The forthcoming, all-electric ‘Electric GT’ series has announced its unique partnership with Bcomp; a manufacturer of high-performance lightweight composite materials that have been designed to replace some of the traditional carbon fibre panels as found in the Electric GT’s base-car, the Tesla Model S.
Swiss company Bcomp has developed a proprietary high-performance lightweight material for the automotive industry, producing high-performance, cost-efficient materials that can replace or reinforce carbon fibre and other engineering materials, and cut up to 40% weight with maintained performance.
Its powerRibs- and ampliTex reinforcement fabrics have already been used within the sports and leisure markets, and can typically be found in products such as skis, snowboards, surfboards, canoes and guitars. Working with Electric GT, Bcomp has also teased a revolutionary LED system within the natural fibres which can create a display for live data and telemetry on the outer body of the racing car.
The special panels will be put into action at the first ever public test of the Electric GT racing car at the inaugural Day of Light at Pau E-Circuit on November 18.
“Not only do Bcomp’s revolutionary natural fibre panels give us increased performance in terms of damping and stiffness, Bcomp have also assisted us in achieving a 20% weight saving compared to the road-going production version of this car. That is quite staggering,” explained Electric GT CEO Mark Gemmell. “In addition to the performance characteristics these materials offer, we are also working with Bcomp to develop our secret weapon – bespoke LED arrays within the fibre composite panels, so that the cars will have the capability to display key information to the watching crowd and viewers at home. From race numbers to race telemetry, energy levels and even biometric feedback from the drivers, the possibilities are endless and this is just the start of how we bring fans to the heart of the racing action.”
Christian Fischer, CEO at Bcomp added: “At Bcomp, we’re really excited about the global shift towards clean, sustainable mobility. Our goal is to contribute with our lightweight, high-performance renewable materials, and EGT offers the perfect platform to show to the world how the future mobility will look.
“When you meet like-minded people, things can go really fast. Just like us, Electric GT wants to explore the new opportunities of technology and push boundaries, which is how the idea of integrating LED arrays into our translucent body panels was born.
“From our first contact with Mark and his colleagues at Electric GT, it was clear that both teams wanted to create something entirely new and different, that would completely change the game plan for racing. We cannot wait to see where this partnership takes us.”
