Zoomi Life

West Race Cars, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the premier makers of race cars on the market. Their latest model, made in conjunction with Kleenspeed Technology, is the WX10-T, an all-electric sport racer.

While West isn’t the first race car manufacturer to make an electric, they are the first North American one to make one for production. The WX10-T was unveiled at the Performance Racing Industry trade show in early December and has already sold at least one car. The initial production run, which will take place in 2009, will be for between 5 and 10 of these cars with more being built as demand requires.

The car features some awesome specs, not the least of which is the Thruxar electric motor made by Kleenspeed. This motor produces a whopping 200hp and 165fp of torque right off the line. The battery pack on this racer is good for 30 minutes of drive time and is made to be “hot swapped” in the pit, for quick “refueling.” The battery packs take about 1.5 hours to recharge at 220v.

The cars are capable of doing 150mph, but no numbers as to quarter mile and other data are available yet. The car is based on the frame for the WX10 racer and was designed with the involvement of the IMSA (International Motorsports Association).

This probably doesn’t seem like much to most people, since race cars are hardly the cars we’ll see everyday on the road. They aren’t exactly the world’s largest pollution contributors either. It is exciting, however, when you consider that motor sports are usually the cutting edge of the automotive technology world and that more testing, refining, etc. happens thanks to racing than from any other source. Fuel injection, which greatly boosts both power and economy in cars, is an innovation made thanks to racing, for instance.

Now with electrics becoming a new sports market, and with innovators like the Wrightspeed X1 electric race car and established racing manufacturers like West Race Cars in the field, plus the involvement of a major race player like the IMSA, things will only improve.