Auto Express 1735

I’VE always seen Red Bull Racing as a team of the people – the small upstarts that socked it to the big boys. It has over-achieved, it’s got the crowds on its side and is the cool kid in the F1 paddock. It does things differently and its members win with the biggest of smiles on their faces. I’m a massive Red Bull Racing fan. So you can imagine how excited I was to hear that Red Bull Racing would be making its first series production car. And how disappointed I was to find out that the RB17 will be yet another multimillion-pound, track-day special aimed at collectors. It’s not as though these mega-wealthy people don’t have enough stupidly expensive supercars to choose from. There’s still the Aston Martin Valkyrie…

● Exclusive access to award-winning Ioniq 5’s big brother ● Design chief SangYup Lee talks us through styling and tech HYUNDAI’S all-electric Ioniq sub-brand could not have got off to a better start. The Ioniq 5 was named both Auto Express Car of the Year and World Car of the Year, with its unique design getting plenty of plaudits, too. Now it’s the turn of the Ioniq 6 to take a bow – and Auto Express has been given an exclusive tour of the new model by Hyundai’s chief designer, SangYup Lee. Think the Ioniq 6 looks familiar? Not only has it been inspired by the ‘streamliner’ design era of the thirties, but it was also previewed by Hyundai’s Prophecy concept from 2020. According to Lee, the car could have…

THE Ioniq 6 has only just broken cover, but future iterations are on the cards. Asked whether his team had considered a hatch-style liftback, design boss SangYup Lee told Auto Express: “I can make a great hatchback out of that – a shooting brake.” Indeed, sister brand Genesis has form in this part of the market, in the GV70 Shooting Brake. Lee also said the Ioniq 6 could “make a great performance model”. We already know the Ioniq 5 will gain a hot N-badged variant in 2023, but this is the first suggestion that additional electric N cars are in the plan. It’s likely the Ioniq 6 N will use a similar set-up to Kia’s EV6 GT, with a 77.4kWh battery and up to 600bhp. Lee also hinted that more…

● Pro Electric Supervan debuts ● Race-ready for fast deliveries FORD’S racetrack-ready Supervans have been a handy promotional tool for the brand’s beloved Transit van over the past five decades. The latest one – the Ford Pro Electric Supervan – is unofficially Supervan 4. And as the name suggests, it is battery-powered and zero emissions. Somewhere underneath the performance-focused body is a ‘track-ready chassis’, based on that of the new electric E-Transit. True to Supervan tradition, there’s little crossover between the Transit and this motorsport-spec offspring. The first Supervan arrived in 1971 as part of the marketing campaign for the Mk1 Transit. Since then, various new Transit generations have featured a Supervan special, but we’ve not seen one since the Cosworth F1 V8-powered Mk3 from 1994. Propelling the new Electric…

SUPERVAN – 1971 THE first Supervan promoted the Mk1 Transit and used the chassis and 400bhp V8 of the Le Mans-winning Ford GT40, with a Transit body crudely bolted on top. SUPERVAN 2 – 1984 A CHASSIS taken from Ford’s Group C racer and power from Cosworth, combined with a major aerodynamic overhaul, enabled a top speed of 174mph. SUPERVAN 3 – 1994 EQUIPPED with Formula 1 power from Cosworth, this was built at reduced seven-eighths scale and launched to coincide with the Mk3 Transit facelift.…

FORD’S Pro Electric Supervan wasn’t the only EV to charge in at Goodwood. The Polestar 5 had its first public run, too, with the Swedish brand confirming performance targets for its Porsche Taycan rival. Some of the car’s development is being undertaken in the UK, and its maker is aiming at an output of 872bhp and 900Nm of torque from the luxury four-door GT’s dual-motor powertrain. The Polestar 5 is also aiming to deliver engaging driving dynamics to accompany the impressive power and torque targets. Pete Allen, head of Polestar UK R&D, said: “The platform combines low-volume performance-car attributes with modern technological advances to bring lightweight, high-rigidity, sports-car chassis technology into mass production.” CEO Thomas Ingenlath has previously suggested that the Polestar 5, set to arrive in 2024, is likely…