Design students from universities, further education colleges and senior streams of secondary schools will be invited to enter a competition to design the body for the world’s first one-make electric vehicle race series.  The competition will be launched on press day at Autosport International on the Niche Vehicle Network Stand No. 6230 at the NEC on January 10th.

The prototype rolling chassis has been developed by Midlands based Westfield Sportscars Ltd., in collaboration with Silverstone-based Delta Motorsport and Birmingham City University’s Technology Innovation Centre (TIC). The design is intended to enclose the new rolling chassis.  The resulting competition car will form the basis of Westfield’s forthcoming single-make Electric Race Car series.

The vehicle performance is impressive with a predicted 0-60mph time of sub 5 seconds.  The latest lithium ion batteries provide the capability to complete a typical fifteen lap club race, whilst maintaining a total vehicle weight of under 600kg.

The competition is being run in conjunction with TIC’s technology partner, PTC (Parametric Technologies Corporation),a US-based world-leading provider of new product development software. Students will be provided with data showing the packaging envelope for the body and detail such as pick-up points.

In addition to the opportunity for the winning design to be developed into a pre-production prototype which will be displayed at Autosport 2009, other prizes include the opportunity to visit Westfield Sportscars premises in the West Midlands.  Westfield and TIC will also be organising a track day for the winners.  

Dr. Paul Faithfull, Technical Director at Westfield Sportscars Ltd., said:  “Westfield has chosen Autosport to launch the electric race car design competition because of the huge amount of visitors to this international show.  It will give us access to the great design talents of students across the globe, bringing new concepts to complement our performance enhancing technology.  We recognise that in order to differentiate our product, we need to pay significant attention to styling trends.  What better opportunity than to appeal to the future great designers of the world.”

Westfield Sportscars is a member of the Niche Vehicle Network, an association of around twenty-five specialist car and chassis manufacturers which will have a major presence at Autosport.  With sponsorship from the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, three of the region’s most innovative sports cars as well as the electric race car will be on display

Westfield Sportscars Ltd will be booking track time and taking orders for the company’s new AeroRace car which has a lightweight chassis based on the top of the range Westfield Sport S.  Combined with a lightweight race loom and bodywork, the vehicle achieves a dry weight of only 520kg and a 0-60mph time of 5 seconds.

GTM Cars will be taking orders for its new ultra light track car.  The GTM 40TR developed with Stadco Engineering features an exposed aluminium super-structure and is powered by a 2 litre Type R Honda engine which will produce 235bhp and is expected to reach 60mph in sub 4 seconds and go on to a top speed of over 150mph.

Radshape Sheet Metal Ltd., an integral component supplier for low volume niche market automotive companies will be displaying the bonded chassis for the Morgan Aero 8.