NZ electric car targets speed record
‘‘Electric technology is where the world is heading but has the unfortunate reputation of being quiet and boring.’’ Ross Prevette
A New Zealand-built electric car is aiming to be the world’s fastest street legal electric powered vehicle.
Dubbed Project Craz-E-Horse, the 2007 Mustang GT is set to do the 1/4 mile at Meremere dragstrip in an estimated 7.54 seconds at 326 kilometers per hour.
Based around a 5th generation Mustang GT, the extensively modified but street legal vehicle will have the look and stance of a ‘‘Hot Wheels’’ model car, but at the same time will be extremely minimal in every sense and will resemble more of a race car inside and out rather than a road car.
Craz-E-Horse - the ‘‘E’’ stands for Electric and the horse part stems from the fact that a Mustang is being used - has been designed for use on both the road and drag strip, and consequently will have two very different operation modes – Nana Mode for street driving with a range of up to 100 kilometres, and Animal Mode for drag racing duties.
The build project has been linked to the CRC Speedshow, New Zealand’s biggest dedicated automotive show, and will be unveiled to the public at the 2017 event at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds on July 22-23. The world record attempt is planned for after the show.
Built and managed by race experts Mitchell Race Xtreme, and supported by other NZ suppliers, the car aims to show off the new electric vehicle technology being developed around the world.
Project Craz-E-Horse will have the latest and greatest battery technology with new brushless 8 phase DC electric motor technology producing up to 2000 horse- power, and will be coming straight to NZ from USA where they have only just been launched.
Supported by electric vehicle legend John Metric (USA) and the USA National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA), the project promises to be a serious contender for the world record. Metric himself has worked out the estimated performance specifications as above and has already had substantial input on the technology and set-up of the car.
Speedshow managing director Ross Prevette said he’s looking forward to seeing the project evolve and believes the world can still have exciting, fast and loud racing with electric technology.
‘‘This is an incredibly exciting project for us at the Speedshow. Electric technology is where the world is heading but has the unfortunate reputation of being quiet and boring. We want to change that and show just how awesome this technology can be.
‘‘We also wouldn’t be doing this without the dedicated support of our partners, who are just as excited as we are about this project and bringing another motorsport record here to New Zealand.’’
As part of the project we aim to promote, demonstrate, maximize and highlight the ‘Coolness Factor’ of Electric Vehicle technology here in NZ and around the world. Unfortunately, the ‘Coolness Factor’ surrounding electric cars is currently pretty much nonexistent here in NZ at present, but we are aiming to change that!