Holden Time Attack Concept Is Built To Tackle Records
The Holden Time Attack Concept is a fully electric, 1,000 kW (1,340 hp) virtual race car developed entirely in-house by GM Holden's Melbourne design and engineering team to mark the 50th anniversary of Holden's first Bathurst win in 1968. It was never built as a physical car, but the engineering behind it is entirely real: four axial flux permanent magnet electric motor drives, each producing 250 kW, mounted inboard for optimal weight distribution, generating a combined 3,240 Nm of torque at the wheels.
Why Holden Built It: Bathurst and the Anniversary
Holden's relationship with Mount Panorama is central to Australian motorsport culture. The brand dominated the Bathurst 1000 through the 1970s and 1980s with the Torana and the Commodore, accumulating a record that rivals any manufacturer in endurance racing history. The 50th anniversary of the 1968 Bathurst win gave the design team, led by Design Director Richard Ferlazzo and concept lead Ewan Kingsbury, a reason to ask a specific question: if we built the ultimate Holden for the mountain right now, what would it be?
The answer came from simulation. The Time Attack Concept was designed and validated entirely in virtual environments, using the same sophisticated tools that contemporary Formula 1 teams and hypercar manufacturers use to develop physical vehicles. The virtual lap of Mount Panorama was run and timed: 1:29.30, which is 19.58 seconds faster than the circuit's then-unofficial lap record, set by Jenson Button in a McLaren Formula 1 car.
Technical Specifications: 1 Megawatt, 900 kg, 1.25 Seconds to 100
The Time Attack Concept's performance figures are not theoretical speculation. They are the output of rigorous simulation. The four axial flux motors total 1,000 kW at the wheels, paired to a 900 kg carbon fibre and Kevlar composite body. Axial flux motor technology has become the preferred architecture for high-performance electric drivetrains because of its power-to-weight ratio and packaging efficiency: the motors can be placed close to the wheels, reducing unsprung mass and improving response.
The simulated result: 0 to 100 km/h in 1.25 seconds, a top speed of 480 km/h, and a Mount Panorama lap of 1:29.30. For context, the original article noted a 31-second improvement over the McLaren 650S GT3 record; the verified figure from the simulation data is 19.58 seconds faster than the Jenson Button F1 benchmark.
For a full breakdown of the concept's engineering, Top Gear's coverage of the Time Attack Concept covers the powertrain architecture in detail. The Drive also published a detailed technical analysis of the 1,341 hp electric concept at reveal.
Design Language: A Bullet With Downforce
Ferlazzo described the concept as a digital advertisement for the skills within GM Holden's Melbourne studio. The design language is aerodynamically extreme: a low, tapering nose, front and rear aero elements generating significant theoretical downforce, and a single-seat cockpit with no concessions to road-car usability. The chassis structure is carbon fibre; the body panels are carbon fibre and Kevlar composite. There is no interior beyond a single seat. The result is a shape that communicates speed without ambiguity.
Kingsbury and the team used the design process not only to create a visually arresting concept but to prove that the engineering capability existed within GM Holden to conceive and simulate a genuinely competitive electric racing vehicle, something that matters significantly in the context of a brand whose road cars compete on real tracks every year.
Explore Electric Performance at TheArsenale
The Holden Time Attack Concept sits within a broader moment in which electric powertrains are redrawing the boundaries of track performance. From Formula E to endurance racing prototypes, the fastest electric vehicles on earth are no longer concepts. Browse the cars collection on TheArsenale for the most significant hypercars and concept vehicles, explore the Formula 1 memorabilia collection for race-grade hardware and signed pieces, or discover the Racing and Emotion motorsport art collection for pieces that capture the atmosphere of circuit racing in physical form.
