In January last year, Continental became an official partner of the Extreme E off-road racing series, which will commence from January 2021 with the first race starting from January 23 to 24 at Lac Rose, Dakar, Senegal. There will be ten teams in season 1 that will race at the remotest areas of the world including rainforest, desert, the freezing Arctic, high altitude, and ocean islands. All these locations are selected to raise awareness of the ecological problems humankind is facing at the moment. Continental, which will become a Premium Partner next year, will provide tires for all the electric utility vehicles keeping in view the extreme driving conditions at the race locations.
“By the time the event calendar was officially presented, every interested party realized that they are part of a completely new and unique project,” says Sandra Roslan, who is responsible for the Extreme E project at Continental. “And the schedule is tight. Unforeseen delays will be almost impossible to make up for.”
The desert stage will take us to Sharaan, Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia in March. “In March 2021, we´ll start in the desert of Saudi Arabia, in May in the Himalayan mountains. Not only must the tires function on a completely new vehicle, but also on extreme courses in vastly different climatic environments,” says Roslan. The first SUV Continental is working on is “ODYSSEY 21”.
“The ODYSSEY 21 is an extraordinary vehicle which is roughly similar to commercial SUVs in length, width, and weight, but with its electrical equivalent of 550 HP has three times the torque of the Formula E Gen 2 vehicle.” Continental will also be using ContiPressureCheck technology to deliver information like air pressure and temperature for drivers inside the vehicle.
Extreme E off-road racing series is a new brainchild of Formula E. The organizer, Formula E Holdings Ltd., has revealed the racing schedule for the first year, which is given below.
Ocean Stage: from January 23 to 24 at Lac Rose, Dakar, Senegal
Desert Stage: from March 6 to 7 in Sharaan, Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia
Glacier Stage: from May 14 to 15 in the Kali Gandaki Valley, Mustang District, Nepal
Arctic Stage: from August 28 to 29 in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
Rainforest Stage: from October 30 to 31 in Santarém, Pará, Brazil
Source and Images: Continental