Holden to debut virtual Mountain monster at Bathurst 1000

The fastest time in which anybody in a Supercar has ever managed to lap the Bathurst circuit is 2:03.83 by Scott McLaughlin in the 2017 Top 10 shootout, but Holden reckons they can better that this year with a lap time of 1:29.30. How? With the Holden Time Attack Concept racer.

The Time Attack Concept is a completely virtual race car conceived and designed in-house by GM Holden to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Holden’s first Bathurst win in 1968.

GM Holden Design director Richard Ferlazzo says the Time Attack Concept demonstrates how the company now uses technology to test a future model’s styling and driving behaviour before it hits the road.

“The technology we employ today has transformed the way we design cars,” he says.

“We have the ability to simulate a car’s appearance, technology and dynamics in convincing animations, which enables us to deliver better designs in a shorter time. A large part of our work is Advanced Design and we use this technology to develop concept designs for our parent company, General Motors. This concept is a digital advertisement for the advanced skills, capability and technology of the GM Holden team”.

Ferlazzo’s challenge to his team was to come up with a futuristic race car using emerging technologies. The result which was developed with the know-how from GM Holden’s engineering team is a monster powered by four electric motors producing 1000kW of power together and a colossal 3240Nm of torque.

That’s enough grunt to get the Time Attack Concept from 0-100km/h in 1.25 seconds and on to a top speed of 480km/h. Ensuring that the racer remains shiny side up is a barrage of active aero including a hydraulically actuated variable position rear wing and four individually controllable fans to accelerate airflow to enhance downforce.

Of course, McLaughlin won’t have to worry about his lap time being beaten by more than half-a-minute because the Holden Time Attack Concept only exists in a computer simulations (well, a 3D model has been digitally printed, too).

A video of the Holden Time Attack Concept’s virtual lap will be shown during the broadcast of this year’s Bathurst 1000 on Saturday October 6.

Do you want to see this concept lap Bathurst for real? Tell us know in the commnets.