Car lovers have no reason to fear the future
All-electric Chevy Bolt shows plenty of zip when put to the autocross test
It was a little over 15 years ago. A bunch of us had got together, as we often did on a weekend evening, to wrench on one of our fellow motorsport club member’s rides. It’s a bonding thing among car enthusiasts, a time of camaraderie where stories are shared, along with tools and know-how.
The conversation turned to the growing hybrid and electric vehicle movement, and the impact it would eventually have on the hobby we so passionately and fiercely embraced. With uncertainty comes fear, and one member, brandishing a torque wrench to underscore every point, claimed he’d rather stuff endangered spotted owl carcasses up his tailpipe to fuel his thumping V-8 than swap the keys for a soulless and dorky hybrid.
Well, that future is now upon us, and while EVs have brought with them many changes and a growing awareness of our finite resources, they haven’t been quite the harbinger of doom whose arrival we so dreaded. The silent whoosh of the electric car hasn’t turned out to be the death knell for enthusiast vehicles.
Witness the recent success of Porsche at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. There’s nothing soulless or dorky about the winning 919 Hybrid rocket; its design is as compelling as its jaw-dropping speed.
Or Acura’s NSX, the long-overdue hybrid supercar whose sleek lines and exotic curves raised the pulses of even the most traditional enthusiasts.
And so it was, when I picked up an electric Chevrolet Bolt, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it: Compete in a motorsport club event, of course.
With 383 kilometres maximum distance on a single charge, range anxiety isn’t an issue with the Bolt.
Rolling into the parking lot at Kawartha Speedway, we attracted very little attention — at first. The bright blue Bolt looks fairly conventional, resembling an oversized hatchback or small crossover.
But the eerie whoosh of our passing raised some heads, and by the time we’d backed into our spot among the Mazda MX-5 Miatas and stripped-down Hondas, a small crowd had collected around us.
Obligingly, we popped the hood so they could peer into the alien “engine” bay, an immaculate assembly of orange high-voltage cables, aluminum piping and myriad cooling reservoirs for the battery pack, inverter/charger and drive unit, and cabin air conditioning.
“You actually going to run that thing?” asked one competitor, and we braced for the inevitable extension cord and hair dryer jokes. “Uh huh,” I cautiously replied. “That’s cool!” he said, joined by murmurs of assent and head nods from the rest of the group. “Can’t wait to see how it does.”
Having previously driven the Bolt during its press launch in California this spring, I already knew from the way we had flung it around the mountain roads above Santa Monica that it handled very well indeed. While my prowess as an autocross competitor wasn’t exactly inspiring, my driving partner, James Mewett, was a driving instructor at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and I knew he’d show the little EV to its advantage.
With 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque, the Bolt had a lot more grunt than the bevy of Miatas that are an ubiquitous presence at such events. However, at 3,600 pounds, it weighed a lot more.
It was also larger, taller, possessed of four doors and low-rolling-resistant eco tires. Compared to the competition stickies worn by most of the competitors, they were akin to wearing crocs in a dance competition.
Our advantage was torque: the electric drive unit can deliver an instant wallop of power to catapult this dorky little four-door from rest to 100 km/h in about 6.6 seconds.
As luck would have it, I drew number 3 and lined up behind a rumbling, Fox-body Mustang and a flatulent Honda Prelude. Much hilarity ensued as I tried to affix the magnetic number to the mostly aluminum Bolt, finally finding a steel panel by the rear C-pillar.
As I watched the Mustang roar and slide around the hairpins, and narrowly escape mowing down a row of cones as it slid into the stock box, I realized the tight and convoluted course might work to our advantage. Although severely handicapped by the tires’ poor grip, the instant availability of torque would mean we’d get back up to speed more quickly after braking than the faster cars.
With a mighty rush of air, the Bolt blasted out of the start box and around the first slalom. As expected, I lost a bit of time to tire spin, but with the instant power on tap, I quickly made it back.
The heavy battery pack actually improves the car’s centre of gravity; even though I pushed it hard into the corners it remained flat with no body roll.
My fastest time of the day was 37.598 seconds, adjusted to 30.078 when “paxed,” a convoluted system of autocross scoring I don’t pretend to understand.
It was a respectable middle of the pack showing in a group of 30 conventionally powered vehicles, many of which were stripped down and competition ready.
With a set of good, sticky tires, the Chevy Bolt would be an autocross force to be reckoned with. Best of all, “refuelling ” at day’s end cost us nothing.
The future is now, and it’s nothing to be afraid of.