eSkooter Championship: DiGrassi’s Look into the Future of Mobility and it’s Inaugural Race
The electric, tron-esque racing has finally arrived.
The eSkootr Championship, otherwise known as ESC, held it’s inaugural race this weekend at the renowned London club ‘Printworks’, turning the dance floor into something a whole lot different. With the idea helped developed by Formula E’s Lucas di Grassi, known for being a key figure in creating the world leading electric sport, Formula E, and Alex Wurz, another formula Formula One driver, it looks to accelerate the future of mobility while making a spectacle out of it.
With the scooters themselves being able to reach claimed speeds of 100 km/h and the batteries being supplied by Williams themselves, ESC is a high speed sport involving drivers from multiple althletic backgrounds from skiing to surfing to stunt riders. Already having 10 teams with three drivers in each, the sport looks to gather plenty of talent and interest with names from all around the motorsport co mmunity invested already. Examples include known junior series team Carlin owning their own team having such drivers as Nicci Daly, niece of ex-F1 driver Darek Daly, and even Niko Hulknberg owning his own team, 27X.
First look at the scooters racing wheel to wheel.
Having such a mix of a talent and important names mean the first race has had much interest in it’s future potential. Having already secured 6 races, spreading from the UK to the United States, there looks to be a real championship, which is set to be intriguing due to it's innovative principal.
Much of what makes the racing separate from it’s other two wheel precursors is it’s heat format. Formed by a series of races with the top 4 of each heat progressing to the quarter finals, then the top 3 to the semi-finals and then the top three going to the finals. With this means for a race-day event there’s plenty racing to keep you excited but watching from afar means there’s possibly too much with it most likely people might just tune into the final race. However in doing this, the length of the final heat is too short for the casual viewer to understand what’s going on. Being the first race of the season, it was over before I was able to figure out who was who. On top of this, falling off the scooter seemed to act as fatal, seeing the top 3 separated by 8 seconds, leaving 4th over 25 seconds behind them and 6th shockingly 40 seconds from the lead. Although I’m sure as the season continues the handling of the scooters will get better reducing the gaps and the amount of mistakes, seeing one get lapped in such a short race seemed concerning. In doing so, one must question that if the sport saw a dominating figure, how easy would it be for him to win every race within one season?
Hulkenberg’s comments on his team and the series itself.
Of course the other side of the argument is that everyone is due a mistake and therefore the severity of making mistakes means that it’s likely it will be much more mixed-up every time the sport races. Having so many drivers and so many different heats, come Switzerland, the final heat may contain completely different drivers and it’s within this sheer amount of possibilities that the sport will become victorious. With Matis Neyroud taking the first win, a profession scooter rider before the championship started, followed by Dan Brooks, a British National Superstocks racer, and Anish Shetty ex winner of the Cross Fit Open Championship, being able to get a hang of these scooters as soon as possible seems integral to championship chances. Being only the first race, it will be interesting to see what the sport looks like by the last race; I imagine it’s evolution over the next years will be rapid, looking at other electric sports, such as Formula E, only increasing interest and more races the bigger it becomes.
Lucas di Grassi winning the first ever Formula E race in Beijing
Looking at it as a race-day spectacle it looks thrilling; having the track partially in and outdoors with fans inside the old warehouse under bright lights and close to the track, along several other immersive experiences, it seems it may become one not to miss out on when looking as racing events within actual cities. Much like Formula E, having the in-city ability allows easy accessibility to tracks while reducing the amount of pollution but it’s already clear how people such as di Grassi, who had such big hand in developing Formula E, are helping develop the forefront of scooter technology. Securing such big names as Hulkenberg, Williams and even Carlin was integral to increasing attention while having core sustainability initiatives meant it’s morals are directly in the right place.
With the next race held in Sion on the 27-28th May, I’m excited to see what the sport can bring in the future. Being such an innovative racing series in which attracts athletes from all disciplines, everyone seems to believe it’s missions and it’s future as a fun to watch sport. Hopefully the gaps seen in the first final heat and the competition can become a lot closer in the future with the talent still to get to grips with, what seems to be, the fastest scooters in the world. What’s the most important takeaway of all however is that the first race in London so far has looked to be a rather successful opening event.
Chequered flag on a successful day of electric racing.
