‘WORLD’S FASTEST ELECTRIC RACER’ IN LE MANS PLAN

IT’S BILLED AS THE world’s fastest electric racing car and will be powered by motors borrowed from a Formula E car — three of them!

British constructor Perrinn has agreed a deal with an undisclosed FE powertrain supplier to provide the motors for its Lmp1-based 424 prototype. The motors, two powering the rear axle and one the front, will give the Perrinn 424 a power output of 750kw, equivalent to just over 1000bhp.

It has been conceived as a demonstrator to prove the validity of electric technology in advance of a proposed assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours some time in the early 2020s.

“We have agreed a deal with one of the existing FE suppliers to use its season-four [2017-18] powertrain, but we can’t say which one until the business plan is in place,” said marque founder Nicolas Perrin, whose CV includes stints with Williams in F1 and Courage Competition in sportscars.

“The FE motors are limited by regulation to 200kw, but they can go higher and we will be using them to their full capacity, which gives us the 750kw or 1000bhp.”

The Yorkshire-based team will buy off-theshelf battery cells to assemble its own batteries, arranged in nine modules each containing 64 cells. Packaging the 400kg battery pack inside the monocoque behind the driver has resulted in the reworking of a design that started life as a privateer LMP1 contender so that it is now 200mm longer than the P1 maximum.

Perrin believes that a car weighing in at 1200kg, 330kg more than a hybrid P1 contender, can achieve lap times between those of LMP1 and P2. A top speed of 355km/h and acceleration from 0 to 100km/h in two seconds have been targeted.

The task now is to raise the £2million to build the 424 and undertake initial testing. Perrin is confident that he can have the car up and running six months once finance is in place.

The aim is to use the 424 as a test bed and to build a new car each year, leading up to a Le Mans assault. Perrin believes that advances in battery and charging technology could allow an all-electric prototype to race at the 24 Hours without the need to change batteries “within four to five years”.

“I’m expecting that a lot of manufacturers will want to do something like this in the next three or four years,” he said. “It’s important that we get out there as soon as possible.”