As we wrote a while back, BMW’s i fleet has been picked to make sure everything’s safe in the Formula E. The i8 will be acting as a Safety Car while several i3s will be used as Medical and First Response units. That doesn’t mean that everything has to be done on the safe side.
Ahead of the first race of the season, Qualcomm wanted to do something fun with and for its engineers/inventors. Therefore, they asked BMW to send over an i8 with a skilled driver, to have a little fun. The Germans sent none other than Formula E driver, Nelson Piquet Jr. over.
Qualcomm had two of their inventors sent over and they put them to the test while Nelson was drifting the car. That’s right, straight out drifting, at high speeds and the amount of smoke coming out of the rear tires is simply incredible.
Actually, considering the fact that the i8 is all-wheel-drive when all engines are working, it’s hard to believe that so much smoke could actually come out from under the rear wheel arches. Something must’ve been done to the transmission, we reckon but since there’s no official info on how the stunts were done, we can’t be sure.
Either way, the poor engineers did remarkably well and kept their cool during the whole ordeal, even though Nelson was flooring it all the way through. Check it out!
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