Yahoo Autos Hyundai RN24 Rolling Test Lab Is Part Rally Car, Part EV, All Crazy
Hyundai's N division, during this year's "N Day" event, showed off its RN24, which features the Ioniq 5 N's powertrain and serves as a rolling test lab.
Who needs doors or windows or a roof? Chuck 'em out. Saves weight.
A redesign of the Ioniq 5 N's battery pack means 641 hp in a platform that's 15 inches shorter.
It's becoming quite clear that one of the most enjoyable automotive jobs on the planet is being an engineer at Hyundai's N division. Instead of trying stretch some crossover's fuel efficiency by an mpg or two, or get wonky automatic transmission software to shift smoothly between third and fourth under load, your boss comes up to you and says things like: "Okay, so today we're stuffing 641 electric horsepower into a shortened rally-car platform. Doors? No thanks. Also, turn the rear fenders into a soundbox. All right team, let's go make those four-wheeled donuts."
Just launched at this year's N Day event, the RN24 is a lunatic exoskeleton rally car that's like someone acid-dipped an Ioniq 5 N, leaving only the go-fast bits behind. It's the next offering from Hyundai's "rolling lab" series, which includes past hits like the RM19, a 390-hp mid-engined Veloster, and the RN22e, a track-tuned 580-hp electric sedan based on the Ioniq 6. Imagine getting to sign one of these things out for the weekend? The ultimate job perk.
The RN24 uses largely the same powertrain as the rascally Ioniq 5 N but is 15 inches shorter. If you've sat in an Ioniq 5, you already know it's bigger than it looks in pictures, more lowered Honda CR-V than Lancia Delta Integrale. Hyundai says the RN24's smaller platform takes its cues from its WRC i20 hybrid rally car, and the result is the kind of Frankenstein's monster you'd expect from Hoonigan than from an OEM.
Sensibly, Hyundai has opted not to put any bodywork on its creation. Wait: not sensibly. This thing looks like it's been attacked with a Sawzall and then fitted with LED light strips off eBay. It's part rally car, part tire-shredding EV, and part backyard-built dirt track outlaw sprint car.
Beyond the general lunacy, the RN24 gets a proper soundtrack for tire murder. It takes the Ioniq 5 N's active sound system, runs it through two external speakers, then uses the rear fenders as a soundbox to amplify the growl. This is probably unnecessary but really quite fun, a phrase which sums up the car nicely.
Other bits and pieces have been borrowed from Hyundai's various motorsports efforts, including that massive rear wing: stolen off an Elantra used in Touring Car Racing (TCR). The all-wheel-drive features a rally mode that's an electronic version of the torque control used in the i20 WRC car. It also has an electric hand brake, a technology actually tested out on a WRC stage, for extra sideways action.
Hyundai claims its rolling lab vehicles are intended to bridge the gap between its motorsports efforts and cars we might actually see on the road. That may be, but the sneaking suspicion here is that the team is building wild machines just for the hell of it, because they can.
Officially, the N brand takes its name from the Nürburgring, where it tests its cars, and Namyang, where Hyundai's R&D center is located. With the RN24, it might as well be for No Holds Barred.
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