Adrian Newey on the Red Bull X2010

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Red Bull X2010

How fast could an F1-style car go if it wasn’t bound by the rules?

Red Bull design Adrian Newey has explored the idea by creating an imaginary car for “Gran Turismo 5”, which was released last year.

He talks about the project in the video below:

If we didn’t have regulations the opportunity exists to make a car that would be really quite obscenely fast quick around a lap. But it would be pretty uncomfortable to drive because the G-forces would be so high.
Adrian Newey

As seen the video a full-size but non-functioning model of the X2010 (previously called the X1) has been built. It was on show at the official “Gran Turismo 5” launch party in Madrid, and is likely to be displayed at future events elsewhere.

Red Bull say they don’t know how much it would cost to build the car but it theoretically could be done. The design obeys all physical laws.

However they added that with their engineers working full-time on the F1 project it could prove difficult to find someone to build it even if the money was available.

Have you driven the X2010 in Gran Turismo 5? Let us know in the comments.

Red Bull X2010 pictures

Images © Red Bull

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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66 comments on “Adrian Newey on the Red Bull X2010”

  1. would be interesting too see how much harder overtaking would be if F1 regulations or lack there of allowed the cars to reach this stage, would be very difficult if not impossible given the insane levels of downforce created and tiny braking distances.

    1. overtaking would happen when one of the drivers passed out in the cockpit due to massive g forces!

      1. LOL, that would end all Pay driver opportunities fast!

      2. Williams-BMW submitted a F1 car without boundaries to F1 racing magazine years ago. It had 6 wheels, 2 up front and 4 in the back with the back 4 being AWD.

        Their engineers said it would be physically impossible to drive because the G-forces from acceleration alone would knock out the driver haha.

        It also had ground effects.

        1. Actually Motorsport magazine asked Gordon Murray to design what he felt would be the ultimate yet buildable F1 car for their jan 2000 issue (or else the Dec 1999 issue but I digress…) and it was frighteningly similar in concept to the X2010 – turbine powered, fan assist aero, closed cockpit, wheel covers to both reduce drag and increase downforce.

          So maybe Adrian got his inspiration from another F1 design legend?

        2. The Sri Lankan
          14th January 2011, 10:33

          wheres the reference to that?

    2. The Sri Lankan
      14th January 2011, 10:35

      imagine if this concept was adopted by ACO for Lemans Prototypes? i think F1 will loose major support

    3. it’s not like they’d run these cars on current tracks, they would need whole new tracks with new safety measures. this means the budget to get a racing up and running extremely high, not to mention the amount of time it takes to build them. so it’s highly unlikely they’d ever make a racing series ( unfortunately.) if anything, they may build one for testing and/or show.

  2. So Newey actually designed it? I thought Polyphony designed it and Newey just told them to stick a fan in the back.

  3. I THINK WE SHOULD PUT F1 OFF FOR A YEAR.

    F1 hasn’t had a break in 60 so why not, this car needs building.

    1. Maybe the FIA should just DSQ Red Bull for a season, for the reason of a) Building an F1 car that won the championships this year and beating Ferrari and b) showing they did not even do their best in car design, as this is clearly a lot faster!

      Then Newey can use the year to have them build this and blitz the field as a support program to F1.

  4. Certainly it would only run circuits like Istanbul or Bahrain that are smooth and consistent with big run offs. Nobody with respect for life and limb would want to bring that beast to a track where barriers are close by.

    1. And the fear that it would probably have a catastrophic mechanical failure at any moment

      1. Which, given that it’s an Adrian Newey design, is highly likely!

    2. Obviously we need to run it in Monaco then. Wouldn’t that be amusing?

    3. ‘Nobody with respect for life and limb would want to bring that beast to a track where barriers are close by.’

      You mean like they did in the 50’s 60’s & 70’s.
      Now ur talking real racing drivers…

    4. i think kubica would like to try at monaco with this rocket :)

    5. Cue Monaco or Singapore!!!

  5. Ugh, don’t get me started on the X2010. I’m a moderator over at GT Planet – interludes, for those of you playing at home – and the trading subforum is inundated with hundreds of requests for the X2010. If I never heard about the car again, it will be too soon.

    1. Haha, people are too lazy to just get the free one at L35?

      I’m getting there myself – heard a report that this thing can go around the Parabolica flat at 240 mph…!

    2. I agree, it’s great and fantastic and awesome and why can’t it just go away?
      The one problem I have is that I am a bit competitive, so when people say, it’s impossible to drive with a controller… They are kinda forcing my hand…

      Anyway, Everyone knows the coolest car is the Honda Z Act ’70.

