BUILT to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Holden’s first win at Bathurst in 1968, GM Holden’s design team has used virtual reality to build a stunning time attack concept racer.
Unlike the conventional format of the current endurance race cars, the Holden Time Attack Concept racer is envisioned as a single-lap tearaway, pitted against the clock. This type of racing is commonly known as Time Attack in motor sport circles.
The Holden Time Attack Concept racer was developed entirely virtually, using sophisticated simulation technology and driven by the world-class expertise within GM Holden’s Melbourne Design Studio.
“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,” GM Holden’s Design Director, Richard Ferlazzo explains.
Holden has a long and storied history of creating crowd-pleasing concept vehicles dating back to the iconic Holden Hurricane concept of 1969, with traditional motor shows the typical platform for debuting them to Australia.
As times have changed, so has Holden’s approach to developing concept vehicles.
“With the realism and detail achievable through modern technology, I felt we could still deliver uniquely Holden concepts via virtual technology and digital media,” Ferlazzo said.
Ferlazzo set a challenge for his talented design team to explore a futuristic race car using the latest emerging technologies around the world and was impressed with the proposal from Lead Designer, Ewan Kingsbury.
“Ewan perfectly captured the essence of what we wanted to achieve; an expressive, futuristic design which also displays innovative engineering solutions,” he said.
The concept was developed with technical input from GM Holden’s Engineering team and the final design was validated with a digitally-printed 3D model.
The finishing touch is the stunningly realistic video, created by GM Holden’s in-house Design Visualisation team, of the Time Attack Concept racer lapping the iconic Mount Panorama circuit (above).
The video debuted during the telecast of The Great Race today (Saturday October 6). The Holden Time Attack Concept has some impressive specs, as detailed below.
Performance:
- Simulated Mount Panorama Lap Time: 1:29.30
- 0-100km/h: 1.25 sec
- Top Speed: 480km/h
- Maximum Lateral G-Force: 6.5G
- Maximum Braking G-Force: 6G
Motors:
- 250kW Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Electric Motor Drives x 4 (Inboard mounted)
- Total output – 1000kW (1Megawatt) / 1340HP
- 3240Nm Total Motor Torque
- 5000RPM Maximum Revolutions
- Enables full programmable Torque Vectoring Traction Control at each corner
Gearboxes:
- 3-Speed Planetary Automatic Shift Gearboxes x 4
- Ratios 1st 2.97:1, 2nd 1.7:1, 3rd 1:1
- First gear ratio enables 9620Nm total axle torque at launch
- Gearbox casing integrated into Chassis structure
Power Source:
- Reconfigurable Graphene Hybrid Power Pack
- 1MW power output, 90MJ Usable Charge Capacity
- Fast Recharge: Fully recharged in 90 seconds (1000kW, 800V, 1250A)
Motor Cooling:
- Longitudinal Heat Exchangers x 2
- Liquid-to-Gas Phase Change Cooling, low drag, full pass-through
Brakes:
- Carbon/Carbon Hydraulic Discs x 4
- Electrical Heating of pad and rotor in pits and on out-lap to conserve energy
- Full Regenerative capability on all axles, can provide up to 2.0G braking force
Chassis:
- Carbon Fibre composite with cellulose Honeycomb Core
- Full Integrated safety cell and crash structure, utilising stressed power train components
Suspension:
- Carbon Fibre Double Wishbone all-round, aerodynamically engineered profiles
- Titanium CNC’d Uprights with bushed under body mounts
- Push-rod / bell-crank activated Hydraulic Active Suspension Actuators. Computer controlled programmable ride height adjustment, anti-dive, anti-squat, anti-roll
Electric Power Steering
Body:
- Carbon-Fibre/Kevlar Composite panels with Polycarbonate Graphene Coated Upper
Underbody:
- Full Carbon Fibre / Kevlar Composite quad-venturi under body, with flexible co-moulded membranes at Body and Chassis junctions
- Under body is structurally mounted to Suspension uprights at all 4 corners, enabling full aero load to be applied directly to each wheel
- Torsional twist capability enables under body to maintain consistent relationship to ground even with extreme road camber change
Wheels:
- 310/700 R18 Slick tires all round
- Carbon Fibre Composite Rims
- Active Wheel Fairings support low drag or brake cooling positions
- Wheel Fairing supported by a Kevlar/Elastane woven skin enabling consistent low drag performance whilst supporting full wheel steering and suspension movement
Aerodynamics:
- Low Frontal Area with all power train components on centre-line in Driver’s frontal area ‘shadow’
- Full Active Down force Generation via Ground Effects technology
- Ultra-high Down force levels achieved via electrically powered Cyclo-gyro fans
- Rubber Skirts control air-bleed and enhance Ground Effect
- 4 Individually controllable Fans accelerate airflow through 4 venturi tunnels to enhance down force at lower speeds
- Fans enable programmable and constantly tuneable centre-of-pressure
- Cyclo-gyro fans with actuated blades enabling variable thrust direction and force
- Fans powered by 4 Switch Reluctance Motors (SRM), each up to 50kW, 50,000rpm, 92% efficient
- Hydraulically actuated variable-position rear wing with air-braking capability
- Lift-drag Ratio of under body aero components in excess of 90:1
Driver Assistance:
- Augmented Reality Helmet: 3D graphics projected onto helmet visor to enable graphics overlay in real-time. Essential technical information provided in addition to racing line and braking zone benchmarks
- Integrated full steering wheel inputs to control all mechanical and aerodynamic systems via presets
- Six Point safety harness
