Starting next week, the FIA Formula E won't be the sole electric racing championship on the planet. A new competition featuring only Tesla Model S race cars will debut, and its organizers have just released a trailer and a set of images of the vehicle involved.
Much like the first season of Formula E, the ten teams that'll take part in the Electric GT will use identical cars. There's no word yet whether they will be allowed to modify the Teslas during the next seasons, but since it's only the beginning, we're sure a lot of details will get cleared out along the way.
For now, though, the series will be using 20 (two for each team) Tesla Model S 85+. This particular model has long been discontinued, but the organizers felt it was the best match for their needs. Even though we have the P100D now, it offered plenty of power (310 kW and 443 lb-ft/600 Nm) and, most importantly, it came with an 85 kWh battery pack AND rear-wheel-drive.
The Model S has gone through moderate transformations to become the EDT Car that will race in the new series. Agustín Payá, engineer and motor sport driver, Technical Director for Electric GT Holdings, and owner and promoter of the championship explains: "We are making only small changes to the production Model S P85+ such as improved braking and aerodynamics to increase high speed grip. We will strengthen suspension, braking, cooling, and steering as well as reducing the overall weight. The rest, powertrain, battery, programming, everything is original.”
The Electric GT World Series will debut next week on September 27 in Ibiza, Spain. The season will consist of seven championship rounds held on famous racing circuits in Europe - including Germany's Nurburgring or the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain - with other non-championship events planned for the Americas.
You get the feeling that the future of this first all-electric GT championship depends on how the first season pans out. With lots of important manufacturers jumping on the electric car bandwagon, we will definitely have plenty of potent EVs to choose from in the future.
It's like we're watching the beginning of motorsport once again when the carmakers needed an arena to prove who built the best vehicles. Whether they will have the courage to head-to-head now like they did 100 years ago, that remains to be seen. In the meantime, we'll just have to settle for watching 20 Tesla Model S race cars tear up various European circuits. Well, it could have been much worse.
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