That's definitely not going to buff out.
The Hyundai RN22e concept car had a negative encounter with several hay bales at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, 364 days after the electric hot hatch debuted. Hyundai unveiled the RN22e and N Vision 74 precisely one year ago today, and they've served their purpose beautifully. These cars gave us a glimpse of the South Korean manufacturer's high-performance future, one powered by batteries, the other by hydrogen.
Hyundai also used the Ioniq 6-based RN22e as a rolling lab to develop several wicked features for the Ioniq 5 N, which made its highly-anticipated debut at Goodwood.
Unfortunately, the RN22e's Goodwood outing didn't go as planned, and it hit the hay bales pretty hard.
Hyundai is just of several EV manufacturers hoping to make an impact at the festival, which is best described as automotive heaven. Where else can you see a 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and an electric hot hatch drive flat-out up a Duke's driveway? But Hyundai didn't just take the one EV. It took the RN22e, an N Vision 74, the all-new Ioniq 5 N, and an Ioniq 5 N in drift spec. After the incident, we're thinking Hyundai should have left the RN22e at home, or perhaps brought a more pedestrian Ioniq 6.
The all-electric car started well, its 576-horsepower dual-motor powertrain providing epic acceleration off the line. It looks a bit sloppy diving into the first tight right-hander and accelerates decently through the next few corners, which don't require too much retardation.
But after quite a lengthy straight(ish) part of the driveway, the car attacked the hay bales like they insulted its mother.
It's difficult to tell what caused the accident because the camera is zoomed into the car's front end at a crucial moment. But it zooms out just in time to reveal catastrophic understeer. The driver definitely turned the wheel, but the car decided to barrel on straight instead. If you slow the footage down, you can see the driver turn the wheels straight at the very last second, accepting his fate and the semi-soft landing provided by the bales. And yes, the driver and passenger walked away from the accident uninjured.
We checked all of the theories in the YouTube comments section. The most obvious answer is driver error, but we don't think that's it. The layout of the Duke's driveway is easy to remember, and the visibility is excellent. He could see that right left-hander coming but failed to brake.
This is a prototype, after all, and has been abused all over the world, and was a testbed for technologies that have made their way into the Ioniq 5 N. It may have been one day short of a year old, but that's at least 35 in prototype years. The brakes didn't have enough left to slow the 4,600-pound EV down. But, it may not be that simple, as with hundred-year-old cars driving the course all day, there's every opportunity for oil to be spilled and make the surface super slippery.
Luckily, the damage was only cosmetic. The car was hauled away, minus a hood and a few of its flashier aerodynamic items. An image posted to the 'Gram revealed the extent of the damage.
The RN22e is widely believed to be a preview of the Ioniq 6 N, which has yet to be officially confirmed. Hyundai will likely want to keep the spotlight on the Ioniq 5 N for a while because luring people out of their combustion-powered cars is going to be a Herculean task.
Luckily, the 5 N boasts 601 hp, a faux DCT gearbox, and a drift mode.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Andrew Lewis (@engandy92)
Keyword: Hyundai RN22e Concept Wrecked At Goodwood Festival Of Speed