Elemental RP1
It’s been two years since we last heard
about the small car maker and its RP1 sports car, but the Brits have finally
completed the first production-spec variant and they’ll put it through its
paces at Goodwood.
After designing and developing the
lightweight sports car over a four-year period, at its new facility in
Hambledon Hampshire, Elemental wants to showcase the 500 hp/tone automobile and
its abilities at Goodwood’s iconic hill-climb event.
The Festival of Speed marks the perfect
official outing for the car, because the latter was conceived with the
intention of creating one of the most advanced cars of its kind.
Described as a car without compromise,
the RP1’s design advantage is Elemental’s patented CarbonAl tub that weighs
only 65 kg and incorporates a feet-up driving position – just like a F1 car or a
World Endurance prototype. Although it will be street legal, its construction
exceeds FIA’s structural standards for strength and rigidity, as it uses
F1-grade carbon fiber.
Thanks to its aerodynamic appendages,
such as the rear diffuser modeled using a state-of-the-art Computational Fluid
Dynamics software, the RP1 generates 400 kg of downforce at 241 km/h,
and this is in the standard road height set-up (The RP1’s suspension can be
easily adjusted and optimized by the user, either by hand or using basic
tools).
Powered by a choice of two turbocharged
Ecoboost engines, comprised of a 180 hp, 1.0-litre three-cylinder, and a 320 bp,
2.0-litre four-cylinder, the Elemental can sprint from 0 to 96 km/h in
3.2 seconds and 2.8 seconds, respectively. That should translate into a very
fast hill-climb at Goodwood.
