FULLY C HARGED
After a lot of hype and big name signings Extreme E is about to arrive at an inhospitable location for some environmentally sussed racing. Simon Arron plugs in to the new series
EXTREME E
1. StHelenais Extreme E’s lifeline; sadly the dazzle camouflage has been replaced
2. Odyssey 21 is made by Spark Racing Technology in France
3. Extreme E co-founder Gil de Ferran is the former McLaren F1 team sporting director
4. By entering the X44 team, Lewis Hamilton is again locking horns with big issues
5. The vehicle will be used by all teams
6. Loading up StHelena;
first stop Saudi Arabia
7. Ganassi is an all-American affair
8. Life in the vast lane
9. Loeb, you may want to look away now... cars share a common chassis design; mono shock damping and double wishbones give a massive 385mm suspension travel
Hamilton. Sainz. Andretti. Loeb. Rosberg. Ganassi. Button. Even before a wheel had turned in anger, Extreme E was already infused with a sumptuous motor sport pedigree. And while the notion of an electric SUV racing in remote locations might be anathema to anyone who thinks a racing car can look only like a Maserati 250F or a Brabham BT44, please bear with us.
Long before it had a name, this concept first fermented in the mind of Gil de Ferran, Indianapolis 500 winner, twice a champion in the now-defunct US-based CART/PPG series and a diehard petrolhead.
“I was just sitting at home,” he says, “wondering what motor sport could do for society, how it could combine an important message with a bit of entertainment and the whole thing started to crystallise in my mind, probably a few years ago now. I like to think of myself as creative, but as you go through the journey of life you come up with all sorts of ideas that are never going to work. I have a bucketful of those, so it’s nice that people grasped what Extreme E was all about and embraced it.”