Urban Transport

The 100-km/h eSkootr Championship race series looks absolutely bonkers

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Highway-speed electric kick scoots going flat knacker around a racetrack? You're goddamned right we'd like to see that
eSkootr Championship
The eSkootr Championship will be a pretty physical sport, so racers could come from all kinds of sporting backgrounds
eSkootr Championship
Highway-speed electric kick scoots going flat knacker around a racetrack? You're goddamned right we'd like to see that
eSkootr Championship
The body English required to get these things around corners is going to be fun to watch
eSkootr Championship
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Leather-clad riders eyeing each other off at the starting line. Fifteen-inch weeny tires chirping as the flag drops, silent electric kick scoots accelerating to a frenetic 100 km/h (62 mph) on the straights, then doing whatever the hell it takes to get one of those things slowed down and around the bends at race pace. This is going to be nuts.

Did anyone ask for electric scooter racing? Good lord, no. Are we kinda fired up for it? Yes. Yes we are. One of the things that makes motorcycle racing so much more of a human spectacle than car racing is the fact that you can see the rider's body language throughout the race. Applying the same theory to an even smaller vehicle would suggest to us that anger, fear, frustration and the all-important "pucker factor" will be on full display when the eSkootr Championship (eSC) kicks off.

It's natural enough; when you put wheels and motors on things, people will want to race them. And with portable electric mobility devices becoming all but ubiquitous in modern cities, perhaps it was only a matter of time.

The eSC team says this is all about super-accessible racing, and it seems to us that's fair; a set of leathers, helmet and fully juiced up race scoot are going to be far, far cheaper than any race bike or car setup, and they'll be much cheaper to transport around the place as the eSkootr championship makes its way around the globe to "a series of specially designed urban venues in some of the world's most cosmopolitan and progressive cities."

The body English required to get these things around corners is going to be fun to watch
eSkootr Championship

A "recognized high-technology provider" has been signed up to spec out and build the first race scoots, with prototypes to be revealed later this year. One obvious candidate would probably be Rion, whose Rion2 RE90 Racing Edition scoot is already equipped with dual motors, a full carbon body, pole and handlebar. That thing, says Rion, is capable of 160 km/h (100 mph) and limited to 130 km/h (80 mph). You can buy one of these beasties straight up for US$6,800.

There are some pretty serious cats running the eSC business, with Formula One driver Alex Wurz, Formula E driver Lucas Di Grassi and A1GP driver Khalil Beschir on board, and entrepreneur Hrag Sarkissian acting as CEO.

Racers, the team says, could come from pretty much anywhere, including car and motorcycle racers, cyclists, skaters, snowboarders and (rather optimistically) e-racers. This is going to be a highly physical sport, we'd imagine, with body position playing an even bigger role in dropping lap times than it does in motorcycle racing. One can envisage some pretty extreme cornering techniques coming out of this.

The eSkootr team also believes that like any good race series, it'll partially be about developing technologies. Mind you it's tough to see where a freeway-speed kick scooter is going to find relevance in the micromobility mix.

Racing is set to kick off in 2021, and we're keen to see what that looks like. If it struggles to attract viewers, a simple rule change allowing full contact punches, kicks and shoulder charges could be just the ticket. Check out a cheesy render video below, to go with these cheesy render pics.

Source: eSkootr Championship

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11 comments
candydale45
I have just looked up that Rion scooter .... man, 130 kmh on that thing would be absolutely insane. I still want to try.
paul314
If this catches on, could it become widely distributed, like dirt-track racing? Lots of risk to the drivers, perhaps slightly less to fans.
paleochocolate
Oh hell yeah
Bruce H. Anderson
Teeny wheels, best kept on smooth pavement like a track. So it will be like go-kart racing, but skateboard style. I would rather see juiced-up KickBikes personally.
Derek Howe
hahaha, that looks hilarious.
Daishi
I think it would be fun to go rent these at a gocart track to mess around but you'd need a set of leathers to do it and I could see a lot more injuries than on gocarts probably.
guzmanchinky
I would like to see a slower version of this, using standard ninebot segway scooters. It doesn't matter if it's super high speed, if everyone has the same machine (maybe adjusted for weight) then racing is racing.
Signguy
It's TRON for scooters!
aksdad
Wiring piezoelectric pressure sensors between the riders' butt cheeks to relay telemetry to spectators in real time to see the pucker factor will vastly enhance the excitement.
ljaques
Soon we'll see just how often a high-strength Pucker Factor sensor can be crushed in a sensitive place.