► New British company Revolution Racecars readied for launch
► Created by Phil Abbott, Radical Sportscars co-founder
► First car launches October 2018, priced under £100,000
This is the first sketch to be released of a new two-seater monocoque prototype-style racing/trackday car by a new company called Revolution Racecars.
One of the Revolution’s USPs is that it will be the only car of that style with a carbonfibre monocoque ‘tub’ to be priced below £100,000.
Feature: a weekend at Silverstone with track day legends
There’s some significance to the ‘R’ themed name, as the driving force behind Revolution Racecars is Phil Abbot, co-founder of Radical Sportscars. Having left Radical in 2016, and following a stint at racing car manufacturer Ligier, Abbott is creating another two-seater track and race car.
In many ways the Revolution is a more high-tech, modern-day spiritual successor to the now two-decades-old spaceframe-chassis Radical SR3, the company’s most successful design.
Revolution’s first car: the basics
A full two-seater, the Revolution is powered by a 3.7-litre V6 Ford Ecoboost engine with circa 300bhp, with a unique exhaust system and a competition-spec six-speed gearbox. It’s a lightweight car, with a kerbweight of around 675kg.
The company is based in Britain, although its carbon tub will be manufactured in Germany by specialists DD-Compound. It’s been designed with plenty of width and elbow room inside so two people can fit within without difficulty. There’s no switchgear in the cockpit – everything is operated from the F1-style steering wheel.
There’ll be a one-make Revolution championship in 2019, and the car will also be aimed at serious trackday drivers as well as racers. Not much is likely to be quicker at a trackday; the Revolution is claimed to develop more downforce than any competitor cars in its price bracket, but aims for balanced, driveable handling rather than corner speed at all costs.
Its bodywork is high-downforce but distinctive in appearance, eschewing large exterior spoilers for underbody aero.
‘Race car technology has advanced immeasurably over the last couple of decades along with tools available to design and develop them, and it’s now possible to bring these advancements to a larger market,’ Abbott explained. ‘I began again with a blank sheet of paper that I first gave to Simon Cox.’
Simon Cox, formerly head of design at Infiniti and GM, has been in charge of styling the Revolution, and it’s one of his early sketches that illustrates this story. Apart from a variety of production and concepts, Cox has styled racing cars previously, such as the Ligier JSP4.
CAR interviews Simon Cox in 2015
The rear bodywork in particular appears more distinctive than many track cars, and to these eyes is reminiscent of the Cadillac Cien concept, one of the designs on Cox’s CV. CAR has viewed renders of the finalised design, and it looks very similar to the sketch pictured here.
Another experienced name in the Revolution team is Pete Watts, former head of composites at BAR F1, Bentley Le Mans and a design engineer on the Bugatti Veyron.
Initial shakedown tests will take place in the UK, followed by rigorous testing overseas in October.
The car will be unveiled in full on October 19, and will make its first public appearance at Silverstone on 2-3 November.