Extreme E is a radical new racing series, which will see electric SUVs competing in extreme environments around the world which have already been damaged or affected by climate and environmental issues. The five-race global voyage highlights the impact of climate change and human interference in some of the world’s most remote locations and promotes the adoption of electric vehicles in the quest for a lower carbon future for the planet.

Desert X Prix:

AlUla, Saudi Arabia
3-4 April 2021

Ocean X Prix:

Lac Rose, Senegal
29-30 May 2021

Arctic X Prix:

Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
28-29 August 2021

Amazon X Prix:

Para, Brazil
23-24 October 2021

Glacier X Prix:

Patagonia, Argentina
11-12 December 2021

To minimise local impact, Extreme E races will not be open to spectators, with fans instead invited to follow the action through live TV broadcast, and on social media.

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Formula E has been at the forefront of motorsport for any EV head, but not by choice! Yes, Formula E may be just as thrilling as Formula 1, yes the action is intense, but for those into different genres of racing, Formula E can leave much to be desired. Formula E is just the leading example for these new racing series! Here are the best motorsports to keep the electricity running through your veins…

Extreme E

If the Dakar Rally is to your taste, Extreme E will have your blood pumping. The series is focused around sustainability, with each race taking place in some of the most remote corners of the planet to put a highlight to the climate change challenges faced by different ecosystems. So, where are these ecosystems? There are 5 planned races so far, at the Arctic, Glacier, Rainforest, Desert and Ocean. Enough about the ecosystems, we are here for the cars. Each team uses the same E-SUV, the ODYSSEY 21 which produces a respectful 550hp and 0-60mph time of under 4.5 seconds, on any terrain! Each vehicle comprises a common package of standardised parts, manufactured by Spark Racing Technology with a battery produced by Williams Advanced Engineering, however, each racer can modify the powertrain and body panels to replicate one of their production vehicles. This is also to encourage the development of future road-going EVs, which we definitely can’t moan about! RMS St. Helena (a boat!) is used as the paddocks for the vehicles, which introduces even more of a dynamic to the event. The first race takes place in 2021, and we can’t wait!

ETCR

Touring cars… The motorsport of the people! And now it’s turning electric! The ETCR series is promised to be just as contact filled, fast-paced and sporadic as the standard TCR series! Two companies have put their vehicles forward for ETCR testing, Hyundai and Cupra. These cars look amazing and the statistics do too! The vehicles are rear-wheel drive, with 0 to 60mph in 3.2 seconds and from 0 to 120mph in 8.2 seconds and 670hp! That equals lots of sideways action! The ETCR series will make its debut in 2020, which is sooner than Extreme E thankfully, so we have something to look forward to in the near future.

Opel e-Rally Cup

Opel has replaced their ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup with their all-new electric rallying series. There will be 15 racers and the first race will begin in the Summer of 2020, perfect for some dust slinging drift action! The main goal of the e-Rally Cup (other than lots of action) is to get the younger generation into racing. Opel Motorsport claims the car produces 134hp of power and 250Nm of torque. A 50kWh lithium-ion battery will power the cars, which will be fast-charged at service areas, allowing the drivers a brief break between the action.

There is hope for us motorsport fans who love EVs. There’s plenty out there to see, and there’s more coming, which only reinforces how electric cars aren’t just efficient, they’re fun and they are made to be on a track or off-road!

Here are a few more honourable mentions! Not that these racing classes don’t sound as good as the ones mentioned above! These include the new ‘Projekt E’ Rallycross Championship, Electric GT Championship, the Le Mans electric class and TT Zero!

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At this point in time, Volkswagen seem to be invincible when it comes to records. Wherever they aim their pure electric ID.R race car, it steals yet another killer lap time! This time, VW shipped their ID.R down to the South of England, to the infamous Goodwood Festival of Speed straight off the back of their Nürburgring record which had the whole world in awe. Why the Goodwood Festival of Speed you may ask? Well, only last year the Germans took the original variant of the VW ID.R up the hillclimb and claimed the record for the fastest EV. But, that isn’t good enough, VW want to show that EVs are the way forward in both efficiency and performance.

So, which car held the past record? Quite possibly one of the most impressive engineering marvels of modern motorsport history, a Mclaren MP4/13 Formula 1 car driven by the man himself, Nick Heidfeld in 1999. This record was held for 20 years, which is pretty groundbreaking considering how far technology in motorsport has come, and just how many talented drivers have blitzed the hill in a brave attempt to claim the record.

