The Flux Capacitor Delights Fans With Burnouts (w/Video)

The Flux Capacitor is an battery electric drag racer based on a 1975 Enfield Electric. Straight from the factory, the Enfield had a massively underwhelming 6 horsepower and a whole bunch of lead acid batteries. Today, thanks to the tender ministrations of Jonny Smith, the 68″ long Enfield now packs a lithium ion battery pack made up of 144 Kokam cells.

It has 600 kW of power and feeds 2,000 amps to two Current Racing electric motors. Combined output is 1,003 horsepower and more than 1,288 ft-lbs of torque. The Enfield weighs 200 lbs less than it did when it left the factory — 1945 lbs versus 2,150. In fact, the whole car, battery pack and all, weighs less than the battery for a Tesla Model S. Needless to say, the Flux Capacitor is fast. It’s best run at the drag strip is 10.84 seconds at 121.11 mph. It hit 102 mph in 6.9 seconds during that pass down the race track.

Jonny Smith is a man with a sense of humor. Otherwise he would not have taken the name for his unusual racer from the time travelling Delorean in the movie Back To The Future. Recently he brought his car to England’s Car Fest, where he delighted the spectators with a lifetime worth of smoky burnouts — something the Flux Capacitor can perform at will.

Smith made a video of his exploits at Car Fest and set it all to wacky pre-techno-pop music, including some sounds you may recognize from when you played video games on your Atari television game console. The festival organizers even gave Smith and the Flux Capacitor an award for the most impressive burnouts at this year’s event. That’s despite all the internal combustion powered competitors on hand.

Smith says on his blog that he is working on making his diminutive racer even faster, even though it is currently the fastest street legal electric drag racer in Europe. 

Tiny 40-Year-Old Electric Car Now As Fast As Tesla Roadster

1975 Enfield E8000 ECC "Flux Capacitor," by Flickr user Mark Skinner (Used under CC License)

The era of the modern electric car essentially began in December 2010 with the launch of the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt.

But there were many electric cars before that, from both established manufacturers and small upstart firms.

One of those small independent companies was the U.K.'s Enfield Automotive, although its electric cars are largely forgotten today.

Just 120 Enfield E8000 ECC models were built, and the tiny electric car (its wheelbase is just 68 inches) doesn't look like it could a candle to modern machinery.

Unless, that is, an owner gets creative.

Meet "Flux Capacitor," a heavily-modified 1975 Enfield that can run the quarter mile as fast as a 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport--as a loving writeup in Transport Evolveddescribes.

1975 Enfield E8000 ECC

At first glance, the two-seat E8000 ECC doesn't seem to have the makings of a drag racer.

The "ECC" stands for 'Electric City Car," and with just 6 horsepower in stock form, it's certainly not a car one would want to take on a highway.

As sold new, the car's top speed was 40 mph, while range was estimated at somewhere between 35 and 55 miles.

ALSO SEE: Rare 1980 Ford Fairmont EVA Electric Conversion For Sale (Jan 2014)

Yet in this Enfield, current owner Jonny Smith--one of the hosts of the British car show Fifth Gear--somehow aw the makings of a hot rod.

He put together a team of builders to design and install a 1,003-horsepower electric powertrain in the tiny car--which weighs just 1,945 pounds in race trim.

A pair of electric motors are fed by a custom lithium-ion battery pack, while a heavily-modified Ford rear axle and 14-inch rear tires help put that power to the ground.

1975 Enfield E8000 ECC

Flux Capacitor's best quarter-mile run so far is a 12.56-second pass at just over 101 mph.

However, that was made with the powertrain output limited to 1,400 amps--meaning the car was only using about 70 percent of its capability.

That leaves some room for improvement, and Smith already has a target in sight.

He wants to beat the Tesla Model S P85D, which means achieving quarter-mile times in the 11-second range.

A tiny 1970s city car beating a modern, high-tech luxury sedan?

Now that would be something to see.