Traditionally, cars have been powered by gasoline engines on the racing circuit. However, lately, other options have been tried and surprisingly, the results have been supportive. Audi Sport showed the world in 2006, when their diesel powered race car, R10 TDI won the the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The R10 TDI project costed Audi $15 million a year. Earlier this year, at the Le Mans, Audi Sport once again showed the world of racing that even hybrid cars can win you races. Taking these instances into consideration, it will not be long when we will see electric cars replacing the racing circuit.
FIA, the governing body of auto sport since 1904, has announced that they have reached upon an agreement with Formula E Holdings (FEH), the consortium pushing for an all electric car race. "I would like to thank all the parties involved", said FIA president Jean Todt. "This new competition at the heart of major cities is certain to attract a new audience. This spectacular series will offer both entertainment and a new opportunity to share the FIA values and objectives of clean energy, mobility and sustainability with a wider and younger audience as well."
The all electric racing championship will take place in 2014. The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) will be launching the first ever all electric race by the name Formula E. The campaign has organized demonstration runs in major cities all over the world and is slated to draw in 10 teams and 20 drivers with the inaugural race to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. FEH is backed by Enrique Banuelos, a Spanish billionaire. They have also developed a prototype, Formulec EF 01.
Drayson Racing Technologies owned by British businessman, Lord Drayson, is the scientific adviser to FEH and has been working tirelessly along with Lola for the past two years to develop an all electric race car B12/69 LMP racing module. Lord Drayson says, "This gives us the perfect way to showcase the performance of electric cars. People think they're slow. We will show that it's possible to do 200 mph or 0-60 in three seconds. Motorsport has always been a tremendous driver of R&D. Many of the things we take for granted on our road cars, even the humble rear view mirror, started out on a racing car." With the inclusion of electric racing cars, motor sport enthusiasts will now have to give way for silent races only punctuated by tire noises during turns.
Source: CarScoop