  6. I’ve driven the car, but the challenge required to actually win it is just about physically impossible for old school gamers like me who insist on using a controller.

    That said, it is unbelivable. You go into a corner thinking ‘nothing can go quicker than that’ and then on the next lap you brake a little later, turn a little later and accelerate a touch earlier and you go through the same corner 30 or 40mph quicker.

    Disappointingly I’ll have to shell out on a decent wheel to fully appreciate it, though.

    1. Thanks for the feedback. I would think Adrian Sutil has been busy driving laps in this baby all winter!

    2. Why would you WANT to play a driving game with a controller and not a steering wheel? Better off sticking to Donkey-Kong or something mate.

      1. A) Because I always have, I’m used to it and I’m pretty handy with one
        B) Because I’ve used wheels before and I don’t like them.

        1. I use a controller for all racing games too. But that’s only because I am not willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a wheel. How do you get this car? I am just starting and have no idea how to do anything on GT5, let alone unlock things.

  7. Lap times in the game for circuits like Suzuka and Monza are around the 1 min mark, for example in the Formula Gran Turismo car Monza is a low 1:20. It’s like playing in fast forward.
    Obtainable after completing Sebastian Vettel challenge available at level 30.

    1. The x2010 can do 3 1/2 minute laps of the Nurburgring taking most corners at around 300 km/h

  8. Oh come on, Dietrich Mateschitz is swimming in money. hire a few extra staff and get this thing built.

    Screw it… get 20 built… I want a one-make series and I want it now!

  9. Surely sometime in the future someone will have time to build a car like that, would love to see how it on track & who knows many including complains about the speed of a safety car, so why not?

  10. Fred Schechter
    12th January 2011, 16:30

    Somewhere, a Can Am car and a Porsche 917, winked, had a smoke, and longingly looked at their baby.

    Their baby bellowed.

  11. If ever there was an argument in favour of not having unrestricted car development, this is it. The thing looks as ugly as sin, I wouldn’t want 24 of these going around a track on a Sunday afternoon.

    1. Really? I think it looky in it’s own kinda way, an they wouldn’t all look like this.

  12. it could be used for qualy. During the races, reduce the turbo boost, so it gives arround 850 bhp. What i consider a fair amount for close racing. We would have the best of both worlds.
    Race tracks will be full of fans on saturdays, you can be sure about that.

  13. that would make the perfomance differentiator be the driver… or the driver that can hold more G forces!

  14. I’d like to see Vettel grin like that (1:36 in the video) taking turns at 8g in real life. The car is nearly impossible to drive with a controller. I bronzed the three challenges when they became available at level 30 but it took me nearly two straight days of gameplay. The problem isn’t so much one of physical control, but mental focus and situational awareness. By the time you’ve registered what corner you’re on, you’re already into the sand. During one of my attempts to lap Suzuka in a little over a minute, I turned to my girlfriend (also an F1 fan) and commented on the run up to 130R, “This car would kill people.”

  15. So Red Bull managed to sponsor the Batmobile… wow…

  16. Slightly unrelated but important non the less, has anyone else been having issues with the youtube videos not loading on the pages or is it just me?

    1. YouTube was down earlier.

    2. I don’t have trouble with youtube, but I do have problems with what appears to be adviva, planningclick, and the other advertising engine being used. I seem to have to reload thef1 fanatic pages three times to get them to load. Otherwise, waiting 5 minutes for the page to load is ridiculous when ordinary pages take 10 seconds or less.

  17. I love this car! I want to marry it, and have it’s children…

    … and pay for their education, clothe the, and pick them up after school, oh the dreams! :)

  18. I wonder what he would have built or will built if any car manufacture ever bought him to make their car? If he would have end in Ferarri or somewhere I would have love to see that.
    A question, he was with the Mclaren-Mercedes F1 team when the car Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren came out on sale,have he contributed anything on that?

  19. i’ve splashed out a bit of money on a new wheel, cause i heard that using the controller for the X1 is basically impossible.

    still got 3 levels to go..

    1. Good Luck! Unfortunately for me 10 levels left :(

  20. I am sure theres a sheik somewhere in the middle-east who would fancy this. Like someone suggested a one make series. it could be named AF 1 GP. ‘F’ for F****** Fast.

  21. Of course the real irony is that it would be perfectly possible for someone other than an F1 designer to build something like this and then start their own series with something similar. Why don’t they do that? Because it would be too fast, too dangerous. A lot of work for nothing.

    Must be great fun to play, if somewhat unrealistic, on a game station.

