Students from the Technical University of Eindhoven
and the Fontys University of Applied Sciences are in the middle of an ambitious
project the likes of which we’ve never dealt with before. The group is
collectively known as InMotion.
These students are doing a much bigger project and
it involves the Nurburgring Nordschleife. InMotion is developing a hybrid race
car called the IN01. The goal is to break the lap record at the famous race
track and by lap record, we mean the 6:11 lap record set by Stefan Bellof using
a Porsche 956.
From the look of the IN01, it does appear that
InMotion has a good idea of what it’s going to take to eclipse the 30-year-old
record. The design of the racer is dynamic enough to make you interested in the
project. It has the pointed-nose design of Formula One race cars and the closed
cockpit configuration of an LMP1 prototype. The dimensions are also there and
its low height should help in improving the car’s balance. Even the rear
section, with the blown rear diffuser, was designed to be as minimalistic as
possible.
Aesthetically, it looks like a million bucks. But
how it’s going to fare against that 6:11 record lap time around the Nurburgring
Nordschleife is a different matter entirely. That, after all, is the ultimate
point of this project.
InMotion has said that it plans to fit a hybrid
powertrain inside the IN01. How and when it is going to do it is the question.
The group has been tight-lipped on how much power the race car is going to have
so that’s another egg that needs to be cracked.
For now, InMotion wil continue to develop the IN01
and get all the necessary approvals, including race approvals from the FIA,
needed to make a run at the 30-year old record.
