Strewth Scotty, what would Crumpy reckon?

It’s not a ute, mate. Not even close to the bunch of Hiluxes that were hammered in the old Crump ads for Toyota. Neither is it as weird as the Tesla Cyber thing, which looks like a monkey got loose with a sheetmetal folding machine one evening. 

But because electric vehicles have been in the news this past month or so and without passing comment on the ill-conceived and virtue-signalling Kiwi ‘ute tax’ (well not much anyway), let’s acknowledge the work being done to bring EV technology to offroad racing.

Far from the shores of Fortress New Zealand the Extreme E series is raced in unique offroad race cars that are full battery EVs. 

The unique motorsport event was the brainchild of Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who has been involved in Formula One and came up with Formula E, the open-wheel electric-powered circuit racing series. Formula E, of course has our own Mitch Evans racing in the Jaguar team and looking like a title prospect.

Extreme E is billed as “the race for the planet”. Its aim is to use spectacular sprint-length motorsports as an ambassador for electric power-train technology.

It’s raced in zero-emission ‘Odyssey 21’ vehicles and every team must run male and female drivers. And it’s attracted some of the sport’s great names – two-time world rally champion Carlos Sainz, rally’s most crowned driver, Sébastian Loeb, and Formula One champion Jenson Button.

So what’s the relevance to New Zealand? A Kiwi connection shaped up for the first round: our own Emma Gilmour. First signed as lead driver for a team that eventually fell over, she was later named as female reserve for the Veloce team – drivers Stéphane Sarrazin (France) and Jamie Chadwick (UK). Sarrazin is a Dakar Rally regular, while Chadwick won the inaugural Formula W women’s circuit race series.

 

 

Lots of us love a V8 race car or truck. But it’s hard to ignore how things are progressing. And there’s so much to like about these new offroad race cars and their ‘electrifying’ performance. Personally, I’m kinda hoping to see Emma Gilmour get herself a proper drive in the next Extreme E series.

 

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BMW nears the end of a 20 year journey to alternative auto power

Image
German automaker BMW has confirmed it is close to launching a hydrogen fuel-cell version of its X5 SUV. Like most new technology developments, the iX5 Hydrogen is an ‘umbrella’ vehicle, aiming to spread the word about hydrogen as a fuel using the brand’s high end 4WD and starting with demonstrations and real-road testing. The project is another instance in a developing relationship between BMW and Toyota that started with the Japanese brand adopting the BMW Z4 as the basis for its new Supra, Toyota is building the fuel cell units for BMW to fit into the iX5. The announcement is also seen by some as redefining the current push toward plain EV vehicles. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles create their own electrical power using water in a complex but effective chemical process on board the host vehicle. Emissions are limited to water vapour. Exciting news for the motoring public, though not exactly the news politicians trying to push the public onto trains and buses were needing to read right no...
Read more

Graham McRae 5 March 1940 - 4 August 2021

Image
I met Graham McRae just the once, when Michael Clark brought him down to Palmerston North to the New Zealand Grand Prix. On that occasion, there was McRae, Damon Hill and Josh Hill, Chris Amon and - if memory serves - also Howden Ganley all perched in the house bar of our hotel supping ales and swapping yarns.  I was happy enough to shut up and listen to some epic tales. This remains the biggest gathering of F1 drivers I have ever sat amongst. Travel well, Graham. It was an honour and a privilege to meet you. The image here is by good bugger and ace lensman Terry Marshall. Graham McRae 5 March 1940 - 4 August 2021 New Zealand racing driver and constructor Graham McRae has passed away. He had been unwell for some time and was aged 81. McRae was one of New Zealand’s most successful drivers and race car builders, a three-time champion of the Tasman Series, champion in the 1972 SCCA Continental 5000 series and multiple Australian Grand Prix winner (1972, 1973, 1976, 1978). Fe...
Read more

BMW Race Driver Series adds new ‘spec’ class for E46 3 series

Image
     An E46 race build under way. RCIS photo   The biggest race series in New Zealand has announced a new single-specification class for the coming season, using the E46 coupe and four door versions of BMW’s ever popular 3 Series. Organisers say the aim is to give competitors a chance to compete in motorsport at reasonable cost by limiting permissible modifications In fact the class prohibits any modification not specifically tagged in the rules. The E46 class features ‘showroom’ 320i four or two door cars with the M54B22 24-valve, twin cam six cylinder engine. Gearboxes allowed are the Getrag and ZF manual five speed transmissions used in the road cars. There are upwards of 12 cars in-build for the current season. The BMW series started in 2006 with a single-class competition for BMW’s E30 3 Series. Inspired by a similar competition in the UK, it rapidly grew to be the most successful such series in the country. It soon expanded to include a class for 2.0-litr...
Read more