Holden doesn’t forget historic occasions easily, and 50 years after its first victory at the Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst in 1968, the company unveiled this futuristic racer concept. Though it might be easy to dismiss is as a design dream that will never reach reality, they say it will attempt a lap record with it.
Called the Time Attack Concept, it is only admirable in its digital form for now, the car is meant to be an expression of its motorsport heritage as well as its optimism for the future. Indeed, it looks like it belongs in a Gran Turismo game more than it has any business tearing up a real life track.
Design of the wildly ambitious concept was done entirely virtually by the bright minds at GM Holden’s Melbourne Design Studio, using sophisticated simulation and 3D modelling software.
As the team’s director, Richard Ferlazzo, explains: “The technology we employ today has transformed the way we design cars. We have the ability to simulate a car’s appearance, technology and dynamics in convincing animations, which enables us to deliver better designs in a shorter time. A large part of our work is Advanced Design and we use this technology to develop concept designs for our parent company, General Motors. This concept is a digital advertisement for the advanced skills, capability and technology of the GM Holden team”.
The car’s powerful EV powertrain and graphene batteries are said to be capable of extraordinary performance; four electric motors with 250kW each for a total of 1,000kW and a mammoth 3,240Nm can purportedly propel the car from 0-100km/h in a lightning 1.25 seconds and reach a top speed of 480km/h.
A top speed that high is uncommon for an electric vehicle, which these days are engineered to maximise acceleration at the expense of ultimate velocity, bringing to the fore an interesting addition to the Time Attack’s drivetrain as each wheel - in addition to having its own motor - uses a 3-speed automatic transmission.
While the third ratio is a direct drive 1:1, the starting ratio (1st gear) is 2.97:1, multiplying the deliverable torque to the axle for a theoretical total of 9,620Nm at launch. That’s a truly staggering figure that’s unlikely to be any less so this century.
The body and its skeletal structure are constructed of carbon fibre and other exotic materials, shedding as much weight as possible, with the entire car predicted to weigh just 900kg even with its low slung 1 megawatt graphene hybrid battery pack that allows a full recharge to be done in just 90 seconds.
A lot of the technology that the Time Attack Concept isn’t yet ready for primetime use in the mass market, which means that the car will not see the light of day for a few more years no matter how much enthusiasm the team pours into the project. When it does, though, there’s little doubt that the Mount Panorama lap record will crumble under the punishment of the 1,000kW channeled through the Time Attack’s four wheels.
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