The Hyundai Veloster N ETCR car that will enter the new electric touring car race series in 2021 has been fitted with its drivetrain.
Integration of the electrical systems into the Hyundai Veloster N ETCR car was carried out at the Oxfordshire, UK, premises of the championship’s contracted electrics supplier, Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), under the supervision of Gergeli Bári, ETCR technical director of the series promoter WSC.
Delayed some six months by travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the integration process took four days, followed by three days of shakedown and calibration testing at the Great Tew private test circuit. A specific ETCR-laboratory car built by WSC was on hand to replicate and resolve any potential issues during the integration process.
MaurĂcio Slaviero, Head of the ETCR project for WSC Group, was delighted with the successful completion of the first integration process: “As a result of Covid, it has been a long wait, but we are finally able to move ahead.”
Williams Advanced Engineering’s ETCR senior program manager Alec Patterson commented that the successful initial physical testing phase had validated all the preparation work the engineers completed in the digital environment and on the electrical lab car beforehand.
“The teams now head to Italy for further track testing, allowing them to correlate their analysis tools in a simulated race environment, optimizing all the electrical systems prior to final delivery of the batteries for the start of the program in 2021,” he said.
Hyundai was the second brand to commit to ETCR following the Cupra built as the prototype for the championship. Systems integration of the Cupra, the Alfa Romeo Giulia and an MG model will follow and the four cars will then be submitted for homologation, after which their manufacturers will be able to produce and sell cars for any individual ETCR championships in the future.
Originally planned to run a demonstration season in 2020 but delayed by Covid-19, the international Pure ETCR series will now commence in 2021. The electric championship is based around a novel rallycross-style heat format, which was detailed in the April 2020 edition of PMW.
