Words: Andrew Sluys
Published 7 July 2026
Prototipo, a New Zealand-based company recently found success at the 104th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
As part of Robin Shute’s ‘Sendy Club’, Prototipo was brought into the team to help build a car from the ground up and take the overall record from the Volkswagen ID.R.
While most might mistake Shute’s ‘SendyCar’ for a Formula 1 racer, it’s an old Tatuus Formula 4 car that has been heavily modified for the event.
As one of the most extreme cars to enter the event, Shute was after an equally extreme engine, and that’s where the Kiwis came into the frame.
Simon Longdill and the team from Prototipo produced a 2.33-litre turbocharged V8 engine for the car.
This BMW S1000 RR-based engine emerged with a redline of 13,000rpm and produced up to 670kW at sea level.
Pair this with a car that tips the scales at under 600kg, and makes 500kg of downforce at 160km/h, the results speak for themselves.
The Sendy Club finished second overall at the event, only beaten by Ford and its all-electric Super Mustang Mach-E.
Shute finished eleven seconds behind the Mustang, with a time of 8 minutes and 29 seconds. This was enough to set a new record for the rear-wheel drive class, and won the super-unlimited class.
The SendyCar also became the second-fastest ICE-powered car up Pikes Peak and the fourth best time overall.
The latter is a particularly impressive achievement as the three teams in front are all factory-backed (Volkswagen, Peugeot and Ford).
Speaking on the achievement after the event, Simon Longdill of Prototipo is excited for what’s to come in future years.
“Most encouragingly the car was genuinely quick out of the box with extremely limited time for optimisation, with a year of development ahead there is a genuine belief that we can hit the goals that we originally set.”
“The event is in its 105th running in 2027 and has an intriguing battle now between the top EV and ICE powered vehicles, about the only event where both compete for honours on a very even footing.”
