No, it’s not a Norfolk-based competition to grow the tallest rose varieties. Lotus Engineering is developing a Honda Civic Hybrid for stage rallying and circuit racing. Yes, you read that right.
Hold on! Lotus is racing a Honda hybrid?
It turns out there’s a lot of untapped performance potential lurking within Honda’s petrol-electric commuter car, and Lotus has the key to it. The company is supplying its technical expertise to Lancashire-based Oaktec, a specialist in energy efficient vehicle design, which wants to extract the maximum racing performance and efficiency from the hybrid drivetrain. The collaboration is in partnership with Energy Efficient Motorsport (EEMS), Motorsport Development and Honda UK, with funding from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). The resultant racing car will compete on the track with ultra-low exhaust emissions and high fuel efficiency.
How does it all work?
Phil Barker, Lotus Engineering’s chief engineer of hybrid and electric vehicle technologies, sheds light on the apparent paradox: ‘Hybrid and electric vehicles are already established on our roads but to make them successful on the racetrack, a number of technical changes have to be employed. Working with Oaktec, we will create a revised electrical specification for more power and a control system that will allow a more aggressive regenerative braking strategy. Lotus Engineering’s work on the Honda Civic Hybrid will prove that you can still get high performance while using green technologies.’
The 1339cc Civic uses a Continuously Variable Transmission, which means it can be driven at constant full power at any road speed. This makes its performance very accessible, and efficient too.
Oaktec’s senior partner Paul Andrews explains the car’s background: ‘We have been developing the Honda Hybrid system for motorsport since 2004 and achieved a great deal of success in rallies around the UK, including a championship win in 2006 with a Honda Insight in the F1000 Class A Championship. Maximising racetrack performance from a hybrid drivetrain is a complex technical exercise but one that Lotus Engineering has the experience and expertise to help us deliver. We look forward to seeing our success on the rally tracks replicated in the race circuits.’
When can I see the car in action?
The hybrid racer’s first outing in anger will be in the Dunlop Max Sport Cup at Rockingham circuit on 28 September. And remember, when Lotus got together with Honda in the 1980s, it scored eight podium F1 finishes with Ayrton Senna.
