Land and water. After Formula And the boats also plug in: Alexander Agag, the inventor of the electric circus, picked up the idea of his Italian friend Rodi Basso, a former Ferrari engineer (followed by Rubens Barrichello), Red Bull and McLaren, a sailing enthusiast: a zero-emission championship to relaunch powerboating. It is called E1 Series, the first races are scheduled for the end of 2022, the “flying” boats will be built near Pisa, will reach 60 knots (111 km / h) and will have mixed crews, consisting of a man and a woman.
Basso, a Neapolitan transplanted to London, remembers walking on the Thames talking about the project: «During the first lockdown with Alejandro we brainstormed by the river. He had invested in an electric boat start-up with the idea of creating a shared service such as car sharing. And then I took the ball: “Let’s make a championship, let’s invent a new sport”. Answer: “I’m on board” ».
The boats mix elements of the sail – the foils: the wings that raise the hulls, as in the America’s Cup– the aggressive forms of offshore. The championship will be divided into ten races: five «classic», in city ports, and another five itinerant ones following the cargo St. Helena, the Extreme E floating paddock. The challenge between battery-powered 4x4s, another Agag creature. The “deductibles” are limited: twelve teams only to “not depreciate the value of the participation”. In talks to have a team are NBA players, Hollywood actors. The project obtained funding from the PIF fund, the Saudi sovereign fund
«The goal is not maximum speed, but rather to create a show with changes of direction, close duels». But it doesn’t mean giving up on performance, on the contrary: «The engine group in fact derives from racing cars and road supercars. The best, in short, even if adapting it is not easy. With electricity in the water you have to write all safety procedures from scratch. It will give a big acceleration to commercial boating in the transition to ecological engines ». Basso takes advantage of his experience in F1, very quick decision times: “With Barrichello we are still friends, I will never forget when, in 2003, thanks to a technical device, we snatched pole position from Schumacher ».
June 8, 2021 (change June 8, 2021 | 11:12)
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