Watch A NASCAR V8-Powered Stealth B7 Rip Up A Norwegian Hill

Did you know that Norway buys more electric cars per head than anywhere else? Last year, some 82.4 per cent of new cars sold in the country were powered by batteries and nothing else. That’s not to say that inhabitants of this beautiful country don’t still enjoy some good, old-fashioned internal combustion, though. For evidence, you need look no further than the always fascinating and usually mad world of the HillClimb Monsters YouTube channel.

Its latest video showcases a Stealth B7, a spaceframe-based sports car made by a tiny and now seemingly defunct British-Polish company. This particular B7, which has raced various time attack and hillclimb events by Norwegian driver Jan Øivind Ruud, has some American iron at its heart: a 5.7-litre Chevrolet V8 built for NASCAR racing.

According to the video description, the car is making around 833bhp and doesn’t redline until 9200rpm. Weighing just 1040kg and featuring a bespoke aerodynamic setup, complete with a drag-reduction system, it’s been built with record-breaking in mind.

That’s exactly what it’s doing here: the video shows Ruud hustling the B7 to a new two-wheel drive record at last year’s Norges Råeste Bakkeløp, a hillclimb event that takes place every summer in the ski resort of Målselv, inside the Arctic Circle. His time of 1:39.14 was just a couple of seconds behind the outright record set in 2019 by 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg in a four-wheel drive rallycross Volkswagen Polo.

The run is unsurprisingly spectacular to watch, with Ruud ripping the B7 through the picturesque scenery in a mass of V8 fury and belching flames. It’s the onboard footage that’s really special, with Ruud threading the car alongside rock faces, through tunnels and around hairpin bends, remaining fully committed all the way. It all goes to show that the passion for big, noisy engines runs as deep as ever, even in a country where internal combustion is now firmly a minority choice.