Gilsung Park sees increasing environmental pressure as an opportunity for Porsche to develop an ‘electric’ identity. He therefore sought to answer the question of what an electric Le Mans contender could look like for his MA degree show project at Pforzheim University.
“My approach was to investigate a future electric design DNA for the Porsche brand,” he says. “The aim was to offer a direction to a new electric product for the Le Mans race as well as a road-legal sports car.”
Porsche Design DNA
Porsche’s unique and timeless design language has been praised for centuries. Even without the iconic Porsche crest, the brand’s characteristic pure and clean lines define the brand. As such, Park chose to imbue the vehicle with soft forms and horizontal lines to tie-in to Porsche’s design DNA.
An air turbine motor hub motor system sucks air in through the wheels and forces it out toward the rear of the vehicle, creating a link between functionality and the car’s visual aesthetic, while a separate upper and lower body structure allows air to pass through the car.
Why Le Mans?
Le Mans is an authoritative endurance race for sports cars, a race in which Porsche has been showing dominant strength. This year the company posted a poster 1-2 finish with the 919 hybrid and it shows no sign of slowing…
Porsche has clearly been proving its technological expertise and, for this reason, Park contends, Porsche’s electric vehicle should combine the brand’s traditional symbolic design elements to create high range sports car based on Le Mans racing cars.
The Future of Le Mans
But how the endurance race will change in 20 to 30 years? Parks believes its future is in environmentally friendly energy and optimized powertrains. Just as the current race was developed to test the durability of a company’s products, Le Mans will become a place to test new technologies such as a self driving system.
