The STI E-RA Idea goals to set a brand new lap file for twin-seater EVs.
The Tokyo Auto Salon all the time comes every week after the large Client Electronics Present in mid-January, so its prime reveals are considerably drowned out by the barrage of huge information tales from Las Vegas.
No doubt the largest shock reveal at this yr’s Tokyo Auto Salon—Japan’s premier automotive customizing present—was an idea that nobody knew existed—the Subaru STI E-RA Idea.
Parked in an obscure nook of the Subaru STI stand, on the far facet of the absolutely electrical Solterra STI Idea, was one of the vital radical Japanese automobiles I’ve ever seen. Wanting like a Le Mans LMP1 fashion race automotive, the 1,072-hp E-RA was constructed for one motive, to interrupt a lap file.
Whereas the home unveiling of the brand new Nissan Z was probably the most anticipated automotive of the Salon, the STI E-RA Idea was the largest shock. It actually appeared out of nowhere. “We informed nobody about it. We didn’t even inform our colleagues at Subaru of America,” stated a Subaru staffer. Within the modern-day world of social media and leaked teaser photographs, it’s extraordinarily refreshing to see such a shock reveal.
Subaru’s in-house motorsport and customizing arm Subaru Tecnica Worldwide created this low and wide-bodied 1,072-hp electrical race automotive for one goal—to set a brand new EV lap file round Germany’s famed 13-mile lengthy Nurburgring Nordschleife race observe. Propelled by 4 highly effective 268-hp electrical motors, one on every wheel, the E-RA (brief for ‘Electrical Report Try’) was constructed with the intention of setting a time of ‘400 seconds,’ or 6 minutes 40 seconds, in response to Hiroshi Mori, STI’s basic supervisor who green-lighted the challenge.
Get a load of that diffuser! The E-RA employs aeroparts akin to these on a Le Mans LMP1 race automotive.
So why make such a radical transfer now? “We’re behind with our EV program, so we determined to speed up our EV technique and create an excessive research mannequin, and set a lap time that may assist us develop quick, environment friendly EV race and highway automobiles for the long run,” solutions Mori.
However precisely what lap file are they chasing? “We should be clear right here. The file we’re after just isn’t the 6:05 time set by the single-seater Volkswagen ID R. We wish the twin-seater EV lap file. We need to outperform the two-seat Chinese language NIO EP9 electrical supercar that posted a 6:45 in 2017. That’s the place our 6:40 time is available in.” Ah, we see. Bought it.
Every thing in regards to the E-RA, from its 197-inch lengthy body to its 79-inch broad carbon fiber physique to its good aerodynamic profile, big chin spoiler, large rear wing, roof air consumption and race automotive tuned diffuser, all scream ultra-performance.
In line with Mori, the 60kWh battery powering the E-RA ought to final only one lap, offering simply sufficient juice to set one lap time. “Hopefully a 400-second file lap time,” impresses Mori. STI say they may take a look at the automotive in Japan this yr earlier than heading to Germany someday in 2023 for the record-breaking try.