Lucas di Grassi reveals stunning concept car '11 seconds faster than F1'

Lucas di Grassi has revealed his personally designed electric concept car, which the Brazilian confirmed could go "11 seconds" faster than Formula 1 in Monaco at ultimate performance. 

The current Lola Yamaha ABT Formula E driver spent his summer designing the concept car, before revealing it to the world on Tuesday afternoon. 

To design the revolutionary concept, di Grassi received support from Lola Cars, with the design featuring variable active aerodynamics, extreme low drag, modular battery design and open software integration.

The ultimate goal was to prove what is possible with the materials and technology currently available, and that going faster than F1 is achievable. 

Named the DGR-Lola, simulations have shown that at the Circuit de Monaco it can go comfortably faster than an F1 car. On ultimate performance, the former F1 driver believes it could be as much as 11 seconds faster than the pinnacle of motorsport.

It is also 10 times more efficient than a current F1 car in Monaco, and features twin-turbine suction for modular downforce, generating large amounts at any speed. 

In addition, it also benefits from all-wheel drive, with 600kW (804bhp) of power from two motors, powered by a fully integrated 60kWh modular battery.

As well as receiving support from Lola Cars and its facilties in Silverstone, Sebastian Lamour’s LamTec was responsible for CAD, renderings were produced by Chris Paul Design and the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) runs were carried out by Airshaper.

Discussing the full potential of the concept, di Grassi told select media including RacingNews365: "With the full downforce, and so the downforce that I assumed that has the full downforce potential is 15 Kilonewtons, so 1.5 tons, which is still conservative from the numbers we got from at least the idea that the McMurtry showcased, that the car can do up to two tons. 

"So that's 2000 kilos, I assumed 1.5 but I think the car can do more with 1.5 and taking out the modules, the battery modules, from the side, so reducing about 200 kilos from the car, the car can go 11 seconds faster than F1."

While di Grassi plans to build the car, the data and simulations conducted has proven that his theory is correct. According to the 41-year-old, the car is capable of matching F1 Monaco quali pace for 12 laps, and F1 Monaco race pace for 15-20.

"This project should serve as an inspiration for the future generations of electric racing cars," said di Grassi. 

"The question of whether such cars can be faster than Formula 1 has been answered with data and simulation. My plan is to build this car in the next two years."