Bathurst Electric Car Race
Bathurst 1000 - Electric Support Race
I watched the Bathurst 1000 today, normally try to watch it every year, doesn't always happen. It was very wet and slippery with the rain they had during the race. Part way through the race however, I was thinking how long it would before they had an electric race support event, and then I got to thinking how long it would be before ALL the cars racing would be electric. Probably sooner than some people think.
In order to get the public's interest I was thinking that initially an electric vehicle support event of 250km could be held. I was also thinking about the implications of having it limited to one manufacturer, possibly Tesla. Elon, are you listening?, could be an excellent showcase for your vehicles.
My thinking is that it would be a no recharge/no battery swap race, changing of tyres, brakes allowed. Given that the range of the Telsa is approx 550 km on a single charge, 250km should make for an interesting race. Once other manufacturer's had something suitable to race with then it would be opened up to other makes.
That would be awesome to see but maybe they'd have to play the sound of a big V8 to keep the fans engaged. I think the pace of change with electric cars is gathering momentum with models coming from almost every maker.
I think it would be just as cool, even without the V8 rumble.
I do find the Formula E interesting when I got to watch some of the races. I'd be quite happy to see them trying support races at various other races for better exposure to the current position of electric racing formats. I'm not aware of current closed wheel formats though, but I imagine that they exist somewhere already (possibly as a lower category somewhere in Europe...)
Like you I have seen some of the Formula E, i havent found any closed wheel formats either, so I am not convinced that it already exists. If anyone knows of any please post a link.