After its official reveal a few days ago in Barcelona, the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show will be the perfect backdrop to present the CUPRA brand to the international public. The new performance brand will have its own booth and will be standing next to SEAT.
World Premiere of the CUPRA e-Racer: the first 100% electric racing touring car in the world
Just as it could be no other way, CUPRA is also going to go racing. CUPRA will take on all the responsibilities and work previously carried out by SEAT Sport. CUPRA will inherit SEAT’s involvement in the world of motorsport that has lasted for more than 40 years but, at the same time, it is conscious that the future of racing will move onto alternative powertrain systems. CUPRA’s objective is to pave the way and lead the change towards efficient and clean racing.
With this in mind, the CUPRA e-Racer is going to have a very special leading role at the CUPRA stand at the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show. Since 2014, SEAT has been the main reference point in the TCR International Series with the Leon Cup Racer, not to forget that SEAT Sport produces all of the Volkswagen Group’s models that take part in the TCR (Audi RS3 LMS and Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR) at both regional and international levels.
The CUPRA e-Racer is a 100% electric racing car based on the petrol-powered Cup Racer. As well as being much cleaner and more environmentally friendly, the CUPRA e-Racer is much quieter; its performance is equally as impressive as a traditional racing car’s.
There are also many other advantages. An electric motor is much simpler, requiring much less maintenance and above all, it is more efficient as it practically uses all of the supplied energy, while a combustion engine only uses, in the best case scenario, up to 30% of its fuel energy. Additionally, kinetic energy is harnessed to recover power under braking and in deceleration phases. As if that weren’t enough, acceleration is much better as an electric car has its maximum torque available from the moment the accelerator is pressed; no longer is it necessary to reach a certain level of revolutions per minute in order to achieve maximum performance. For the same reason, a gearbox is no longer necessary.
The CUPRA e-Racer is a true motorsport car, delivering 300 kW of continuous power and up to 500 kW (680 PS) at its peak, featuring one single gear with Torque vectoring and with rear wheel traction. The CUPRA e-Racer is equipped with a new rear vision technology that is displayed within the dashboard. The vehicle uses three cameras instead of the traditional rear-view mirrors.
The CUPRA e-Racer can reach a top speed of 270 km/h, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in only 3.2 secs, and 0 to 200 km/h in only 8.2 secs.
The CUPRA e-Racer’s intention is to exceed the performance of the conventional version to demonstrate CUPRA’s technological capabilities at all levels. Throughout 2018, specially chosen events will showcase the CUPRA e-Racer and a competition for purely electric touring cars is anticipated from 2019. The format, race duration and simply the way of experiencing these races for drivers, teams and fans will be completely different: much more active, incredibly dynamic, intense and exciting.
