Inside story of the RaceMo

The TaMo RaceMo could signal a significant departure for Tata Motors both in terms of its image as a capable car maker and in the perceived quality of the brand as a whole. There is considerable rub-off already, simply from the unveil, and the hope is that the new sports car concept will eventually deliver the driving experience needed to carry this halo effect through to the next stage. The RaceMo will be literally hand assembled and rolled out of an atelier in Mumbai. And it is expected to be launched just before Christmas this year. Company officials say that the plan is to create a brand experience centre sort of atelier where the car will be put together and buyers can literally go there or log in online to view their ordered RaceMo being made. This two-seater sports car will have a limited, numbered production run. But details such as how many will be made are not available yet. The RaceMo is built on a base structure with bonded, sandwiched polymer panels, which have additional internal reinforcements for higher rigidity and safety. The body panels are also made of the composite polymer. The car is low slung but is said to be capable of handling bad roads, speed breakers and other such issues on Indian roads. It is also claimed to have a carbon fibre tunnel and engine panels. The focus on light-weighting will enable TaMo engineers to achieve a sub-900 kg kerb weight.

The engine is the Revotron petrol 1.2-litre, which is turbocharged and intercooled, delivering 190 PS of power and 210 Nm of torque. The engine is mid-rear mounted and positioned just before the rear axle. Despite the aggressive design, its butterfly doors and the seemingly high focus on track performance, TaMo engineers say that the car will be a practical everyday use car. The gearbox is an AMT (automated manual transmission), but by offering manual gear selection through steering mounted paddles, TaMo engineers eliminated the need for a stick shift on the centre console. Instead, there is a mode selector there including a race mode. It has an electronic parking brake.

The cabin layout and build is meant to deliver that message of everyday usability. Almost all the controls except the aircon, parking lights and proximity sensor activation are all on the steering wheel. Attempting to mimic a race car steering wheel, the rest of the controls like the engine start, the turn indicators, the headlamp on and even the windscreen wiper controls are all located on the wheel. The other interesting feature in the cabin is the selfie camera mounted to the left and top of the dashboard to get a photo of your driving, which can then be uploaded on to social media or onto the game Forza Horizon where the digital RaceMo model has already been premiered. The sports car also has only one aircon vent which features a special swirl fan that delivers cooled air to both occupants of the car.

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