Wednesday 6th January 2010

Westfield iRACER Update

Westfield makes some noise for its electric 'one-make' racer

---

Westfield has revealed new images and a bit more info about the iRACER, its electric sports car designed for a proposed one-make race series in 2011.

According to Westfield, the eight month old development program has reached the stage where trials of the electric drivetrain have begun. The car has a pair of small electric motors that sit in place of the rear differential, and drive each of the rear wheels independently.

With a kerb weight of 600kgs, and a total of 160hp promised from the motors - along with 370lb ft of torque - performance could be quite nippy, although there's no word yet on the vehicle's range under racing conditions.

Batteries are of the lithium-ion variety, and apparently the car has a lower centre of gravity than an F1 car - a not unexpected achievement given the nature of the drivetrain and power supply.

According to recent reports, the next stage of development will include building the bodywork and creation of a fake engine noise for the iRACER. As there are few pedestrians to run over on the average racing circuit, we guess this must be because small electric cars at full chat sound, well, like milk floats.

Never mind though, if electric cars are the future, at least somebody is trying to inspire us. A little bit, at least.

(Now milk float racing, there's an idea...)

[chunkymonkey71]

That looks awesome! They should stick a real engine in it! Next to the driver...

[the Fantom]

Great. Motor racing drives forward technology at the cutting edge much faster than other development seems to. Hopefully there may soon be electric cars with good range and good performance which we all want to drive.

[another 3 points]

Looks great Elliot. ( Hope youre reading this ..your mum goes to my GF's salon so I saw this in the RC end of year show book she brought in)

[another 3 points]

Looks great Elliot. ( Hope youre reading this ..your mum goes to my GF's salon so I saw this in the RC end of year show book she brought in)

[groomi]

A good idea on a couple of fronts. It raises Westfields profile in these eco-conscious times and gives it's customers an opportunity to see a Westfield that doesn't look like a Lotus 7, without risking putting it to market.

If the series proves popular, then I expect to see roadcars styled along these lines in a few years.

[Forbes82]

Think its ugly, but sounds like a fun race series, certainly forward thinking. Good luck to them.

[cazzer]

If people wanted electric cars....and if they were truely forward thinking, then they wouldn't be faking an engine noise.

[Steamer]

I love westfield - always have.... and this is a great project for them BUT:

a. Part of the reason I love Cater/fields is the noise... thats gone.
b. I'm always left feeling that Westfield have a 'that'll do' approach to their vehicle designs.

[ceebmoj]

Any one got any CGI pictures of what it looks like under the body work? is it a 7 style chassy in a fancy frock? The rear end does not look like it but I cant relay see much structure.

[timbo48]

The point about engine noise, or rather the lack of, is an interesting one. Regular cyclists will know about pedestrians walking out into the road without looking because they can't hear anything so obviously there isn't anything coming. Doing this when we reach the time when electric cars become commonplace will no doubt result in more serious injuries to these people. Maybe Westfield have a point.

[Craiglamuffin]

Looks great. But if they appear in a race meeting people will just notice the noise. After all the other noisy cars, these guys will woosh by like soap box racers.

I do wish I could get excited about this but it's genuinely difficult.

[rubystone]

I'm betting that we are going to see an electric Caterham 7 - maybe even at the Autosport Show?

[soad]

Beatifully designed, i must say.
Not a big fan of electric cars, but will have to get used to it.

[LordGrover]

Pitstops could be interesting.
"Pop in another five hundred AAs Reg!"

[Forbes82]

cazzer said:

If people wanted electric cars....and if they were truely forward thinking, then they wouldn't be faking an engine noise.

I kind of agree, i'm not sure they need to add an engine noise to be honest. Time will tell if people really want them.

I don't see how the fact it has an engine noise stops it from being forward thinking though... Surely being forward thinking is the whole point of designing an electric race series, fake noise or not.

[glazbagun]

This is an excellent idea! With a one-make series you don't have to worry about unfavourable comparisons to IC cars while you can get some genuine competition and a whole ton of development data without the risk of making millions of lemons and subsequent damage to your reputation. Surely this can't be the first time this has been tried, but the only other thing I can think of is the Solar challenge, which is nothing like this.

[Nicodema]

Looks like the Stig taking a bath

[cazzer]

Forbes82 said:

cazzer said:

If people wanted electric cars....and if they were truely forward thinking, then they wouldn't be faking an engine noise.

I kind of agree, i'm not sure they need to add an engine noise to be honest. Time will tell if people really want them.

I don't see how the fact it has an engine noise stops it from being forward thinking though... Surely being forward thinking is the whole point of designing an electric race series, fake noise or not.

I'll give ya that. But why the fake engine noise?
Cos people dont want or like electric cars.
If they do, let em stand or fall by what they are. Not pretending to be something else with fake Brmmmmm Brmmmmm noises.

[hairyben]

What is it with all the i-products? Be original FFS.

Lithium-ion batteries? Should be awesome when they crash. Fast driver egress should be a top priority...

[NylonAdmiral]

Although I find this car fairly ugly I really like it. No matter which way you look at it we WILL run out of oil at some point so cars like this are the future. The earlier manufacturers start developing them the better they will be by the time we reach that point so I'm glad to see the likes of Westfield/Tesla/Fisker etc actually having a go at building cars that will be fun to drive rather than being as dull as so many of the other "eco" alternatives.

With regard to the engine noise I always though I would miss it too but after doing pretty much irrepairable hearing damage to myself whilst wearing ear plugs and a helmet in my XTR2 over the space of about 10 miles I'm not so sure I will!

Plus if anyone remembers the kind of cool/futuristic sounding motorbike from the "Batman: Dark Knight" movie, they sampled the Tesla's motor sounds to use for it!