Westfield iRACER Debuts At Geneva

To quote Mr. Spock: "Fascinating!" Westfield, makers of a very good Lotus 7 variant (one of the all time great sportscars, no two ways about it) rolled out a very, very interesting version of some sort of 7 they call the Westfield iRACER. And this, if you ask me, is a clear way forward. Because the Westfield iRACER is an electric race car. And if we're going to make electric cars passable, the best way to do so is to race them.

The most apparent thing about the Westfield iRACER is it's "body work". It doesn't really have any. It's wrapped in, essentially, something akin to spandex. And on the one hand, you have to think that wherever Colin Chapman is at the moment, he's probably smiling at saying to himself, "Cleaver. Why didn't I think of that? Probably saves a lot of weight."

Stretched across its angular aluminum frame of the Westfield iRACER is a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, well, it's sort of a sheath. In place of normal bodywork, even what would count as extremely lightweight bodywork today, like sheets of carbon fiber only 2 or 3 plies think, Westfield simply covered the frame in what amounts to heavy, stretchable fabric. The polyurethane-polyurea copolymer serves as a robust yet lightweight casing for the spare body of the purpose-built iRACER.

It's not that everything on the iRACER is as unconventional as the fabric "body". Westfield did the old Salt Lake trick of going with full wheel covers (spats, as the old timers call them), which makes things even more aerodynamically slicker, plus they have those neat looking vents cut in as well. And they also have the now normal downforce producing wings front and rear.

But overall? "The look is bold, and is 99 percent representative of the final production vehicle," said Westfield's managing director Julian Turner. You got that right Julian.

The Westfield iRACER was produced in a coalition with project partners Potenza Technology, Delta Motorsport, RDM Automotive and Coventry University. Westfield's iRACER has a two 40 kilowatt YASA motor directly connected to each rear wheel. Together the motors are good for 200 horsepower at peak output and provide 737 pound feet of torque (1000 Newton meters). Over seven-HUNDRED pound feet. Ponder that for a moment. The range under racing conditions (i.e. flat out) is thought to be 50 to 60 miles.

Imagine grabbing the Westfield iRACER by the scruff of the neck and wringing it out over, oh, the Nurburgring or the Col De Turini or your favorite strip of road close to home. Go ahead. Take a few. I got time.

OK, got that picture in your mind's eye?

Then help me answer this: When's the street version coming out Westfield?

Source: AutoBlogGreen