Le Mans is moving away from the world of LMP1
prototype race cars to production car-based hypercars. However, Finnish
designer Esa Mustonen has decided to imagine what form a radical prototype race
car from Renault could look like if it were to ever see the light of day.
Mustonen took some design inspiration from the
curvaceous shapes of Le Mans racers from the 1960s and the more hard edges and
surfaces from the 1990s finest endurance race cars. The result is an
all-electric animal utilizing supercapacitors that also happens to look so good
it could be displayed in a museum.
Dominating the front of the concept are giant air
intakes that feed air into the front brakes and through the bodywork. These
openings are somewhat similar in design to the huge air tunnels found at the
back of the Lotus Evija. Also visible at the front of the Renault Le Mans
Concept are gold accents, a curved front splitter, and a single LED lightbar
stretching the width of the fascia. It’s also impossible not to notice how the
front wheel arches are almost as high as the cabin.
The sides of the vehicle are drop-dead gorgeous and
stand out thanks to a metallic gold finish and honeycomb pattern. Out back,
there is a huge turbine (or perhaps a fan to generate downforce), vertical LED
lights on the two rear fins and exposed suspension components. Gold accents
across the top of the concept complete the striking looks.