However, as we all know, nothing is too much for Romain Dumas, as long as he’s at the helm of a race car. And, the VW ID.R definitely was THE car to use. A flurry of adjustments had been made to the all electric race car to put it in it’s best stead to take the record. The “sprint” version of the VW ID.R had many systematic modifications including a smaller battery which gives the new sprint version of the ID.R a weight saving of more than 1,000 kilograms, with the driver on board, claims François-Xavier Demaison, Technical Director at Volkswagen Motorsport. Moreover, the Drag Reduction System which was engaged for the Nürburgring record was disabled, as downforce is very much needed for the tight corners around the Goodwood hillclimb.

Somethings don’t change, however, Bridgestone still hold the tyre provider record for the hillclimb, as they provided the VW Motorsport team with a special slick compound alternative of the Potenza tyre, the Mclaren MP4/13 of the ’99 record used Bridgestone rubber too, showing the brand’s potential!

The VW ID.R claimed the record on the Saturday 6th July, with a truly astounding time of 39.90 seconds, a whole 1.7 seconds faster than the 20 year old record. However, the record attempt on Sunday (during the “Sunday Shootout”) wasn’t so successful as it had rained, in typical British fashion throughout the morning, so the car’s physical grip was impacted severely, hence why the time achieved was 42.32 seconds. This has raised the question of whether or not the record was officially the fastest, of which the Goodwood Press team answered with “The ID.R broke the record – unofficially. The 39.90s run was not in the Sunday Shootout and so, just as a Qualifying lap is usually faster than the Fastest Lap in a race, it doesn’t count”. So, the record isn’t “official” so to say, but in everyone’s head, we all know that the VW ID.R is the true king of the hill!

In many ways, the Volkswagen Motorsport team, Romain Dumas and their creation, the ID.R, is a visionary project! Proving to the masses that electric cars are more than a tool to save fuel money and the environment, but instead that the technology has many advantages over combustion engines! The achievements that this car has claimed has secured a new form of admirer over typical electric cars, with even the most anorak motorsport enthusiasts having to pick their jaws up off the floor!

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Volkswagen turned up at the Nürburgring early in the morning of Monday the 3rd June to prepare their simply-put, extreme, VW I.D. R for the wild day it would face. Many people looked on as the car prepared for its practise laps. With lots of the spectators observing the new aerodynamic adjustments made to the car from its previous record snatch at Pikes Peak. The I.D. R featured new enlarged canards and spoilers as well as a plethora of other ground- hugging lashings of carbon fibre. The car is further “adapted to the highest possible speed, rather than maximum downforce,” explains François-Xavier Demaison, Technical Director. “With extensive test laps in the simulator and on the race track, we adapted the ID.R to the unique conditions of the Nordschleife, focussing mainly on chassis tuning, energy management and optimal choice of tyres for the record attempt.”

To no one’s surprise, the VW I.D. R and Romain Dumas returned from their escapades on track with yet another record, even on their first “installation laps”, the record was destroyed, snatching the electric car lap time record from the NIO EP9. The team, after celebrating, focused on making the record future proof. The day ended with a mighty fastest lap time of 6 minutes and 5.336 seconds, which quite literally embarrased the previous record holder, with a whopping 40.564 seconds worth of improvement!

Dumain, claims he could’ve thrashed the VW I.D. R even faster, saying how he lost time on the final “record lap” as he started braking too late into the Karussell. There aren’t many people out there who can demolish a record, stretch the limits of a car and the mental capacity to race at such speeds, and the claim “I can go faster…”. Roman Dumain is quite literally, a mad man! And a fast one too!

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A highlight of the Formula 1 calendar every year is the Monaco Grand Prix, the atmosphere of being track and harbourside in the principality is purely amazing. The world’s most expensive and flamboyant yachts pull up to get a peek of the action. Fans from all over the world flock to watch the most preeminent drivers battle it out for the podium. Formula E is no different, Monaco is still the peak of the calendar, with all the glamour of their fossil fuel consuming alternatives!

Monaco is known for wheel to wheel combat, making the race as exciting that motorsport can get. The action is intense, even with the lack of a high revving noisy V6s. To a certain extent, the lack of engine noise only amplifies the other elements of racing… the rumble strips seem to have an extra “boom” to them when the drivers hit them square on, the wind seems to hit you harder when you’re standing trackside and the noise of tyres marbling definitely is far more distinguishable, filling the void that I personally thought would be left with the lack of a traditional motor. I’d say that the noises produced by the new Generation 2 Formula E cars are oh- so satisfying, highlighting when the driver is truly on the limits of the car and the circuit!

