Experimental Polestar 2 electric car debuts at Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Volvo-owned electric carmaker Polestar arrived at the Goodwood Festival of Speed over the weekend with a souped-up experimental prototype of its new 2021 Polestar 2 electric sedan to tackle the event’s famous hill-climbs.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed, which was launched in 1993 on the grounds of Goodwood House, in West Sussex, England, bills itself as the “world’s greatest celebration of motorsport and car culture” and is host to all manner of events, including the iconic hill-climb.

And while the event brings together everything from F1 machinery, road and race cars and drivers, as well as a chance to meet motorsport legends, it’s also a place for automotive companies to show off.

Which is exactly what Polestar did, the Swedish electric car subsidiary of parent companies Volvo and Geely, unveiling an experimental version of its Polestar 2 electric sedan which was designed with the expressed intent of pushing “the boundaries of the electric performance fastback’s design and performance potential.”

“I challenged the design and engineering teams to play with Polestar 2 and come up with something that makes a strong statement for Goodwood,” said Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO.

“For a few months I have enjoyed driving another experimental Polestar 2, nicknamed ‘Beast’, around our Gothenburg campus, which inspired the team to come up with this version for Goodwood. We want to flex our muscles and explore opportunities.”

The traditional Polestar 2 is already an impressive electric vehicle, and potential contender to the dominant Tesla Model 3. The dual-motor Polestar 2 normally boasts an output of 00kW and an acceleration from 0-100km/h in 4.7-seconds. Delivering a driving range of up to 500-kilometres from its 78kWh battery, the Polestar 2 was recently expanded to three variants, with one variant upping its all-electric range to 540-kilometres.

While the newly debuted experimental Polestar 2 isn’t planned to be made available for consumers – made, as it was, specifically for the Goodwood hillclimb event – it is nevertheless an impressive engineering statement from the company.

Boasting a combined output from its twin electric motors of 350kW and 476-horsepower, the experimental model was fitted with brake and wheel upgrades from the Polestar 1 – the company’s plug-in hybrid model, and heavily tuned suspension designed to enhance the car’s handling characteristics.

Designed with a wider track, adding 10mm on each side, and a 30mm lower ride height, the experimental Polestar 2 also had its wheel arches widened to house the 9×21-inch wheels and 6-piston Akebono front brakes from the Polestar 1, and the 275/30R21 Pirelli PZero Rosso performance tyres which were also carried over from the Polestar 1.

The springs were also stiffened by 80% at the front and 40% at the rear compared to original Polestar 2 performance units, and the adjustable Öhlins DFV dampers were upgraded to Öhlins three-way performance dampers which are approximately 30% stiffer than the road and track originals.

In an effort to further increase the experimental prototype’s rigidity, the carbon fibre front suspension strut bar from a Volvo S60 Polestar Engineered was fitted and complemented by a custom-fabricated rear strut bar.

“This car is what happens when we are given freedom to go beyond our limits,” says Joakim Rydholm, Polestar’s chief chassis engineer.

“We already have such great handling and performance characteristics in Polestar 2, but when Thomas asked me to make something special for Goodwood, I was really excited to up the stakes.”

On top of all the mechanical upgrades and tweaks, the prototype Polestar 2 also received a design refresh, with updated front and rear bumpers, before the car was sprayed “Snow Matte” with a “Magnesium Matte” racing stripe down the hood, as well as colour-coded front grid and glossy black mirrors, bumpers and side skirts with their own colour-coded design accent, and wheels featuring a dual tonality of glossy and matte black surfaces.