A tiny Enfield 8000 from the 70s that has been modified has set the new record the for the quickest road-legal electric vehicle in the world. Never heard of the Enfield 8000? Neither had I so let me clue you in.
The Enfield 8000 was a city car built in the Isle of Wight in the middle of the oil crisis and as you've probably guessed, it didn't take off. The 8000 had a power output of 8hp so the fact it's now the fastest EV in the world is quite some achievement.
As you can imagine, it needed a fair amount of modification to obtain the new record, in fact this particular example is packing over 800bhp. Yes, that's over 1000x more the power it started off with when it was rolled off the production line. Needless to say the power is rapid - the modified Enfield was able to sprint down the Santa Pod Raceway quarter-mile track in 9.86 seconds at an average speed of 121mph.
Behind the wheel was Jonny Smith, Fifth Gear presenter and car modifier who approached insurer Adrian Flux four years ago to gain sponsorship for this ambitious project. The Enfield was dubbed the Flux Capacitor, a name taken from the popular Back to the Future franchise. The previous record was held a converted Datsun driven by John Wayland at a speed of 10.25 seconds.
In the history books: This little Enfield is now the fastest electric street-legal vehicle... in the world
Powering the Enfield are 188 lithium-ion battery cells that are built in enclosures built into the bonnet and boot. These generate 2000 amps and 400 volts to a pair of DC 9-inch motors to drive the back wheels helping to get the Enfield to 100mph in under 6 seconds. This is supercar territory but this car is still completely street legal and tax/congestion charge exempt.
Jonny Smith said: “Originally the car was designed to drive up to speeds of 40mph. Now it triples the speed within quarter of a mile without any aerodynamic alterations – which is testament to the original design.
“The car never feels like it is out of its comfort zone. To be honest I have disconnected the speedo, and just drive it by feel. You quickly forget how small it is when the lights go green. The instant electric torque delivery is something I have never experienced in over 15 years of driving and testing sports cars.
“I set out to build a British electric hot rod. I hope I've achieved something leftfield enough to prove that David certainly can beat Goliath."