ELECTRIC TAKES OFF-ROADING TO THE EXTREME

Two wheels or four? Kawasaki or Geiser? Is there anything that can stop the dominate force that embodies Miss Sara Price?

story by: Lachelle halliday photos courtesy of ganassi racing and extreme e

No one knew what adventure this talented athlete would embark on amidst a crazed society plagued with uncertainty leaving the racing communities discombobulated. Without question to those close with the ambitious soul, it wouldn’t be long before Miss Sara would set her sights on an additional manifestation to embody a style of racing she and most have never encountered before. As she holds the record as the most winning female amateur to date, Sara is now taking her racing career to the next level again, this round teaming up under Chip Ganassi Racing. Sara Price, motocross, x games, UTV and trophy truck champion, is now going ELECTRIC and for good reason!

EXTREME E

Sara: Well, earlier this year I got some phone calls from a few teams that informed me about this new series happening, and how it’s going to be male and female driver teams. Then I got a call from Ganassi, and you know I’m on cloud 9 when I got that phone call. Ganassi racing wants to talk to me about driving for them. Its pretty incredible that they can even realize who I am and want me to be apart of their program.

Following a strong career as a driver himself, Chip Ganassi established Ganassi Racing in the early 1990s with his one-car Indy car team. As time passed, Chip sustained a heightened influence in the auto racing industry, expanding from his one-car team to now spanning five teams over three separate series’ accumulating cohesively 19 championships and over 220 victories since its inception. Chip Ganassi, team owner, a champion who forges his own path to success, teaming with the young and ever so talented Sara Price as one part of two team drivers in the fully electric off-road series. With the induction of Sara to the Ganassi team, she becomes the first female in the Extreme E series, first female to team with Ganassi, and she has only scratched the surface with her astonishing firsts that she brings to, not only the racing community, but to the gender equality platform the series promotes worldwide. Alejandro Agag, founder of Extreme E and Formula E electric

series hailed the hiring of Sara Price saying, “Chip Ganassi Racing has certainly set the bar high with Sara”

The newly formed series encompasses eight separate teams representing various countries, each having a male and female driver who alternate in each event. The environmentally conscious series will host five races with fully electric SUVs battling around the globe in areas severally affected by climate change. Extreme E will race in the countries

DSW: What kind of car are you racing? How is it different from everything you have competed with prior?

Sara: its an electric off-road SUV with two motors, one in the front, and one in the back. It’s an electric beast I would say is similar to a Dakar spec car. It’s been a lot of learning curves with learning electric, it comes down to a lot of coding, a lot of engineering. We’re used to digging in and thrashing on something mechanically and you can’t do that with this. There’s a lot of safety measures in place. of Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Greenland and Brazil next year while the teams’ cars and equipment travel between races on the ocean via “floating garage” as it was determined transport by ship was 30 percent less harmful to the environment than air travel. Extreme E is the first sport built out of concern for the climate crisis. The series’ goal is to use electric racing to highlight remote environments under threat of climate change issues, and to encourage everyone to take positive action to

protect the planet’s future.

EXTREME E Dubbed “Odyssey 21” the E-SUV rolled out of Spark Racing Technology, South of Paris, hosting the electric battery with 400kw (550hp) and 2.3-metre wide E-SUV is bespoke from the ground up. Capable of firing from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds at gradients of up to 130 percent, it is unlike anything else in this world. Manufactured predominantly by Spark Racing Technology with a battery produced by Williams Advanced Engineering, it encompasses a niobium reinforced steel alloy tubular frame, as well as crash structure and roll cage while supplied with Continental Tires. Teaming with Sara Price, and the male half of the Extreme E dynamic duo, is the legendary and influential Kyle Leduc. Stemming from a strong bloodline of racing, Kyle carries the Leduc name to new heights with championship after championship. Since his first set of wheels touched the dirt, Kyle has been engineering his own builds from the ground up. Accumulating decades of hands on experience behind the wheel and under the hood, Kyle adds a significant role to the Ganassi team that only encompasses a sevenman team, including the two drivers. Sitting in the driver seat of his Pro4, shooting a video for his sponsors, he received the call that would embark him onto the Extreme E Ganassi Racing team and thrust him into the world of electric off-road SUVs.

Kyle: its super bizarre! We were only at about 40% power but I think when we have the full 100% power its going to be relative, its going to be quick. Its about the same weight and wheel base of a pro4 which is a plus. It’s literally a different world

Coming off his 100th win, Kyle illustrates the talent level that has been introduced to the eight teams from multiple countries stating his intimidation with the induction of drivers coming into the series representing real drivers with impeccable talents. Predominately skilled in short course styled racing, Kyle stands a substantial advantage with his knowledge and experience racing door to door where in short course, every corner you can lose 1/10th of a second that will impact your overall ability to secure a podium position. In comparison to Sara, rising from desert racing trophy trucks that typically encompass a pace and full program to achieve podium accreditation while racers are dispersed widely throughout the terrain. Before the completion of 2020, Kyle and Sara will travel to Spain to complete a shakedown styled event to ensure what was envisioned on paper will unfold efficiently on the track. Presuming that the outcome of these tests Kyle: Its going to be relative. We live in a world of dirt, where the dirt never changes, its what your driving that does. It’s a car with four-wheel drive, it’s got prolite suspension with 13” of wheel travel and it’s without the hangover weight like on a trophy truck for the gas tank. They’re a euro car without the ability to customize it so I think that’s the

biggest hurdle for me mentally. is favorable, the Extreme E racing series will begin March 20th in the Alula desert of Saudi Arabia. It is speculated that each race will consist of an eight to ten mile loop lined with cones and a type of virtual checkpoint providing every team a chance to dominate this challenging event. Extreme E is making every effort to not damage too much of the landscapes, creating a low footprint, by removing the typical buildup of tracks and spectators in extremely remote locations. All races will have the highest exposure since these are media-based events as we follow behind some of the best off-road racers this world has to offer. For most of these racers, this will be their first racing experience in an electric vehicle. As we bid our farewells to our team, our curiosity and anticipation grows by the passing day while we wait for the start of a new style of virtual racing. On the other hand, I am patiently waiting for Kyle Leduc to bring back the penguin I requested.