The all-electric Porsche GT4 ePerformance made its public world premiere and started its world tour at the renowned Goodwood Festival of Speed. The tour will showcase the potential of the vehicle concept and its related racing formats.
For the first time in public, the new Porsche GT4 ePerformance demonstrated its capabilities at the Goodwood Festival of Speed through the 1.9-kilometer or 1.18-mile hill-climb track set in the park owned by Lord March in West Sussex.
For the next two years, the innovative vehicle concept will be traveling to other places in Germany and beyond with the goal to showcase the potential of the vehicle concept. Aside from demonstrating the potential of the vehicle, they also aimed to showcase the possibilities of the racing formats to motorsport customer teams, partners, and key stakeholders in the motorsport scene.
The GT4 ePerformance is equipped with the technology features of the Mission R. During the 2021 IAA MOBILITY in Munich, the conceptual study laid out the vision of a fully electric GT racing car for customer motorsport.
Based of the chassis of the proven 718 GT4 Clubsport model, the electric motor and battery technology originated from the IAA conceptualized study where the qualification mode requires a maximum output of up to 800 kW. When it comes to lap times and top speed, the GT4 ePerformance is equal to the to the current 991-generation 911 GT3 Cup.
Porsche works driver Richard Lietz (Austria) shared his insight on the all-electric prototype after driving it in Goodwood, “The Festival of Speed is truly impressive. It’s a huge festival for car enthusiasts and a motorsport Mecca like no other in Europe. I was already familiar with the GT4 ePerformance from test drives. It’s extremely quick and loads of fun to drive – that’s exactly how I imagine the electrically-powered customer sport racing car of the future. Its aerodynamics is designed for efficiency because the car has to be able to last the full race distance. It’s more at home on circuits than at hill-climb events like here at Goodwood. So, a time of 45.50 seconds and second place in the overall rankings is in line with our expectations.”
Roughly around 6,000 parts of the Porsche was redesigned for the GT4 ePerformance. Led by Grant Larsson, a team from Porsche Style designed the car’s shape. They used natural fiber composite materials as one of the materials used for the body so that fewer emissions are generated compared to synthetic materials. For testing purposes, they also used recycled carbon fibers. Due to its flared fenders, the GT4 ePerformance is 14 centimeters wider compared to the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. This gives it more room for the 18-inch Michelin racing tires which are mostly made up of renewable materials too.
Project Manager of the GT4 ePerformance Oliver Schwab shared, “The GT4 ePerformance blazes a trail to Porsche customer racing with electrically-powered racing cars. As a first step, we will unveil this concept to our global partners. With drivers, teams, organisers, authorities and other interested parties, we’re also gathering ideas for Porsche racing formats in the future.”
GT4 ePerformance Tour
After its Goodwood Festival of Speed debut, the GT4 ePerformance will also have a few international stops. Each location was chosen for a specific purpose. The renowned motorsport festival in southern England was known for Porsche’s motor racing tradition. On August 20, 2022, they will have their second stop at the Porsche facility in Leipzig as part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the factory. The facility if equipped with a 3.7 km circuit that features famous parts of world-famous racetracks.
Michelin Racing Tires
The tires for the all-electric Porsche GT4 ePerformance is supplied by Michelin, and they boast of having 53 percent of the tire being made of bio-based or recycled materials. Raw materials are sustainably sourced, and it includes natural rubber and soot. Partner company Enviro helps in sourcing the raw materials from the used tires using a special processing method. Other materials used are orange and lemon peel, pine resin, sunflower oil, and metallic residual waste.
Developed specifically for the GT4 ePerformance, the racing tires have a reduced environmental impact throughout its lifespan, starting from development, production, shipping, use, and eventual recycling.
Michelin is targeting that they will be able to manufacture all their tires from sustainable materials by 2050. To achieve that, they are aiming to have the production to be at 40 percent from sustainable materials by 2030.
GT4 ePerformance Tour Partners
With the support from its seven partners, the pure electric prototype is able to confidently embark on its world tour. All the seven partners are also using the tour further bring to the spotlight the topic of sustainability with Porsche Motorsport.
New to the project is DB Schenker, the leading provider of global logistics services, which will contribute sustainable transport services, amongst others.
Through their Mobil brand, long-standing partner ExxonMobil, has embarked on a joint development in the field of coolants and lubricants used on racing cars.
Swiss luxury watch manufacturer TAG Heuer, is the timing partner for Porsche Motorsport.
Michelin has been the long-established technology partner for Porsche Motorsport as they develop sustainable racing tires for the GT4 ePerformance.
Hugo Boss is the official team outfitter while Puma, the sports lifestyle brand, provides the fireproof clothing that drivers and mechanics use.
Hazet provides the tools used by the crew.
