Etiopia

After almost eighty years, Italy is ready to return to Ethiopia. As then, the goal is the same “Bring progress where man was born”, but the means are different. Etiopia (IT for Ethiopia) is the concept for an open source off-road racing vehicle, destined to cross the most inhospitable and wild territories at high speed: grasslands, savannah, deserts, mountains and swamps. Its reference race is the Dakar. The project aims to solve the aims to solve the contradiction between the track and the off-road in an innovative way. The bodywork is sinuous and tapered with different avant-garde aerodynamic solutions (front wing, side wings and diffusers) deriving from the track (e.g. Le Mans) while the frame is instead suitable to withstand the many roughness of the uneven ground, by inspiring to the best kind of off-roads, the Mars rovers. Etiopia is driven by two electric motors, arranged one on the front and the other on the back. They are powered by a battery pack, which are recharged by solar panels and KERS. The four wheels are all traction and steering pneumatically and are equipped with an independent pneumatic traction and damping system. The tires are empty and puncture-proof. The tread is studded on the sides to ensure tightness in curves and bumps and slick at the center to ensure maximum smoothness. A spare wheel for the most serious damage is hidden under the hump. LED headlights for the front and rear lighting are scattered in various points of the car.