This Super-Aero Batmobile Hopped-up on Steroids was Built in a Home Garage

Lovefab, Inc., founded and led by Cody Loveland, may have created the most insane 700-plus-horsepower, elevation-dominating vehicle ever built in a home garage. It’s name is the “Enviate,” and it’s a racecar designed specifically for climbing 14,115-feet into the highest summit of the southern Rocky Mountains during the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.  

It all started in 2010 with Loveland’s daily driver and shop car, a 1991 Acura NSX. By 2012, it was racing up Pikes Peak in mostly-stock form, aside from the massive wings added for aero power. He raced up the hill at full throttle, his knuckles white for good reason: On the second practice day, the NSX flew off of the hill at 60-mph. Loveland and team rebuilt it in 24-hours, just in time to finish the race. The team earned second place on the podium. 

The car officially earned the “Enviate” alias in 2013.  Being built from an NSX with a V-8 engine, the name is rather brilliant.  “If you combine ‘NSX’ and ‘V-8’ you get ‘N-V-8’,” Loveland explained. “All spelled out, it is the E-n-v-i-a-t-e.”  
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 “The main goal was to drop as much weight as possible from the original 2,500-lbs.,” Loveland said. He achieved this goal and shed 200-lbs worth of metal by building frame using 1 3/8” chromoly tube. Carbon fiber was used for the body panels, and power was supplied by an LS1.  ​

The build was wrapped up in time for the 2013 Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb, but it didn’t live long. After the whipping around the first corner, then hitting 80-plus-mph, the car had a mechanical failure and veered into a wall of boulders. Luckily, right before it was engulfed in flames, Loveland made it out unscathed.  

 (Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXzWPDfGrYU) 
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Even despite the large loss, Loveland didn’t flinch: the team went right back the drawing board, and this time it was a complete rebuild. “Now it has more power, is expertly aerodynamic, and the overall weight more competitive at 2,050-lbs.,” boasted Loveland. ​

​The Enviate’s featherweight carbon fiber body was paired with enough aero to create four-tons of downforce at 150-mph, and the suspension was built to handle the weight. This combined with a twin-turbo V-8 is the perfect recipe for an unstoppable mountain-eating machine. Loveland’s goal for an eight-minute run up Pikes Peak isn’t farfetched, but the angry mountain can be unforgiving.  The team is hoping to send the car up slope in 2017.