Just look at this thing in the picture above – with 550 horsepower, you can get from 0-100km/h in less than 5 seconds… offroad! This, of course, is no normal SUV. It wasn’t made for the school run, it was made for racing in the latest, ground-breaking motorsport – Extreme E
Launched this year, we will get to see a whole grid of these awesome Odyssey buggies battling it out in exotic locations all over the world. Some of the most talented racing drivers in the world are queuing up to join in. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are running teams, with Seb Loeb driving and Jenson Button doing both. It is bringing racing champions from many different motorsport disciplines together.
What makes this a bit different is that they will be racing through some of the most damaged ecosystems on the planet; Desserts, glaciers, even rain forests to raise awareness of climate change. It seems a bit mad to make race tracks in struggling areas when it could potentially harm them and the planet even more. Extreme E has thought about that… They don’t fly their cars and kit from race to race around the world, they travel on a cargo ship, aiming to be carbon negative. And while they travel, they are doing eco-education programs wherever they can. Even Greta can watch and enjoy this organic motorsport without any guilt.
The rules state that each of the Extreme E teams must field both a male and female driver – a world first in motorsport – all of whom will race an all-electric off-roader – the ODYSSEY 21.
THE CAR
Obviously it’s electric so there’s no fumey emissions, but there’s more to these cars – the bodywork is made of natural flax fibre and the Continental tyres are apparently made from bits of dandelion! Underneath all of that greenery, it’s still a serious piece of kit.
The battery is made by Williams Advanced Engineering, supplying power to a motor on each axle giving it 4 wheel drive and 2x the torque of a WRC car.
It has double wishbone suspension which will handle any terrain.
Powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology, the 1780-kilogram 2.3-metre-wide ODYSSEY 21 is capable of accelerating from 0-62 mph in 4.5 seconds at gradients of up to 130 per cent.
The only limit to this car is probably the distance it can travel. If it is driven hard, which it always is, it lasts for about 20 minutes. After a 2 hour charge they are off again.
PROMOTING GREATER ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Extreme E is the first sport built out of concern for the climate crisis. The series’ goal is to use electric racing to highlight remote environments under threat of climate change issues, and to encourage us all to take positive action to protect our planet’s future.
With 30 percent of the planet’s CO2 emissions coming from transport, Extreme E exists to showcase the performance of electric vehicles, using the powerful mix of thrilling sports action, scientific education and storytelling to accelerate their adoption in order to reduce CO2 emissions and achieve a more sustainable lifestyle.
As well as its overall mission, Extreme E is committed to having a net-zero carbon footprint by the end of its first season, which means offsetting what it cannot avoid via ALLCOT certificated global programmes.
Locations
Saudi Arabia
Alula
Extreme E will head to Saudi Arabia, home of the world’s largest continuous sand desert, and its AlUla region in Season 1. The terrain is stunning and unforgiving, while the heat and conditions will be intense. There is no question that the winning combination of driver and machine will be a deserving one…
Senegal
Lac Rose
Lac Rose in Senegal on the west coast of Africa is Extreme E’s Ocean race location. The race site at Lac Rose – also known as lake Retba – is approximately 30 kilometers from the senegalese capital, Dakar. Sand bars, salt beds, gravel, rocks and undulations will provide the drivers with real challenges, as they navigate the narrow off-road sand tracks between and around the striking Lac Rose, and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
Greenland
Kangerlussuaq
Extreme E heads to the Arctic and the retreating Russell Glacier near Kangerlussuaq in Greenland during its inaugural campaign, raising awareness of the rate at which ice is melting at the poles by racing on land once occupied by the once-mighty glacier, right by its receding snout.
Brazil
Pará
A damaged region in the Brazilian state of Pará will host the Amazon rainforest X Prix when Season 1 gets underway in 2021. This area on the banks of the mighty Amazon river represents ground zero for the Amazon’s two biggest issues; deforestation and wildfires.
Argentina
Tierra Del Fuego
The final race of Season One will take Extreme E to South America, to the Tierra Del Fuego.
Tierra del Fuego is in the most southern part of Patagonia. The area is known as one of the world’s final frontiers and this breathtaking spot in Patagonia is home to the town of Ushuaia, often referred to as ‘the end of the world’ due to its location at the very tip of South America, with Antarctica to the South.
CAN WE WATCH IT IN SOUTH AFRICA?
The ground-breaking electric SUV racing series, Extreme E, has confirmed today that South Africa’s SABC will televise all five of this year’s X Prix live on its linear channels, SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 and SABC Sport Channel – which began with highly anticipated debut X Prix which took place in the deserts of Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks ago.
Source: extreme-e.com
