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This is the Westfield iRACER, a track focused electric vehicle set to take part in the EVCUP, the world’s first circuit racing series exclusively featuring zero-emission electric vehicles.
Designed and engineered from the ground up as a pure race car, the 3.6m long iRACER is a collaborative project between Westfield Sportscars and Niche Vehicle Network partners Potenza Technology, Delta Motorsport, RDM Automotive and Coventry University.
Styled by Elliot Hawkins from the Royal College of Arts, the 770 kg vehicle features rear-wheel drive and a 50:50 weight distribution, and is powered by two Oxford Yasa 60 kW motors direct driven to the rear wheels, with adjustable torque biasing control present and a 23 kWh lithium iron phospate battery in attendance.
The system offers the iRACER a 260 hp max output (with boost) and 660 Nm of torque. Performance specs for the vehicle, which can be configured as a single or two-seater, are a sub-five seconds 0-100 kph sprint time, a 185 kph top speed and around 25 minutes of race time.
The EVCUP is set to kick-off in the US in November, with two race events in California, the first at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on November 26 and the second at Auto Club Speedway on December 17, before a full series launch in 2012
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I imagine F1 races using only electrics. Raw power delivery is one thing, but I’d be more curious on the battery charging. If the pitstop simply means swapping drained batteries with a new one, then there’s little incentive for team to improve battery life and charging time. They simply get truckloads of fresh batteries on standby.
To be exciting, for example, make a requirement that the team can only have two sets of batteries. One set is on the car, the other set is charging. They can only swap between these two set of batteries during pitstops.
This requirement may help improve battery technology by leaps and bounds.
Holy crap…it’s like the Batmobile mated with a Gillette razor.