This year's running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is looking more and more exciting with every new outfit confirming its entry; the latest is Radford, with a specially-built version of its 62-2 sports car. While the road version has up to 600 horsepower and weighs around 2,400 pounds, this race version's output has been boosted to 710 hp, and its weight reduced to roughly 2,000 lbs. The 3.5-liter V6 has the same design as the one you get in the road car, but only the block is shared. And where the regular version has an H-pattern manual transmission, this racer runs a paddle-shifted sequential setup.

0-60 mph is expected to arrive in 2.2 seconds, and the top speed estimate is 160 mph. In the road car, those figures are 2.9 seconds and 181 mph. The latter figure is less impressive because of all the aero required to keep a race car glued to the asphalt as it races to the clouds, but better acceleration and lateral grip should more than make up for the lower top speed, which would be difficult to reach on such a treacherous bit of blacktop anyway.

The man set to pilot the special creation up the famous hill is Tanner Foust, who told Top Gear that besides "the design ethos and some components, [...] everything else is either modified or a bespoke version of what is on the road car."

He's not kidding. Even the aluminum chassis has been swapped for a full composite monocoque some 230 millimeters wider, and there are new subframes front and rear with new suspension geometry.

Radford clearly wants to make waves on its first run up the hill. A bespoke cooling setup, a specially-developed Mobil 1 oil, a new underfloor, a central driving position, AP Racing brakes, a lightweight battery, and a classy John Player Special livery all combine to ram home the point that this car wants to win and make its forebears proud. The Radford will compete in the Exhibition category, but regardless of where it places, the RWD widebody sports car will be a spectacle to behold regardless.

If British sports cars are not your thing, perhaps hulking German SUVs and electric pickups are. Both BMW and Rivian will be present at this year's running, and so will Lia Block in a very special Porsche 911. Aston Martin is bringing an AMR Vantage GT3 and Ford Performance will run a special E-Transit, while Alpine will bring a wild A110. We can't wait to see how they all fare on June 25.