Formula E is quite a hit so far, with a global schedule and many new entries for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Even Jaguar is signed up for next year!
These McLaren-powered electric racecars have overcome much skepticism already as a green F1 rival. And they are taking things much further today.
RoboRace. RoboCar.
Daniel Simon is kindof an asshole but is a genius designer. His book Cosmic Motors is visually outstanding, if VERY light on actual story value or depth of universe. Put it this way: if it were a PDF, you’d be through it in under 90 seconds.
His designs have been featured in many big-budget (but commercial flops like TRON) movies since he broke away from Bugatti many years ago. Not much from DS lately, though, since doing unsolicited Lotus racecars and motorcycles.
Lotus C-01 Concept by Daniel Simon
Simon has taken his futuristic aesthetic back from space and onto terra firma for the new RoboRace series: his RoboCar design will indeed be made real. And painted up in 20 team liveries before heading out on the track to do battle!
What is missing ? Certainly not humans in the pits: it will take much skill and bandwidth to keep these cars at max speed — sans drivers.
That’s right folks, the racecar driver is a dying breed. Victim of the relentless march of tech progress!
Skipping the driver from design consideration gave Simon a huge amount of freedom to re-imagine a racecar’s fundamental design elements. Today, we have the first look at what those are. Shrouded wheels, cylindrical central spine and gigantic integrated wings all around. It is clean, lean and pretty mean.
The new RoboRace cars are not beautiful, but then neither was the first International Business Machine, either! And Big Blue is doing just fine these days, thanks.
RoboRace
DRIVERLESS, ELECTRIC & CONNECTED – ROBORACE CONFIRMS DANIEL SIMON AS ITS CHIEF DESIGN OFFICER AND REVEALS THE ROBOCAR
LONDON, UK (March 30 2016) – Roborace today announced its chief design officer as Daniel Simon, a global force in futuristic, automotive design.
Renowned for his work on Hollywood sci-fi phenomena such as Tron: Legacy and Oblivion, Daniel has previously been senior designer at Bugatti and later went on to design everything from drones, motorcycles, spaceships and Le Mans cars throughout his adventurous career.
Daniel has been working with racing engineers relentlessly on the Robocar and shares a first look at the concept today.
Daniel Simon, chief design officer at Robocar, said: “We’re living in a time where the once separated worlds of the automobile and artificial intelligence collide with unstoppable force. It’s fantastic to be part of this journey; it triggers all my big passions – motor racing, design and advanced technologies. My goal was to create a vehicle that takes full advantage of the unusual opportunities of having no driver without ever compromising on beauty. Racing engineers and aerodynamicists have worked with me from the beginning to strike that balance. The Roborace is as much about competition as it is entertainment. Therefore – and quite unusual in today’s racing world – beauty was very high on our agenda and we work hard to merge the best performance with stunning styling. It was important to us that we generate substantial downforce without unnecessary parts cluttering the car to maintain a clean and iconic look. This is largely made possible by using the floor as the main aerodynamic device and we are currently developing active body parts that are more organic and seamless than solutions today. I am excited to be part of the daring team of people who are making this happen.”
Denis Sverdlov, CEO of Roborace, said: “We are honoured to have Daniel working with us on this project as chief design officer. His passion and experience are undeniable and I believe it’s already set to be one of the most iconic vehicles in automotive history. We nicknamed the competition the ‘global championship of intelligence’ as an open challenge to the world’s smartest minds, so its only fitting that the car should be one of the smartest ever to be made, thanks to Daniel it may also be the most beautiful car ever to touch a road surface. It’s gaming, motorsport, technology and entertainment all rolled into one. I passionately believe that the future of cars is about software; driverless, electric and connected and Roborace will help to make that a reality.”
The first Roborace ‘shows’ will take place during the 2016/2017 Formula E season with disruptive and innovative new formats showcasing safety and extreme driving capabilities.
For more information on Roborace visit –http://www.roborace.com/
Daniel Simon – Portfolio Highlights
Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank.
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