Extreme E: the off-road race series trying to save the planet

Of course, international shipping is a major contributor to environmental damage, and the RMS Saint Helena is powered by diesel engines. But Agag responds: “Any human activity has a carbon footprint. If you don’t want to create one, you need to stay in bed – and even doing that has a carbon footprint.

“The aim is to minimise your carbon footprint, and using a ship will produce about a third of the emissions of flying. We’ve installed state-of-the-art filters to make the engines as clean as possible.”

Extreme E’s remote locations means that its events won’t be open to spectators, which is another reason for scepticism. Formula E’s city races give it a high profile that has helped draw in major manufacturers, but it still struggles to attract substantial television audiences. So can Extreme E?

“The interesting locations will get people to their screens to watch,” says Agag. “People will want to watch the locations, and that will be a big hook for fans. And when they do watch, we need to make sure we get a real race, and we need a competitive race with high performance – and the performance of these cars is huge and crazy.”

As with Formula E, Extreme E will effectively start as a single-car formula, using what’s officially known as the Spark Odyssey 21. Built by French company Spark Racing Technology, which also makes Formula E chassis, it’s a bespoke 1650kg, four-wheel-drive machine built around a steel-alloy tubular frame.

It has beefed-up double-wishbone suspension with 385mm of travel and Continental off-road tyres. A mid-mounted electric motor gives it a total output of 536bhp and 679lb ft for a 0-62mph time of 4.5sec; its top speed is limited to 124mph. Teams and manufacturers will be able to use their own bodywork so the racers can be linked to road-going SUVs.

“They’re monsters,” says Agag. “They have power and acceleration that you’ve never seen before in an SUV. We had a couple of drivers who’ve done the Dakar Rally test the car, and they were in absolute shock afterwards. The power-to-weight ratio and handling are off the scale. They’re pure race cars.

“We’re using the ultimate in Formula E technology. When we started Formula E, we were starting from scratch. For the first season, we looked at what we could do in terms of performance, but we put the focus on reliability: to ensure credibility, we needed cars to finish the race. Then we’ve slowly increased performance as the series has grown. But with Extreme E, we’re starting with six years of Formula E technology.”