Design Development: Elemental Rp1
Elemental is a British automotive startup based at the end of a leafy lane in rural Hampshire. In bucolic surroundings it is busy building a surprisingly advanced track-day car, called the Rp1.
Elemental’s mid-engined car is based around a carbon-fibre tub and offers high levels of aerodynamic downforce, generated not by wings and spoilers but by discreet underbody diffusers. This unusual approach becomes less surprising when you learn that the engineering team jumped ship from McLaren Automotive.
I visited the factory to interview founders John Begley and Guy Colborne.
My feature focusing on the car’s design journey was published by Car Design News – a subscription is required to read it.
Key quote
“Coming from normal car design I was expecting to do CAD, then a little quarter- or third-scale model, then a full-scale model. We didn’t have the time to do that. We didn’t have the money. We didn’t have the space.”
Guy Colborne, design manager and co-founder, Elemental Motor Company