Porsche has gone public with what is effectively an electric Cayman designed for sprint racing. It's built to race for 30-35 minutes without derating, overheating or doing other various un-Porsche things. Then you flip the switch for quali mode and it goes from 600 hp to over 1000. Yeehah. Performance in that mode is about the same as a 911 GT3.
Also yeehah - no ABS or traction control. Hang on to THAT.
This is a legitimate electric race car. It's not for sale, but I'm hoping we see grids of something like this in the next couple of years. Kudos to Porsche for doing the work.
Travis over at R&T got some seat time including a video. https://www.roadandtrack.com/reviews/a39969667/porsche-gt4-e-performance-review/
Some guy named "Chris Harris" also got to drive it.
I'm going to need a minute alone...
The future in Europe is EVs , what better way to get your name out front than to build a fleet of these and maybe have your own IROC type class.
and it also helps the whole VW group.
I hope they develop some " loud" tires so you can "hear" them racing.
From the Harris video, Porsche has built 5000 "Cup" cars. They're the obvious people to build the EV equivalent because nobody else knows how to build a customer race car like Porsche does.
Watched the Chris Harris video this weekend and giggled at how fast that car was. I'm excited how we're on the precipice of some amazing racing and development in the next decade as more and more manufacturers develop EV race cars. Not only will it provide even more racing to watch (I think ICE will still be around for decades) this development will hopefully supercharge the consumer EV market with even more options.
My only gripe (and it's a minor one) was the sound. I had trouble watching the Harris video because the whine from those motors started to assault my old ears. But, I think that would have been better with a different mic setup.
-Rob
I love that noise, it makes the hairs stand up on my arms. It's like audible static electricty. The best part about the 2014 hybrid F1 cars was that you could still hear all that energy being shunted around, before they turned up the volume on the internal combustion noisemakers.
tuna55
MegaDork
5/16/22 12:41 p.m.
Keith Tanner said:
I love that noise, it makes the hairs stand up on my arms. It's like audible static electricty. The best part about the 2014 hybrid F1 cars was that you could still hear all that energy being shunted around, before they turned up the volume on the internal combustion noisemakers.
I do, too. It's not the same as a high revving NA engine, or a big burly domestic engine, but it's fun an exciting. It definitely still results in that same sense of delight to me.
Great video , but the motor whine is disturbing,
Question for Keith , does a Tesla motor sound the same if you had it in a chassis with no sound deafening?
Thanks
Again, it was a totally minor gripe and think it would have been better with a different mic setup. Couldn't hear him talk well because of it and just seemed a little piercing to my old worn out eardrums. I'm sure outside the car watching it'll sound awesome. I'm also going to have to retrain my brain that they don't shift. Every time he accelerated in it, I kept waiting for a change in pitch. Kinda like that old Nissan commercial when the CVT's came out where they guy made shift noises while the girl was putting on makeup. :D
-Rob
There is some entertainment in the fact that this car is also oil cooled, not water cooled. Porsche getting back to their roots :)
Here's what it sounded like inside Randy Pobst's run up Pike's Peak in a Plaid last summer. It's not clear if this was mixed or recorded differently, of course. Harris and friends wouldn't have had any time to experiment. Randy's car has probably been stripped out but not as far as a ground-up racer.
First: I am NOT anti-EV. I know it's the future and will be epic with what can be done. As a tinkering geek, I think I'm probably more excited about the tech and how rapidly it'll progress more than the driving/racing.
Having said that, I've never seen that Pikes Peak video. I'm going to be an old crotchy nit-picker. Full stop.
The sound is MUCH better on it and more enjoyable. However, I kinda wish there was a little more of the motor noise, only to get a sense of speed. (Total nit picking here) Again, it's just a retraining of my brain to watch the speed as opposed to combining it with engine noise at the same time. I know that engine noise doesn't equate to overall speed. I know that a screaming 4 cylinder isn't faster than a V8 because it revs higher. It's just a mental thing I'll have to learn. Others may feel the same the first time they hear it.
Saying that, Randy's giggling during the run more than made up for it!!!
-Rob
Given that the R&T and Harris videos have pretty similar angles, I suspect Porsche took care of the camera/mic setup and the editors had no say. It would be interesting to know how much difference there is in actual noise levels between the Pikes car and the Porsche.
Your example of the screaming 4 and the V8 is a good one, I get a lot of comments on my videos on how "lazy" the V8 sounds on track. Nobody has ever called it quiet, I swear it's propelled primarily by noise.
And speaking of my V8 car - the power/weight ratio of my Miata is closer to the new Porsche in quali trim than in race trim :D
I can't read the R&T article as I've used up my free articles for the month. But this is a) great news and b) Shouldn't be a surprise to people. Porsche have already stated that the next gen Boxster/Cayman will be all electric, so it makes sense for them to launch this car, and probably a series for them to race in, to build excitement and acceptance ahead of time. While there are some who will jump on the new cars, many of the brand faithful are already complaining and talking about the inevitable rise in value of their IC cars with these left wing hate mobiles being forced upon them. A race series where these things are fast, spectacular and reliable will ba a great pre advert for the street car versions in the coming years.
I stand by my statement. One's a spec car with a rigidly defined rule set, one's a prototype of a car that anyone can buy and race even against ICE vehicles. Formula E cars look like they're from the 21st century but there's definitely a finger on the scale to make them interesting - low grip tires, short and tight circuits.
In reply to rob_lewis :
Can't be any worse than a car with straight cut gears in the trans.
Have seen in car video, might have been a V8 DTM car, where the transmission was not only the primary sound, it completely obliterated all other sounds including the engine.
