Hyundai adds spark to its image with Motorsport and N
Germany-based production and design house
ALZENAU, GERMANY • Hyundai’s planners claim the company has an image problem. Well, that is if you consider it a problem that, when polled, people associated the Korean brand with good value and a great warranty. However, that same poll revealed that what the firm lacks is a fun factor.
To remedy this, Hyundai has introduced the N division. When you see that N tacked onto the end of a particular model, such as the recently released 2019 Veloster N, you can be sure that it will boast a level of performance and handling unlike any normal version of the car.
N-branded cars won’t just be parts-bin specials, but will incorporate enough changes that they can be considered different cars. The Veloster N for example, has a different engine and transmission than the base or Turbo models, its chassis is strengthened, it has unique bodywork and suspension, and, most importantly, it was developed in conjunction Hyundai Motorsport, based in Alzenau, Germany.
Founded just six years ago, Hyundai Motorsport occupies a four-acre facility and employs 200 people. It is where cars like the i20 Coupe rally car are built from scratch. The i20 Coupe WRC is an AWD car powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged four, a sleeved-down and de-stroked version of a 2.0L production engine. It develops 380 horsepower with a series-mandated 36-millimetre restrictor in place, and mates to a sequential, sixspeed gearbox.
The process begins when a bare i20 chassis is taken off the assembly line at Hyundai’s Istanbul factory, and sent to Hyundai Motorsport, where it is strengthened with additional gusseting before being sent to have roll cages welded in place. The chassis then returns to the race shop, where the racing components are assembled.
In the WRC car, the body structure is about the only component shared with the production car, which is a front driver. The cost to produce one is approximately 680,000 euros ($1 million).
An i20 Coupe WRC, driven by Belgian Thierry Neuville, currently leads the World Rally Championship. The factory race cars return to the race shop following each rally event, where they are stripped down to the bare chassis, inspected, and then rebuilt for the next event.
Hyundai Motorsport also produces customer cars, which are sold to private race teams and drivers through a customer racing program. The i20 R5 customer rally car is based on the five-door model and is converted to AWD. It also uses a 1.6-L turbocharged engine, though this engine comes from the Elantra GT and is modified to produce 285 hp with a 32mm restrictor in place, and delivers power to the wheels through a five-speed sequential gearbox. Suspension, brakes, and electronics are all racing components. The cost for a “base” i20 R5 is 235,000 euros, but the price can go up, depending on a customer’s individual specs.
Finally, for a more affordable race car, Hyundai Motorsport also builds an i30 N TCR for pavement-only Touring Car racing. For a starting price of 130,000 euros, you can get an i30 N TCR (the i30 is known as the Elantra GT in Canada), which is a highly modified production car that retains its front drive (series mandated), and uses a production 2.0-L turbocharged four that mates to a six-speed sequential gearbox. The production engine makes 270 hp, though race intake and exhaust systems boost output to an undisclosed amount somewhere below the 350 hp series limit.
A ride as a passenger in an i30 TCR around the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, driven by former F1 driver Gabriele Torquini, hints at why Hyundai’s customer racing program has so far proven successful, both in sales and race results. This is a full race car, stripped of interior trim. It’s loud, it vibrates, and its gearbox is noisy because of the straight-cut gears. But it’s also remarkably fast, generating high Gs as Torquini rails through turns with his foot planted. His braking markers are unfathomably close to corner turn-in, causing my foot to push instinctively into the floor on a ghost brake pedal. While I keep a cool, composed expression on my face, inside my head I’m screaming.
During a candid conversation with Torquini in the shuttle on the way to the airport after the event, he tells me he was initially skeptical about the performance of the Hyundai i30 N TCR, one of which he drives in the World Touring Car Championship. However, he was very impressed with the rigidity of its body structure and its balanced nature after driving it, something he repeats about the Veloster N after spending time in it at Nürburgring. And he’s not just saying things he may have been told by company brass to repeat as a spokesperson for the brand, Torquini backs his statements with results — he leads the World Touring Car Championship.