One driver who has experienced both ends of the spectrum of racing is Felipe Massa, one of the most experienced drivers on the grid, however, in petrol cars. Massa has raced 269 Grand Prix starts and 11 Formula One wins to his name. New to the ABB FIA Formula E Championship though, this weekend’s racing at Monaco was his first podium.

Massa told Autosport that “the podium was a little later than I expected [it] to be”. Is this evidence that Formula E provides a different aspect of motorsport, with the need to stretch your energy consumption right up until the finish line. Massa rounded the chicane by the swimming pool with just 2% of usable energy remaining, leaving him in the difficult position of having to fend off against Pascal Wehrlein who was fierce on his tail. “I know what I can do and I am not here by luck, I am here for what I did in my career and I’m sure there is more I can do.” says Massa. We can’t wait to see how much further he can push the racing and bring yet a new mix into the Formula E lineup!

In the end, Jean-Eric Vergne claimed the victory in the principality, becoming the first repeat race winner of the 2018/19 ABB FIA Formula E season. In the end, only a 0.201-second gap was left between Vergne of DS Techeetah and Nissan eDam’s Oliver Rowland. Placing Vergne with on the number one spot of the standings with 87 points, only 1 point above his team-mate André Lotterer of the DS Techeetah team.

Overall, Race 9 of the 2018/19 Formula E championship in Monaco was outstanding, displaying the best that Formula E has to offer and truly pushing limits of the drivers, in one of the most beautiful locations that the world has to offer!

Images by Joseph Harding

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The Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak has wrapped up its next record. Romain Dumas (F) set a new record for electric cars of 43.86 seconds in Volkswagen’s first fully-electric racing car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Following his record-breaking exploits at the legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb just three weeks ago, Dumas beat the previous fastest time for electric cars on the Goodwood Hillclimb, which has stood since 2013, by 3.48 seconds. The all-time record still belongs to Nick Heidfeld (D). The former Formula 1 driver completed the 1.86-kilometre route in 41.6 seconds at the wheel of a McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13 Formula 1 car in 1999.

“The I.D. R Pikes Peak has once again proven emphatically that it is a fantastic ambassador for our fully-electric I.D. family,” said Dr. Herbert Diess, the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG and Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. “I would like to thank the whole team. After the great success on Pikes Peak, at Goodwood we have shown once again how impressive the performance of an electric racing car can be. That is a very good preparation for our great electric car offensive which is starting next year.”

Volkswagen driver Romain Dumas was delighted: “Goodwood is an absolutely fantastic event and I am more than happy that we won in front of such a great crowd of motorsport enthusiasts,” said the 40-year-old after his latest record-breaking drive. “The hill climb track is short but often dirty and therefore you should definitely not underestimate it. In any case it is a great honour to drive here at Goodwood. You meet so many fantastic drivers, and the cars and motorcycles here span a century of motorsport. It is one of a kind.” Volkswagen Motorsport Director Sven Smeets was also a happy man: “Although the route is not even two kilometres long, we once again showed what the I.D. R Pikes Peak is capable of. Volkswagen is committed to electromobility and we want to take every opportunity to show how emotional this topic can be, before Volkswagen launches its first fully-electric range as of 2020.”

More than 200,000 people visited the Goodwood Festival of Speed from 12 to 15 July, as the event in the south of England celebrated its 25th anniversary. The homage to motorsport on the Duke of Richmond’s estate is the largest event of its type in the world. This year’s starter list once was once again a who’s who of motorsport. Dumas in the 500-kW (680-PS) I.D. R Pikes Peak was joined at Goodwood by Hans-Joachim “Strietzel” Stuck (D) and Jochi Kleint (D) in the 480-kW (652-PS) 1987 Volkswagen Golf MkII Bi-Motor Pikes Peak. Other big names in action included Giacomo Agostini (I), Derek Bell (GB), Emerson Fittipaldi (BR), Mika Häkkinen (FIN), Tom Kristensen (DK), Nick Mason (GB), Sébastien Ogier (F), Richard Petty (USA), Walter Röhrl (D) and Sir Jackie Stewart (GB).

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