Hyundai Goes Insane And Builds A 641-Horsepower Deathkart With Rally Suspension

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is a monster. Under the skin, it features an 84 kWh battery pack and two electric motors with a peak output of 641 horsepower, capable of propelling the practical, spacious family hatchback from a dead stop to 60 mph in about three seconds. Yeah, that’s supercar territory. However, Hyundai’s N division poses an interesting question — what happens if you take that same powertrain and put it in a car that’s 716 pounds lighter?

This is the Hyundai RN24 and yeah, it’s a concept car, mostly because it’s hard to imagine many lawyers being willing to sign off on letting the public buy one. Think of it more as a rolling lab to explore the inner machinations and outlandish fantasies of minds obsessed with speed and power. Where this fully functional prototype’s going, there’s no need for windows or doors, and throwing them in the bin just means no one can hear you scream.

What Hyundai’s built here is a high-tech take on a deathkart, a skeletal trend that’s been going around the internet for a while. Sure, it has fenders, a front splitter, a grille that looks like it used to be a fence, headlights, taillights, and sills, but that’s about it. There’s no roof. There’s no trunk. There’s no hood. There is, however, the rear wing from a TCR race car. You know, because it’s cool. Instead of upper bodywork, there’s a roll cage just in case you go inverted. This is very much a helmet-suggested ride, and my word, I’d love to have been a fly on the wall in the meeting for the approval of this project.

So, other than 641 horsepower, what’s bolted to the skeleton of the RN24? Well, the suspension shares more in common with Hyundai’s world rally championship cars than its production cars. We’re talking rally-spec long-travel dampers and extra-sturdy subframes. Speaking of rally cars, Hyundai is trying to emulate its WRC car’s locked all-wheel-drive torque distribution with software, meaning that in Rally Mode, the RN24 sends 50 percent of its torque to each axle at all times. Sounds fun on a loose surface. Also on tap? A digital emulation of a hydraulic handbrake, conceptually like what’s available in the new Ford Mustang’s Performance Package.

In addition to trick suspension and software tweaks, Hyundai’s fitted a quicker steering ratio to the RN24, improved cooling performance over an Ioniq 5 N, chopped a massive 13.4 inches out of the wheelbase, and fitted this prototype with a rather amusing stereo. Instead of playing music, speakers in the rear fenders blast out emulated combustion noises for the “Gran Turismo” generation.

Don’t expect to walk into a Hyundai showroom and buy an RN24 anytime soon, obviously. This thing’s simply too wild, too raw, too mental to sell to the general public. However, there is a chance that software developed on this car and lessons learned from it will make it to future N models. After all, Hyundai claims it intends to “bring back the compact, lightweight vehicle concept for the next generation of high-performance N road cars,” and that’s something worth looking forward to.

(Photo credits: Hyundai)

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