Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Today’s car lovers have no reason to fear future

All-electric Chevy Bolt shows plenty of zip when put to the autocross test

- LESLEY WIMBUSH Driving.ca

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.

“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.

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.

 ?? PHOTOS: DEREK McNAUGHTON/DRIVING ?? The 2017 Nissan Qashqai is a fetching compact SUV that comes in eight colours, including Nitro Lime.
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 ?? LESLEY WIMBUSH/DRIVING ?? The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt’s quick accelerati­on is an advantage on a motorsport course.
LESLEY WIMBUSH/DRIVING The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt’s quick accelerati­on is an advantage on a motorsport course.

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