“As long as you have a reasonable amount of track experience, then this is a car you can enjoy right from the start,” said Newey. “But at its ultimate performance level, then it’s capable of Formula 1 lap times.”
The original plan was to make the car four-wheel drive with a twin-turbocharged V8 engine driving the rear wheels and an electric motor driving the front wheels. However, the final production model will use a high-revving, normally aspirated V10 developed by Cosworth and mated to a more conventional hybrid system.
The 986bhp V10 revs all the way to 15,000rpm. The engine is hooked up to a carbonfibre transmission of Red Bull’s own design related to the one used in its F1 car that integrates a 197bhp electric motor. This not only provides performance assistance but also acts as a starter motor and reverse gear and helps the car move away from a standstill.
The RB17 weighs just 805kg in its lightest form, shorn of items such as air conditioning and a glass windscreen, and it is around five metres long and two metres wide.
The model revealed at Goodwood is a design from last August. Newey said development work since then has made the car “a little bit smaller”.
