Honda e-Drag all-electric hatch to take on the drag strip

Despite the 2021 Tokyo Auto Salon's cancellation due to the Covid pandemic, Honda has let its imagination run wild by turning its Honda e electric small hatchback into a carbon-fibre drag car.

The Honda e-Drag concept uses carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) body panels to offset the weight of the Honda e’s battery packs. It sits lower to the ground on new suspension and wider 17-inch alloy wheels from the Honda NSX wearing obligatory drag slicks.

There’s no mention of an uprated battery pack, suggesting that the standard 35.5kWh battery paired with the Honda e's 113kW/315Nm motor will have to make do. In an illustration, Honda suggests the existing rear-wheel-drive layout will be put to some good, smoky use.

10

A set of high impact drag seats has been installed into the cabin along with roll cage bracing. The rest of the interior is mostly binned in the name of weight reduction and straight line speed.

On its Japanese website, Honda nicknames the racer “Fighting e” and says it takes advantage of the “instantaneous power unique to a motor that produces maximum torque from the moment of rotation and the characteristics of rear-wheel drive.”

10

People can vote on the final colour scheme that the car will wear in full production trim – which is expected to compete in a racing event in March 2021.

The concept was presented by Honda along with a hill climb-spec N-One kei car at this year’s virtual Tokyo Auto Salon. The event also previewed a convertible race truck from Daihatsu, an off-road lifted Honda Jazz and a mobile office pod caravan from Nissan.

10