When I was in college, my most crowing achievement was an ungodly long and annotated research project about federally sponsored broadband networks. I was proud of it, but a group of students in Germany have officially succeeded in making my accomplishments feel fruitless.
Members of the GreenTeam Formula Student group at Stuttgart University have set an unofficial world record for a 0-to-62 mph sprint, posting a blistering time of 1.779 seconds.
The speedster is question is dubbed the E0711-5, an all-electric, one-seat race car. The puny track vehicle is the fifth in a long line of record chasers to come out of GreenTeam’s secret labs, and it’s by far the fastest. With 134 horsepower pushing just 363 pounds, the car has a staggering power-to-weight ratio of 2.71 lbs per hp. For reference, each of the LaFerrari’s 950 ponies are responsible for pushing 3.67 lbs of mass. Even more impressive though is the E0711-5’s torque output, rated at an Earth-moving 885 pound-feet.
GreenTeam has released a video of the stunt, and it illustrates just how impressive electric powertrains can be. Electric motors produce all of their energy in an instant, and that power-on-demand results in hellaciously quick launches, gobs of useable torque, and incredibly quick trips to highway speed.
After a brief chirp from the tires, the only sound you hear is the mechanical whine from the motors, which sounds distinctly like a Star Trek ship going to warp. The car goes just about as fast too, crossing the finish line in the blink of an eye.
The record is still unofficial at the time of this writing, as Formula Student is awaiting Guinness World Records validation. When the feat is confirmed, the E0711-5 should take the acceleration crown from Swiss company ETH Zürich, who holds the current record of 1.785 seconds.
