The new all-electric racing competition Electroheads e-kart race series had its first season event on July 23-24 at Whilton Mill kart track in Northamptonshire. The series is the product of the mind of former Ferrari and Williams Formula 1 engineer Rob Smedley, who knows a thing or two about speed and winning as he was Felipa Massa’s race engineer. Electroheads however is all about the upcoming electric revolution.
This competition has been developed to create a level playing field for everyone. The series focuses on simplifying and reducing the cost of entry-level racing, so that it will help break down existing entry barriers thereby making it easier for more drivers and their families to get involved. Entrants will be able to compete in equal karts that have been designed, tested and prepared by Smedley and his team of F1 engineers.
Smedely stressed the importance of creating a competition open to anyone and not to just a restricted group of people.
“As Lewis Hamilton himself said recently, racing faces some real challenges. It lacks diversity; it’s too expensive; and for too many children it doesn’t even make it onto their radar as an option. That has to change,” he said. “Electroheads is the driving force to inspire, energise and thrill racers as they climb the ladder. It is cleaner, cheaper, faster and importantly, fairer. Our aim has to be to find the next crop of Lewis Hamiltons and facilitate a realistic journey all the way to F1. It has never been a more relevant time to make the changes that are necessary in the grassroots of our sport.”
The series will operate via a unique ‘Arrive and Drive’ basis, which offers people the chance to experience the cutting-edge e-kart technology without the burden of investing in expensive equipment. As we already mentioned the level playing field is key and that is why every racer on the grid has precisely the same power available and the teams will be transparent about sharing that data, so all competitors can see that absolute drivetrain parity exists. That means that it all relies on the driver ability and not on what is under the hood, therefore rewarding talent and not money.
The Electroheads 2020 race series will be launched across two kart categories: Bambino and Cadet. The entry-level Bambino karts are powered by 3kW electric powertrains in fully race-specced ‘RS Electroheads by Birel Art’ kart chassis. With an age span of 6-8 years old, the Bambino class is aimed strictly at teaching the youngest drivers the basics of kart driving before they climb the ranks of racing. From ages 8-12, drivers can race in more powerful 5kW Electroheads Cadet machines.
In case you missed the first event, there are other opportunities coming up soon at GYG, North Wales on August 5-6, at Teesside August 13-14 and at Rowrah August 17-18.