Le Mans Prototypes are considered the pinnacle of closed-wheel racing cars, and to attend the Circuit de la Sarthe while they’re at full trot must be one of the greatest motoring experiences possible for the enthusiast – but will the event be as exciting if they didn’t make as much noise?
By Kyle Kock
With a multitude of initiatives and projects to save the earth by using less fossil fuel, and emitting fewer harmful gases, the vast majority of automakers from mass producers to varsity project groups are looking at ways of using alternative energy in a variety of applications – it’s only a matter of time before these efforts show results on the racetracks.
Enter Switzerland’s GreenGT team, which has hopes of an electric racecar possibly competing in the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Le-Mont-sur-Lausanne-based team commissioned French designer Thomas Clavet of the ISD Valencienne Design School to pen this, the first design study for an all-electric Le Mans Prototype.
Built on a FIA-spec carbon chassis and covered in fibreglass body panels, the GreenGT prototype should weigh as little as 860 kg – just enough for it to qualify for LMP2 status, the class thought up specifically with privateer teams in mind.
The renderings reveal the prototype’s flexcell photovoltaic solar panels, which convert energy from the sun directly into electricity, but whether or not they offer some sort of aerodynamic advantage is not yet known.
Two water-cooled electric motors are mated with a differential gearbox patented by GreenGT. The energy required is provided by the aforementioned panels and two lithium-ion battery packs. The electric engines are said to develop between 260 kW and 300 kW, while the maximum torque is a mind-bending 2 000 N.m at 11 000 r/min.
“The GreenGT design study could become our 2011 Le Mans Prototype electric racer or it could even become an electric road going supercar. There is a possibility to do both. The advantage of electric cars is that the only difference between a GreenGT electric racecar and road car is the electronic programming. It would be amazing to create two prototype race cars to compete in the 2011 24hours of Le Mans and 22 road going supercars,” says GreenGT head engineer, Christophe Schwartz.
With the older Le Mans Prototypes known for deafening roars and new diesel-powered cars producing a hoover-like whoosh, Le Mans would be a totally different experience with silent electric-powered cars. Perhaps the only noise would occur during tyre and driver changes…