Yahoo Autos Check Out How Extreme E Is Going to Change Racing, Maybe
Extreme E is going to save the world. Or at least the world of motorsports. Maybe, if the eco-friendly cargo ship arrives in time with all the electric SUVs.
The new all-electric off-road racing series hopes to be carbon-negative, that is, actually reduce its carbon footprint to the point it is cleaning the air instead of polluting it. All the race cars in the series are powered by batteries charged by fuel cells getting their electricity from sun and wind-power, we are promised. The whole racing series – all the race trucks, all the TV gear, all the timing and scoring equipment -- will be carried around the world on an eco-friendly cargo ship running on a low-sulfur fuel so clean it’s known among ship’s engineers as “champagne.” There will be no spectators at any of the races, the better to reduce everyone’s carbon footprints. But the TV feed will be available virtually anywhere on the planet.
The racing itself consists of five events held at different ecologically sensitive venues across the globe, from Greenland to Tierra del Fuego, the goal being to highlight the environmental challenges each spot is facing. And, perhaps more importantly to race fans, that racing should be pretty good.
“The format is going to be amazing,” assured founder Alessandro Agag, the same guy who founded and runs the open-wheel electric racing series Formula E. “A mix between Star Wars Pod Racing and Dakar Rally spec.”
Presumably without the anti-gravity component. Extreme E is like a short version of the Baja 1000/Paris Dakar except in identical spec vehicles. They’ll race on ten-mile loops through the dirt, driven by gender-neutral drivers, that is to say, one male and one female. One gender will take the first loop, the other the second. Winner advances.
Extreme E explains it this way: “Each race, which will be known as an X Prix, will incorporate two laps over a distance of approximately 16 kilometres (10 miles). Four teams, with two drivers – one male, one female – completing a lap apiece in-car, will race head-to-head in each race over the two-day event.”
The first day will be qualifying to determine the top four runners who progress through into Semi-Final 1 and the bottom four competitors who go on to take part in Semi-Final 2: the so-called “Crazy Race.”
Ah yes, the Crazy Race! Organizers promise the Crazy Race will be exciting.
“The Crazy Race will be a tooth-and-nail, all-or-nothing fight, with only the quickest team progressing into the Final, while the top three will make it through from Semi-Final 1. The winner of the Final – the fastest combination of team, drivers, car and engineers over the epic two-day battle – will then be crowned the X Prix Winner.”
There’s more to it, there’s the Hyperdrive – whoever lands the longest jump on the course gets a power boost to be used anywhere the team chooses. Likewise, fans will vote on their favorite drivers and the winner of that gets an additional power boost, too.
The initial format is designed for eight teams, but can accommodate more. So far there are nine teams signed up. If you want to root for America (USA! USA! USA!) you can pick either Chip Ganassi Racing or Andretti United.
Ganassi invited Autoweek to a test session in the trackless deserts of northern Nevada where we would get a ride in their race car. Of course, we said yes. A quick nine-hour drive in a Subaru Ascent (excellent road trip vehicle, btw) and we were driving into the Ganassi complex at the Tonopah Dunes Offroad Vehicle Park, next to the (ironically bankrupt) Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project.
