New Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo
Added: 11 April 2018
New Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo
Originally developed for use in virtual races on PlayStation 4, the new Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo is being made reality. The new concept car is being deployed at the Formula E race in Rome on Saturday 14th April as the race taxi.
Peter Mertens, a member of the Board of Management, Technical Development and Audi AG, commented: “E-Mobility is rapidly gaining importance. That is why in 2017 Audi was the first German manufacturer to enter Formula E with factory-backed commitment. In our development laboratory motorsport, we are continuously expanding our expertise in e-mobility and gathering valuable experience also in extremely demanding conditions. With the Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo race taxi we are turning electric mobility into a tangible experience for our customers and guests as part of the Formula E races – in the middle of the world’s metropolises.”
Audi customers and guests will be able to travel the Formula E city circuits as passengers of the e-tron Vision Gran Turismo as it starts the race in Rome. The car was developed and produced in the short space of eleven months, based on the concept used in the Gran Turismo PlayStation 4 game. Previous concepts created for the video game have been built as full-scale models for presentation at trade shows, but the Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo is the first car of its type to be built as a fully functional vehicle and used on real-world race tracks.
Marc Lichte, Audi’s Chief Designer, said: “This is what we are particularly proud of. Although the design of a virtual vehicle allows much greater freedom and the creation of concepts which are only hard to implement in reality, we did not want to put a purely fictitious concept on wheels. Our aim was a fully functional car. The Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo shows the electric mobility at Audi is very emotive. This car incorporates numerous elements of our new design language such as the inverted single frame in the vehicle’s colour that will be typical for our new e-tron models.”
Audi have used design elements and inspiration from the legendary Audi 90 quattro IMSA GTO, which was in action in 1989 at the North American IMSA-GTO racing series, driven by racing drivers including Hans-Joachim Stuck, Walter Röhrl, Hurley Haywood and Scott Goodyear.
Featuring permanent fully electric e-tron quattro all-wheel drive, the Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo has three electric motors. Each motor has an output of 200kW, two of which drive the rear axle whilst the third drives the front axle, utilising components from the future Audi e-tron model. The model can accelerate from 0-62mph in less than 2.5 seconds.
The Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo will be driven at all European Formula E races and several other events in 2018, driven by former DTM driver Rahel Frey from Switzerland, or Le Mans winner Dindo Capello from Italy.
Find out more about the Audi e-tron range, alternatively contact Caffyns Audi for more information.