Unveiled: Racing cars bodied with Bcomp’s natural fiber

Unlike standard carbon fiber layup for motorsports, Bcomp’s high-performance renewable fibers are lightweight, contribute to better performance and are sustainable.

Last year Bcomp and Electric GT entered a partnership to develop the most sustainable car – a Tesla-based Electric GT World Series based on Bcomp’s technology. This month, Electric GT and SPV Racing unveiled the race-ready version of the EPCS V2.3 Tesla P100DL at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The racing edition is light weighted with body parts in Bcomp’s natural fiber ampliTex and powerRibs, contributing to the 500kg weight reduction vs. the road edition. The EPCS edition Tesla also leverages the flax fibers unique translucency as the roof has a fully integrated LED screen that will display statistics and information during the races – an entirely new and revolutionizing grip to bring the audience closer to the race and a part of modernizing racing to attract new audiences.

“The Tesla based EGT car is the first race-ready car and has so far only been extensively tested on the track. The first Electric GT Championship (officially called EPCS Series) race is scheduled for November in Jeres, Spain”, said Christian Fischer, CEO of Bcomp.

Additionally, the Belgian Automobiles Gillet is launching its first race with a full-natural fiber bodied car (Gillet Vertigo) in the epic Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb. Gillet was the first company to race a carbon fiber car and is now expanding on its 25 years of experience industry this year. The Gillet Vertigo – also made with Bcomp’s ampliTex and powerRibs –is driven by Vanina Ickx who not only completed the race under the 11 minutes goal but was also in the top 5 best rookies of the year.

According to Fischer, “The Gillet Vertigo car was specifically built for the Pikes Peak race.”

Bcomp technology is not limited to racing cars but also to motorcycles. The startup has equipped the DAB Motors "Alter" XSR900“ for Yamaha with its AmpliTex. The technical fabrics not only contribute to light-weight and more sustainable body parts with a flirt to vintage looks but also enables the unique front light with their translucency.

“These examples mark our Motorsports market entry. Our material solution has been validated for approx. a dozen racecar projects over the past weeks, resulting in several 100s of cars being built with our materials in 2019. Some of these are for very famous sportscar brands, which we will be able to reveal in Q4 2018/Q12019”. By 2020, our material solutions will be used in 1000s of racecars through the world.  The Motorsports sector represents a significant business opportunity for Bcomp, both in turnover and visibility. We consider it as our step stone towards large-scale mobility markets, on which we are working in parallel, aiming for market entry as of 2021.”