Is this the future of motorsport?

Valenciennes, May 20, 2009: While Audi advances diesel technology in Le Mans, VW explores CNG and Formula 1 gets in on the act with KERS energy recovery, other companies are fantasising even further about how racing cars can be powered.

This is Swiss firm GreenGT’s take on environment-pleasing motor racing – an electric Le Mans racer. It’s a fairly radical idea, just in design stages for now, but the company hopes to compete in the legendary 24-hour race as early as 2011. Evo

Designed by a team of students from the International School of Design at Valenciennes in Northern France, the GreenGT LMPE2011 is certainly eye-catching, although we don’t recall Le Mans race rules allowing air brakes - assuming that’s what those four sculpted carbon fibre pop-ups actually are. Reg Hardware

Built on a FIA-spec carbon chassis and covered in fibreglass body panels, the GreenGT prototype should weigh as little as 860 kg – just enough for it to qualify for LMP2 status, the class thought up specifically with privateer teams in mind.

The renderings reveal the prototype’s flexcell photovoltaic solar panels, which convert energy from the sun directly into electricity, but whether or not they offer some sort of aerodynamic advantage is not yet known.

Two water-cooled electric motors are mated with a differential gearbox patented by GreenGT. The energy required is provided by the aforementioned panels and two lithium-ion battery packs. The electric engines are said to develop between 260 kW and 300 kW, while the maximum torque is a mind-bending 2 000 N.m at 11 000 r/min. Car Today

GreenGT also says the design could preview a road-legal supercar. The engineering team reports the Le Mans car will make power in the 350-to-400-horsepower range. Top speed is estimated at 171 mph, and 60 mph should come in less than 4 seconds. Edmunds.com/Inside L