the case of the Bee Four ERV which will contest the British Championship in 2009.

Technically, the car is the brainchild of former Lotus F1 designer Martin Ogilvie. Although it looks like a reasonably conventional single-seater, apart from the unusually far-back driving position, it's actually quite radical in that it's all-electric, with four motors (providing a total of around 700bhp) driving one wheel each.

The driver of the car is twice British Hillclimb Champion Graeme Wight Jnr, whose earlier career was explained in a previous feature. Wight spent the 2008 season developing a V10 F1-engined Predator (another Martin Ogilvie design) but this project has been put on hold with the announcement of the Bee Four.

Wight admits to mixed feelings about driving an electric car, but he's certainly excited about it. "I'm an engine man really," he says. "I love engines, I love the sound of them. But what sort of thing can we do with this car? With a motor at each corner, if you get understeer going into a corner it can be cancelled out by changing where the power goes. It opens up a whole new field of dynamics. I think this car has the potential to do really wonderful things - except sound good!"

It has been said that the Bee Four will be entered in the 2009 Championship "with the intention" of winning it. "That's maybe a bit bold," says Wight. "I do believe we'll win one event. Or two. Or even more. It just depends on how quickly we can get up and running."

If it's any consolation, the history of electric cars in hillclimbing goes back to the very beginnings of the sport; Camille Jenatzy and Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat were battling for overall honours in rival battery-powered vehicles at the Chanteloup hillclimb course near Paris back in the late 19th century. Things have moved on a long way since then, but with Ogilve and Wight's involvement - and support from partners including Oxford University and the Motor Industry Research Association - the Bee Four could well have the same success as those pioneer cars.

As well as being a fascinating project in its own right, the Bee Four is part of a bigger picture. The Bee Automobiles company is also planning to develop a range of all-electric road cars, including a sports model and possibly a saloon, for production over the next few years.

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