The Westfield sports car company isn't widely known out of its UK home, but the firm has a long history of light-weight sports cars, many based on the classic Lotus 7 shape.
Squint hard enough and the Westfield iRacer isn't dissimilar, with a long, narrow body and outboard wheels. But that's where the similarities end.
That's because the iRacer is an electric sports car--something you quickly realise when watching its eerily silent track debut in the video above (via Wired).
Where similar sports cars usually scream to the sound of a highly-tuned four-cylinder engine, the iRacer's power is supplied by lithium-ion batteries and two YASA-750 electric motors. These develop a modest 132 horsepower, but the 550 pounds-feet torque figure looks much more healthy.
And, like all the best British sports cars, the iRacer is light--only 1,700 pounds, 440 lbs of which is batteries and 110 lbs of electric motors. It's also low and sleek, for high cornering speeds.
Performance isn't at all bad, the high torque and light weight allowing for sub-5 second 0-60 mph sprints. Top speed is limited to 115 mph to preserve battery charge, but the motors are capable of taking it to 140 mph if unleashed.
As a track-biased car, range is measured in time rather than distance. In this instance, you get around 25 minutes of fun before your chemical energy stops being energetic. That could be enough for its future purpose though--Westfield wants to set up a race series for the iRacer, as well as selling the concept to research and educational institutions.
The price for all this open-top fun is around $20,000, batteries and motors not included.
If that sounds a bit mean, consider that the iRacer, like many of Westfield's products, is actually a kit car. And should the owner so desires, they can fit a regular gasoline engine and transmission instead.
We'll keep the electric drivetrain thanks. But maybe someone else should build it for us...
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