Zacspeed is exultant to announce that it is presenting a car at Pebble Beach. Many would expect a wild supercar or even a hypercar of some form, but we are not the people to fall into such tomfoolery. An occasion of this magnitude deserves much more than the prefixes “super” and “hyper,” hence why we took much time to develop this vehicle.
Performance sans compromise. This company was assembled around this concept, one where the pursuit man must maintain into the future is to soar beyond what is deemed the limits of human ingenuity and technology. By doing this, man will transcend such barriers. It is an ethos that the Zacspeed A1GP firmly concretizes through unyielding handling, biting brakes, and an avalanche of power.
Fifteen years after promising talks with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile on supplying a power plant and Zacspeed’s upset by Zytec replacing it as the engine supplier for the upcoming A1GP series, the event still left many an employee disgruntled and disillusioned. The 3.0L V10, inspired by that of a Formula One engine, sulked in a glass display. Hopes of becoming an engine supplier in a class of open-wheel racing dissolved at the snap of the FIA’s fingers. There were dreams that the engine would be utilized in a road car, but those never came to full fruition. Frustrated at how the engine was never utilized in a car, the team unanimously voted to build a new version of this engine and shoehorn in a performance car with one goal in mind: performance sans compromise.
Immediately, the power plant was upped in displacement to 11.4L, and watermelon-sized ball-bearing turbochargers were installed. Five valves per cylinder was a mandate the employees were all too excited to hear; an aggressive cam profile, variable valve timing on all camshafts, and 2.77 bar boost furthered the joy’s overflow. Direct injection with one throttle per cylinder, a racing intake, and a fuel mixture richer than the suburbs further sent the boffins bonkers.
What will set everyone else in a frenzy will be the numbers: despite only revving to 8,700 revolutions per minute, it develops 3,119.4 horsepower and 2,417.6 lb-ft of torque. The former figure is the equivalent of 2.33 megawatts, verifying the drastic scale at which the engine was being built.
The magnesium, aluminum, and titanium motor, once fully assembled, fell into the middle of the car just ahead of the rear axle, and its power is transmitted to all four of the car’s 395-millimeter-wide points of contact with the ground. Unpainted carbon fiber enshrouds the engine and the chassis it is a stressed member of. The bodywork was slashed multiple times to open up vents for air and the intercooler, and out of it springs sharp cutlery which provides downforce rivaling, and sometimes trumping, prototype and formula cars. All assembled, the car weighs 3,412.9 pounds. This gives it a power-to-weight ratio of 0.914 horsepower per pound, or 2.015 horsepower per kilogram. It shreds 62 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds, crush 80-120 km/h in 0.6 seconds, vaporize the quarter-mile in 7.62 seconds, and thrash the standing kilometer in 14.23 seconds while only topping out at 212 miles per hour. We didn’t forget about stopping from speed, either; that 80.38 foot braking distance comes courtesy of meaty carbon-ceramic brakes finished in red calipers and trapped behind carbon wheels with red trim.
Standing as a testament to the dedication of these engineers to this magnum opus, the base tune for this car is designed to fly around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in as little as 5:15.60. This is the tune that was used for testing the car at multiple tracks, including the Dunsfold Aerodrome (51.54), Pike’s Peak (6:51.42), Circuit de la Sarthe (3:05.66), and the Automation Test Track (1:27.09). These are among the fastest times that a closed-wheel car set at these tracks, and they were done using an unoptimized tune. As we continue in our quest of obscene speed, a booklet of tuning setups for each track will be made available. Alongside that, each car can be tuned to the owner’s liking.
There is no substitute to, no compromise for, and no equal of the A1GP. Be it evidenced by the monster motor, wild wings, and bleeding-edge technology, it is clear that it represents the pinnacle of closed-wheel race cars. Since this does not conform to any current series’ regulations, it will, ironically, not be eligible to go into any races. This is okay. It is not why the car was built in the first place.
The A1GP arose out of immeasurable, repressed frustration at how it was replaced as an engine supplier. For the company to secure this position in an exciting, upcoming class of motorsport would have embossed its name into the minds of many as a purveyor of pure performance. Zacspeed holds the same hope as before in introducing this car, but now with a crave to dice seconds and acquire records. Performance sans compromise is the explanation, and Colin Chapman described it simply: “a racing car has only ONE objective: to WIN motor races. If it does not do this it is nothing but a waste of time, money, and effort.”
Thus, it is more than just an extreme performance vehicle. It is the asseveration of Zacspeed’s philosophy and allegiance to innovation.
Lap Times:
Green Hell - 5:15.60*
Circuit de la Sarthe - 3:05.66
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca - 1:10.72*
Pike’s Peak International Hillclimb - 6:51.42*
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps - 2:04.19
Suzuka Circuit - 1:50.64
Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst - 1:51.46
Circuit de Monaco - 1:24.84
Autodromo Nazionale Monza - 1:31.06
Silverstone Circuit - 1:46.25
Autódromo José Carlos Pace - 1:18.30
Automation Test Track - 1:27.09
Airfield - 51.54
Here is the proof to this vehicle:
Zacspeed A1GP - #52.car (75.6 KB)
