At
the Formula E launch in London, Mahindra Racing Formula E driver Karun Chandhok
had the honour of doing doughnuts on the Westminster Bridge in front of the
iconic Big Ben.
A
host of celebrities, VIPs, MPs, teams, drivers and press gathered at London’s
Roundhouse on the evening of June 30, 2014 to celebrate the official Global
Launch for the new all-electric FIA Formula E Championship.
Hosted
by David Garrido, more than 500 guests attended the prestigious event. They
included motorsport greats Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi and Sir
Frank Williams. The organisers revealed a number of key announcements for the
world’s first fully-electric race series. The races begin in less than three
months’ time in Beijing.
The
evening began with a video message from FIA President Jean Todt before guests
were treated to exclusive footage of the team’s Spark-Renault SRT_01E Formula E
cars driving on Westminster Bridge. The backdrop was the iconic Houses of
Parliament and Big Ben.
Formula
E also announced that it is finalising a partnership with German automobile
manufacturer BMW to become the official vehicle supplier for the series. As per
the agreement BMW will supply a fleet of its highly advanced fully-electric and
hybrid vehicles to be used as course, medical and VIP cars at all race events. The
all-electric BMW i3 and the hybrid BMW i8 - which will be used at the events,
were also unveiled to the guests.
The
evening concluded with the news that Formula E is to partner with the
Greenpower Education Trust, designed to promote sustainable engineering to
young people. The project sees students from 10 local schools designing and
building their own electric race car. The car will then race on the full
Formula E race track at five of the 10 events, beginning in Buenos Aires on
January 10 2015.
Formula
E is the FIA’s new fully-electric single-seater championship designed to appeal
to a new generation of motorsport fans. It is bound to accelerate the interest
in electric vehicles and promote sustainability among people across the globe. The
cars will compete entirely on city-centre circuits – with races in China,
Malaysia, Uruguay, Argentina, US, Monaco, Germany and the UK . The cars will be
capable of speeds in excess of 225kph. Indian automobile company Mahindra too
would be racing in these events with its own team and would have Karun Chandhok
as its driver.
Picture courtesy: Adrenna Communications
.