Electric Hyundai concept crashes into hay bales in front of hundreds of spectators during Festival of Speed
https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/
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by Chris Chilton
July 14, 2023 at 08:30
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The 2024 Ioniq 5 N was supposed to be Hyundai’s headline act at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed where the 641-hp (650 PS) crossover made its global debut. But last year’s Ioniq 6-based RN22e concept did its best to upstage its brother on Thursday morning by crashing into hay bales in spectacular style.
On the tight left hand turn at the end of the straight running past Goodwood House, and in front of hundreds of spectators watching in person, and thousands more watching the action online, the RN22e plowed straight ahead sending straw and dust flying everywhere.
Unfortunately, the main official Goodwood camera tracking the action was zoomed in so tight on the RN that it’s not clear whether there was another reason for the accident beyond carrying way too much speed into the turn because the driver had left his braking too late.
Related: The Hyundai RN22e Is An EV Concept With More Power Than A Porsche 911 Turbo
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Modern EVs are deceptively fast thanks to their huge power outputs, epic acceleration, and lack of much aural drama, and they are of course also much heavier than fast ICE cars, so it’s easy to imagine how the driver got into trouble, particularly if he wasn’t familiar with the course. Hyundai says the bi-motor rolling concept generates a combined 577 hp (585 PS) and 546 lb-ft (740 Nm) of torque, which is plenty on a narrow section of asphalt with such sharp bends.
The Thursday runs are just meant to be demonstration passes and aren’t timed like the later runs. But someone obviously forgot to tell the driver to take it easy. I’ve driven up the hill a few times and every time you have to weigh up going fast enough to entertain the crowds (even more important when the car makes almost no exciting noises) and slow enough that you don’t entertain everyone by crashing out and making an a** of yourself and a mess of a priceless car.
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Fortunately, Goodwood’s video feed later showed that both the driver and passenger were unharmed, but we imagine the RN22e didn’t escape so lightly.
