Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Holden’s first win at Bathurst in 1968, GM Holden’s Design Team has explored the technological potential of the future through the stunning virtual ‘Time Attack Concept’ racer – conceived and executed entirely in-house at GM Holden.
Unlike the conventional format of the current endurance race cars, the Holden Time Attack Concept racer is envisioned as a single-lap tearaway, pitted against the clock. This type of racing is commonly known as Time Attack in motorsport circles.
The Holden Time Attack Concept racer was developed entirely virtually, using sophisticated simulation technology and driven by the world-class expertise within GM Holden’s Melbourne Design Studio.
GM Holden’s Design Director, Richard Ferlazzo explains: “The technology we employ today has transformed the way we design cars. We have the ability to simulate a car’s appearance, technology and dynamics in convincing animations, which enables us to deliver better designs in a shorter time. A large part of our work is Advanced Design and we use this technology to develop concept designs for our parent company, General Motors. This concept is a digital advertisement for the advanced skills, capability and technology of the GM Holden team”.
Holden has a long and storied history of creating crowd-pleasing concept vehicles dating back to the iconic Holden Hurricane concept of 1969, with traditional motor shows the typical platform for debuting them to Australia. As times have changed, so has Holden’s approach to developing concept vehicles.
“The cessation of Motor Shows in Australia left a hole in our automotive culture in some ways and we lost a forum to showcase our passion and creativity to the Australian public with physical concept cars. However, with the realism and detail achievable through modern technology, I felt we could still deliver uniquely Holden concepts via virtual technology and digital media,” said Ferlazzo.
Ferlazzo set a challenge for his talented design team to explore a futuristic race car using the latest emerging technologies around the world and was impressed with the proposal from Lead Designer, Ewan Kingsbury.
“Ewan perfectly captured the essence of what we wanted to achieve; an expressive, futuristic design which also displays innovative engineering solutions. Concepts are always meant to push the boundaries but are even more impactful when they are feasible and this concept is plausible as an advanced racer of the future,” said Ferlazzo.
The concept was developed with technical input from GM Holden’s Engineering team and the final design was validated with a digitally-printed 3D model. The finishing touch is a stunningly realistic video, created by GM Holden’s in-house Design Visualisation team, of the Time Attack Concept racer lapping the iconic Mount Panorama circuit. The video will debut on Saturday October 6 during the telecast of the Great Race, and will then be available for everyone to see.
“Automotive Design and Engineering remains a core strength and competitive advantage for Holden and for Australia. The Time Attack Concept racer is an illustration of how we can utilise cutting-edge technology to develop transportation solutions for the future. You can see from the extremely detailed approach to incorporating the advanced technology in our Time Attack Concept racer that this is more than just a visual exercise. Holden’s recent announcement of the expansion of 150 new engineers to our Advanced Vehicle Development team means we have the talent, resources and technology to continue delivering to that charter,” concluded Ferlazzo.
Technical Highlights
Weight:
– 900 kilograms (without driver)
Performance:
– Simulated Mount Panorama Lap Time: 1:29.30
– 0-100km/h: 1.25 sec
– Top Speed: 480km/h
– Maximum Lateral G-Force: 6.5G
– Maximum Braking G-Force: 6G
Powertrain:
Motors:
– 250kW Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Electric Motor Drives x 4 (Inboard mounted)
– Total output – 1000kW (1Megawatt) / 1340HP
– 3240Nm Total Motor Torque
– 5000RPM Maximum Revolutions
– Enables full programmable Torque Vectoring Traction Control at each corner
Gearboxes:
– 3-Speed Planetary Automatic Shift Gearboxes x 4
– Ratios 1st 2.97:1, 2nd 1.7:1, 3rd 1:1
– First gear ratio enables 9620Nm total axle torque at launch
– Gearbox casing integrated into Chassis structure
Power Source:
– Reconfigurable Graphene Hybrid Power Pack
– 1MW power output, 90MJ Usable Charge Capacity
– Fast Recharge: Fully recharged in 90 seconds (1000kW, 800V, 1250A)
Motor Cooling:
– Longitudinal Heat Exchangers x 2
– Liquid-to-Gas Phase Change Cooling, low drag, full pass-through
Brakes:
– Carbon/Carbon Hydraulic Discs x 4
– Electrical Heating of pad and rotor in pits and on out-lap to conserve energy
– Full Regenerative capability on all axles, can provide up to 2.0G braking force
Structure:
Chassis:
– Carbon Fibre composite with cellulose Honeycomb Core
– Full Integrated safety cell and crash structure, utilising stressed powertrain components
Suspension:
– Carbon Fibre Double Wishbone all-round, aerodynamically engineered profiles
– Titanium CNC’d Uprights with bushed underbody mounts
– Pushrod / bellcrank activated Hydraulic Active Suspension Actuators. Computer controlled programmable ride height adjustment, anti-dive, anti-squat, anti-roll
– Electric Power Steering
Body:
– Carbon-Fibre/Kevlar Composite panels with Polycarbonate Graphene Coated Upper
Underbody:
– Full Carbon Fibre / Kevlar Composite quad-venturi underbody, with flexible co-moulded membranes at Body and Chassis junctions
– Underbody is structurally mounted to Suspension uprights at all 4 corners, enabling full aero load to be applied directly to each wheel
– Torsional twist capability enables underbody to maintain consistent relationship to ground even with extreme road camber change
Wheels:
– 310/700 R18 Slick tires all round
– Carbon Fibre Composite Rims
– Active Wheel Fairings support low drag or brake cooling positions
– Wheel Fairing supported by a Kevlar/Elastane woven skin enabling consistent low drag performance whilst supporting full wheel steering and suspension movement
Aerodynamics:
– Low Frontal Area with all powertrain components on centre-line in Driver’s frontal area ‘shadow’
– Full Active Downforce Generation via Ground Effects technology
– Ultra-high Downforce levels achieved via electrically powered Cyclo-gyro fans
– Rubber Skirts control air-bleed and enhance Ground Effect
– 4 Individually controllable Fans accelerate airflow through 4 venturi tunnels to enhance downforce at lower speeds
– Fans enable programmable and constantly tuneable centre-of-pressure
– Cyclo-gyro fans with actuated blades enabling variable thrust direction and force
– Fans powered by 4 Switch Reluctance Motors (SRM), each up to 50kW, 50,000rpm, 92% efficient
– Hydraulically actuated variable-position rear wing with air-braking capability
– Lift-drag Ratio of underbody aero components in excess of 90:1
Miscellaneous:
Front Lighting:
– Active Matrix Laser Units with yellow ‘Endurance’ Tint
Rear Lighting:
– LED Matrix display – programmable pixels
Driver Assistance:
– Augmented Reality Helmet: 3D graphics projected onto helmet visor to enable graphics overlay in real-time. Essential technical information provided in addition to racing line and braking zone benchmarks.
– Integrated full steering wheel inputs to control all mechanical and aerodynamic systems via presets.
– Six Point safety harness.
– Telemetry and Camera mast to enable constant uplink and data transmission and in-car filming
