Silent but deadly – Electric Beetle

What do you enjoy most about your VW? It's ability to transport you from A to B safely and without fuss? Or the thrill of driving it, the feeling of exhilaration as you pump the throttle in the morning, revving the engine to wake your soul and dropping a gear whenever you go through a tunnel. If that's you, then the idea of a Beetle that makes little or no sound at all probably doesn't appeal too much. But how about the idea of one that can cover the quarter-mile in just 11 seconds, with zero emissions to boot? That got your attention didn't it? We've watched with great interest as brothers Sam and Olly Young have developed this car from something more akin to a Beetle-shaped milk float into what is believed to be the quickest electrically-powered vehicle in Europe, and about the third quickest in the world. It hasn't happened overnight, and it certainly hasn't happened without a great deal of knowledge and skill, but working in the family electrical motor business, AmTecs in Hungerford, Berkshire, meant Sam and Olly were well placed to design and build an electric racecar. And having a long standing family interest in VWs meant a Beetle was the logical candidate for the task. "We had an old Beetle lying around with no engine and a friend had a milk float in a scrapyard nearby. We joked down the pub one night that it would be a laugh to put the two together," the two explained.
While that idea may have gone no further than the bench with most people, these guys were serious, and the result was Black Current I - a Beetle with a milk float motor coupled to a VW gearbox and running gear via a homemade adaptor. At Santa Pod, the car whooshed, if that's the right word, down the quarter in a shade over 21 seconds at 53.75mph. "We managed to get 58mph out of that in the end, which was quite respectable, and it got a lot of attention at Bug Jam from, how can we put it, the hippy types that were there," smiles Sam.
Now though, they have got the times down to an astonishing 11.24 seconds at 112.49mph!

 

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the Summer 2010 issue of VolksWorld

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