Wednesday 20th October 2010

Red Bull And Sony Reveal X1 Fantasy Racer

GT5 virtual racer is Newey and Red Bull's no-holds-barred dream

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Polyphony digital's Gran Turismo 5 might have been delayed (yet again), but one of its most intriguing creations has been revealed - the Red bull X1 prototype.

The X1 (revealed in this month's CAR Magazine) is a virtual collaboration between Polyphony and Red Bull F1 - with significant input from Red Bull's legendary aero man Adrian Newey - to create a no-holds-barred flight-of-fantasy racer.

It's a response to Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi's question: "If you built the fastest racing car on land, one that throws aside all rules and regulations, what would that car look like, how would it perform, and how would it feel to drive?"

Freed from the strictures of F1 tech regs, Newey has come up with a Caparo-esque design with some pretty spectacular stats. Its gas turbine engine creates 1483bhp at 15,000rpm, develops 527lb ft of torque at 12,000rpm and drives the rear wheels via a CVT gearbox.

The whole lot weighs just 545kg, can hit 249mph and, in the hands of Sebastien Vettel, can knock out a virtual lap of Suzuka 20 seconds faster than an F1 car.

Among the more intriguing features of the X1 are the enclosed wheels, and the 'fan element' at the rear of the car (which is more than a little reminiscent of the device fitted to the Brabham BT46 fan car from 1978).

Now all Red Bull needs to do is build the car for real (pretty please?)...

 

[OwenK]

Wow - fantastic! More pictures please!

[ERDi]

Indeed looks very Caparo-esque. Just better! Massive want!

Edited by ERDi on Wednesday 20th October 11:43

[anonymous-user]

Now I REALLY want GT5.

[G0ldfysh]

Feature said:

The whole lot weighs just 545kg, can hit 249mph and, in the hands of Sebastien Vettel, can knock out a virtual lap of Suzuka 20 seconds faster than an F1 car.

So with Mark Webber would it be any quicker ;-)

[Zircon]

Afraid I am not a big fan of spending time on something that will never be made - what is the point?

[TommyBuoy]

Zircon said:

Afraid I am not a big fan of spending time on something that will never be made - what is the point?

GT by Citroen?

[booner]

12,0000rpm LOL

[Jaykaybi]

[pedantic bd mode]

the article said:

527lb ft of torque at 12,0000rpm

Really? One hundred and twenty thousand rpm?


[/pedantic bd mode]

[Alfa numeric]

What, no F-duct?

[peteA]

Zircon said:

Afraid I am not a big fan of spending time on something that will never be made - what is the point?

I know what you mean but...if you know its not being built cant you let your imagination go a bit more...? concept cars are the same I guess

[johnhenry]

future of f1? are f1 restrictions and regs keeping them from just racing that instead??

[chuntington101]

Gas turbine and CVT? sounds very intresting!

[anonymous-user]

Now that they've done all the work and spent all the money to design the entire aero package of it, surely now building the thing should be the easy bit? I don't think the engine exists but the rest should be just like building another F1 car no?

[ctallchris]

Zircon said:

Afraid I am not a big fan of spending time on something that will never be made - what is the point?

But it has been made. It is a production car in a virtual world. You have to design things that will never exist in order to improve things that do exist

[amare32]

Love to see them build that in real life.

Even better if they removed all the technical restrictions in F1.

[alexpa]

Sweet!

Wish they had Top Fuel Nitromethane Dragsters on it also with a dedicated santa pod esque strip

[alexpa]

amare32 said:

Love to see them build that in real life.

Even better if they removed all the technical restrictions in F1.

No human would be able to withstand the G

[steve_n]

Jaykaybi][pedantic bd mode said:

the article said:

527lb ft of torque at 12,0000rpm

Really? One hundred and twenty thousand rpm?


[/pedantic bd mode]

With a gas turbine yes 120,000rpm.

[RS404]

I've often wondered what an F1 car would look like if there were no limits to comform to and this might be it!

[SystemParanoia]

Brabham Fan car meets the Howmet TX






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