400hp, 1475 lb ft, with flaps. Le Mans.

[Giblet]

What do your brains think of this baby?

http://gas2.org/2009/05/27/greengts-400-hp-electric-racer-ready-for-le-mans/

[freedom_honda]

Impractical? 24 hours running on solar panel? Can the solar panel even produces that much power for continuous accelerating? I just don't think it is possible with current technology.

[jake_m]

Beautiful rendering but I have to agree with honda, a bit impractical. If you had a perfect solar cell you could get about 1kW/m^2 under the best conditions, with modern tech you are looking at nowhere near this number. The only way to make it work would be to come up with a quick change battery system and box like all the petrol or diesel cars. Either way, I hope they build it and that it makes it to the grid.

It looks like a cross between the Mazda Furai and the Citroen GT.

[tomislavp4]

Their idea is to have exchangeble batterypacks, 2x40kwh if i recall right. I have one question: why would one hire a designer to prototype a LeMans Gt racer instead of an engineer? Designer go after what looks best, and the car looks very good allright, but the whole aero i messed up in my oppinion, check the pics cloesly and you´ll see what I mean...

[sinspawn1024]

I think the big issue with this racer will be reliability. Tesla had huge problems with the reliability of their two speed gearbox in the roadster (hence why they switched to a single speed gearbox)... The gears just couldn't take the torque for much longer than a couple minutes under high acceleration.

If this thing is racing for 24 hours, I'd imagine that there is quite a bit that could go wrong. I think if they intend to race, they'll really need to take a leaf out of Audi's book and get their pit procedure down pat.

[Giblet]

It sorta kinda sorta reminds me of a 1989 pic that got my blood racing as a teen.

I remember looking at Sports Car Magazine, which was a high gloss, large format magazine, with, amazingly, only ads on the inside front cover, last page, inside rear cover, and rear. Subscription cards were the only thing in the rest of the mag that wasn't actual content.


If it was slightly revamped to lose some of the 80'sness, it could be my favorite car.