Andros Trophy to involve electric cars in the championship
The winter-based Andros Trophy ice racing series is expected to become the first category in the world to allow electric and conventionally-powered cars to compete in the same races next winter.
Trophée Andros Électrique race action
Trophée Andros
Andros Trophy promotors 2MO have secured permission from the French motorsport federation (FFSA) to increase the performance of the single-make electric category cars that currently run as a support class to the headline Elite Pro series.
The ‘Trophee Andros Electrique’ category, which was launched in 2010, is for identical cars using a 90Kw motor to power the rear wheels.
The cars have the equivalent of around 122 horsepower and 200Nm torque, while the spaceframe four-wheel drive, four-wheel steer machines in the Elite Pro category are powered by a naturally aspirated V6 engine producing over 300 horsepower.
The series is set to introduce four-wheel steering to the electric machines, which are built by French firm Exagon Engineering, and will also change the weight of vehicles and the number of studs permitted to be used in tyres to adjust the balance of performance.
“We made the first electric racing in the world and we’re very proud of this. Formula E came three years after we started,” Andros Trophy founder Max Mamers told Motorsport.com.
“Now four-wheel steering will be open to electric cars for next season. The French federation allowed us to create new rules to allow electric cars in every category, but it’s necessary to find the rules for cars to be a similar performance [to each other].
"I think it can happen for next year. We can make sure things are equal with weight, or by using more or less studs. That’s easy, no problem.”
Electrification in short racing discipline formats such as rallycross have been a hot topic in recent months, with manufacturers making no secret of working on such a concept for the future.
Austrian firm STARD revealed the first ever fully-electric rallycross car late last year, and will run vehicles in a new all-electric rallycross series in America called E/RACING that is due to begin in Las Vegas in October.
“I hope we can be the first people to do this [to have conventionally powered and electric cars compete in the same races],” said Mamers. “I think for sprint racing like the Andros Trophy, electric technology can be the best in the future."
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