Usain Bolt drives one in all world’s quickest vehicles that could be a ‘rocket ship on wheels’
Formula E’s automotive is quicker than ever – and now the quickest man in historical past has pushed it.
Usain Bolt was within the cockpit of the specially-adapted GENBETA Formula E automotive on Friday to mark the beginning of the brand new season, which will get underway in Mexico City on Saturday evening.
The GENBETA automotive is the present FE race automotive, however with all of its full potential opened up. It is so quick that’s broke the indoor land pace file by reaching 218.71kmh ultimately yr’s London E-Prix.
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And now Olympic hero Bolt – extensively considered the best athlete of all-time – has acquired behind the wheel to really feel the complete pressure of the automotive.
“The GENBETA car is like a rocket ship on wheels<” Bolt said. “Getting the chance to drive it was a mind-blowing experience. The power from the start was such a surprise and the adrenaline you got is on a different level, easily.
“I was told that as soon as you drive, you don’t want to stop or get out and they were right. I would do it every day if I could. If I get more time, I will definitely go faster.”
Bolt went from 0-60mph in 2.89 seconds and accomplished 100 metres in 4.36 seconds – over 5 seconds faster than he ran it for his world file time of 9.58.
F1 legend David Coulthard and present FE champion Jake Dennis have been available to present recommendation to Bolt earlier than leaping into the automotive on the world-famous Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.
“I was very impressed with Usain’s focus and desire to put in a strong performance,” Coulthard said. “Put the world’s fastest man in this incredible race car and he was always going to push it to the limit. Once a champion, always a champion.”
Speaking completely to the Daily Star forward of the season opener, Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds defined how the true energy of the Formula E’s automotive must be talked about extra.
He mentioned: “We have two powertrains in the car, one is opened for propulsion, the other is not. If we open both for propulsion, we know the car will do 0-60mph in about two seconds.
“If you evaluate that to an F1 automotive and it is 2.6 or 2.7 seconds. Compare it to an IndyCar too and it is blisteringly quick; sooner than some other world championship automotive.
“We don’t really talk about that and we haven’t really been able to showcase the potential of the car through content and stories.
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“When Formula E started, it was city centre racing only. At that point, Formula One was circuit racing only. What has happened over the years is that Formula One have started to introduce more and more street races into its calendar and we have started to drop some circuit racing into our calendar.
“I feel that’s fairly vital for us as a result of circuit racing permits us to showcase the potential of the automotive. I used to be at Portland final yr and that was our highest pace registered final yr, at about 185mph on that circuit. We have been in a position to showcase a unique kind of racing and extra of the top-end potential of the automotive.
“Over time I think we have to continue to race in cities, but we have to build circuits in cities that allow us to showcase the potential of the car. We can sprinkle in some of the world class circuits as well, that allow us to show the true potential of the car.”