    1. Too fast, too dangerous… dude, human endeavour is all about doing the impossible. You sound like the caveman that sits in his cave and say.. ‘naaah, I’ll never bring down a dinosaur, I’ll just sit here and eat my leaves. I’m comfortable’

      The thought bores me to the point of tears.

      The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius.”, or “swifter, higher, stronger”. It symbolises the point of pushing ourselves and our abilities to the furthest point. The Newey prototype is right up in there in that Venn Diagram.

      I WANT to see racing like this. I want to see people pushing the limits instead of this Health and Safety world, ‘ooh no it’s too dangerous so lets not bother’. The fact is, where problems exist, they can be overcome.

      I would love to see cars like these built for a budget, and then raced in an exhibition league.

  22. WHAT! too fast ??? I dont think so buddy , we are talkin 500hp more than the turbo era cars, a whole lot of safety improvements, better tyres , better brakes , better chassis, and run-off areas as big as foot ball pitches. Of course the Gs are goin to be intolerable, but then u’d know ur limit. its just like how u kno u can push harder with the tyres but u refrain coz it wears. same way u know ur body will wear so u shuld take it easy at times and push wen u feel like. wussying is goin to lead us (fans) to utter boredom. v10s to v8s to inline 4s.. wats next?? pedals?

    1. It doesn’t matter how ‘safe’ you make them, you cannot change the laws of physics.

      And the best driver in the world is the one who can withstand the most G’s? Really? Because that could well be Yuji Ide or Sakon Yamamoto!

      As for run-off areas……

  23. I have the privilege of owning a Redbull X2010 S.Vettel in GT5. As far as I’m aware the car is the fastest motor in the game (quite rightly so). Firstly if you are playing GT5 with the standard control pad, ditch it! Get yourself a Logitech DrivingForce steering wheel, it makes driving the X2010 so much easier although saying that it’s still not an easy car to control with a wheel, you need to hold on tight!

    The acceleration is extraordinarily BRUTAL, the braking is incredible and if you’re brave in the corners it will eat them up. The design is glorious and the noise…it’s almost as good as sex! I have clocked the car at 290mph with no lose of power (unlike the Pagani Zonda).

    It is the most exciting car I have ever driven in GT5 and will be for a very long time I’m sure. Team Redbull…YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS CAR A REALITY!

  24. Meanwhile, back in the real world……

  25. I REALLY don’t understand the hype surrounding this car, anyone with a vague idea of F1 tech could’ve said cover the wheels to clean up drag, introduce ground effects etc. Also, if we’re getting excited about acceleration speeds, why even have a standard engine… how about a jet booster?

    Anyway enough of the hyperbole, it’s nice publicity for Red Bull, but I wonder if the X1’s front wing flexes :P

  26. Of course it does. There are no regulations to say that it can’t.

  27. what a thing of beauty.

  28. If there is a one-make series, the drivers will have to wear the special jackets/trousers that fighter pilots wear. Wearing those, you can get up to 12 G without blacking out!!!

    1. And the best driver will be the one that can withstand the most ‘G’.

      Can we stop with this obsession about F1 having to be the ‘fastest’ form of motor
      sport. The FIA itself sanctions other forms that are both faster and more powerful. F1 isn’t, never has been, and probably never will be the ‘fastest’.

      1. So what is F1 about?

  29. Lets be honest 0 – 193 kph in 2 seconds odd. You’d be flat as a pancake in that seat surely??

    1. And what would be the point?

      1. what would be the point of making a car that can go faster than is safe to do so? I dunno, ask the Bloodhound SSC crew, and this thing’ll look like a cheap second thought.

    2. well, no.. it’s not a jet fighter.

  30. the x1 have 1578 bhp in the game my best lap on the 24h nurnburg ring is 4.42.2 its realy nice bmw gtr race car 7.48.4

  31. SeattleChris
    2nd March 2011, 9:59

    Can anyone explain to me how the car in the above picture would have more downforce than the current F1 cars? To me it looks as though it may have less drag, but unless there is a magic floor this car would not corner so very well… comparatively to an F1 car (my car, oh sure).

    1. It has a fan which sucks air from the underside of the car, lowering the pressure and therefore creating more downforce. Also has a rear spoiler twice the width of current F1 cars.

  32. I say. The Logitech driving force has totally changed the way I play the game. Way faster laps due to smoother lines and control. And I got one for 129$ CAD. WORTH EVERY PENNY!!! And as for why it has more downforce then the current F1 cars is due to a turbine assist to suck the car to the road. It has more then twice the down force in its settings. 150 front and 200 rear where the F1 in the game is I think 70 front and 90 rear.

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