BMW i8 Safety Car Driven

BMW i became the official vehicle partner for the 2014/2015 FIA Formula E championship. The Safety Cars developed for this is far from the standard BMW i8 and this manifests when driven. Built for Safety Car duty, it is lighter and stiffer, yet has more power. The 2015 version came in with a few tweaks to the suspension plus other enhancements. Here is a review from Bimmerpost where they go to Berlin for the Formula E ePrix and drive the safety car on the track.

In terms of power, they say that the BMW i8 Safety Car is built for the track. It is powered by an improved 10 kWh battery with a 26Ah li-ion cells similar to the BMW iPerformance models and a charging rate of 7.2 kW. The total range is around 600 km (373 miles), and well above 40 kilometers (25 miles) on electric power. The electric motor also receives an additional 15kW of power for so it reaches more than 140 horsepower. The total output is very impressive at 380 horsepower and 570 Nm (420 lb-ft) of torque.

The interior is loaded with racing enhancements but it is quite difficult to get in if you’re a big person, says Bimmerpost. The Safety Car driver make full use of the mirror camera to see the entire race behind him and this may appear in the future production series cars.

When driven, it feels like a race car. The high-performance brakes were grippy, powerful and confident like a true race car. Thanks to all the insulation gone from panels, the 1.5 liter three-cylinder is actually quite loud. They were thrilled that it sounded just like a six-cylinder turbo, but without the Active Sound feeding through the cabin.

Overall, the verdict is that the BMW’s future is just as electric as it is digital, and that could translate into some exciting projects in the near future. We may see a high-performance car that beats this i8 and that’s very, very exciting.