The art of drifting began in Japan and soon made its way across the world, spanning different kinds of car cultures. Drifting became so popular that Formula Drift came out of it, where drivers would take turns leading and chasing the car in each run. It’s also the best place to hear some of the loudest cars to the point where you’ll hear nothing but redlining engines throughout the entire race.
However, you might not hear anything but the tires screeching with this car as it doesn’t have a combustion engine. Introducing Napoleon Motorsports’ Chevrolet Camaro EL1, the first electric car to ever compete in Formula Drift.
This Is The First All-Electric Drift Car In Formula Drift
Formula Drift doesn’t have any engine restrictions, so drift teams can technically use any engine, which includes electric motors. That’s why Travis Reeder from Napoleon Motorsports decided to build an electric car in less than six months to drive in the 2019 Formula Drift series. Keep in mind that most of the drift cars in Formula D would generate over a thousand horsepower, one of which is Vaughn Gittin Jr’s recently debuted 1,300 Ford Mustang drift car. But with an electric motor that can generate a ton of torque within a millisecond, an electric drift car might just hold out on its own.
The Formula D organization agreed to the idea of an electric car competing in the drifting event as everyone quickly took notice of the Tesla-powered Chevy Camaro drift car. Unfortunately, Travis Reeder’s team hit a snag as the fire safety teams from the city of Long Beach said they didn’t have ample time to train on the car’s fire safety features in the event of an emergency and requested Travis Reeder to dock the car for the weekend. Travis came prepared for any contingency, which is why he still managed to compete during that weekend by using their LS-powered S13 drift car.
Fast-forward to the next race in Orlando Beach, Florida, Travis, and Napoleon Motorsports finally got to unveil their electric Chevy Camaro EL1 for the very first time. Everyone got to see the EV drift car in motion, battling out against other drift cars like the Ford Mustang and Nissan Silvia S15. Every time the EV Camaro raced, all you heard was the other driver’s engine, which was a new experience for the viewers and even for the hosts commentating on the event. While the Camaro only got Travis Reeder up to 20th place in Formula D, it definitely grabbed the attention of many. It even forced the race organizers to rewrite their rule book to accommodate EV drivetrains in the future.
A Chevy Camaro With A 515-HP Tesla Engine
You need a lot of cleverly engineered batteries in an electric car if you want to power a 3,000-pound race car. Travis and his team used 120 Li-ION battery cells that produce 420 volts. Take note that most EVs have their batteries placed flat across the car’s floor panel. Since the Camaro didn’t have space in its floor panels, they simply placed the batteries inside the engine bay. The battery power rates at 384 kW. If you translate that into horsepower, the EV Camaro dishes out 515 of them. The batteries also come with an excellent fire suppression system in case the batteries catch on fire.
You might think that 515 horsepower isn’t enough for Formula Drift. What you’re forgetting is that electric motors produce power instantaneously with a single push of the pedal. With 800 lb-ft of torque, the EV Camaro’s rear wheels can spin out in a snap. The car sends the torque to the rear wheels thanks to the magnetless motor. Since the motor doesn’t use magnets, this eliminates friction and loss of power for the car. This was a smart decision by Travis Reeder, as a magnetless motor lasts longer compared to other motors with magnets.
You should also know that the EV Camaro drift car can shell out a whopping 16,000 RPM, which you will only witness in F1 cars. With this amount of RPM, the electric motor will reach extremely high temperatures. So the engineers at Napoleon Motorsports created a very complex cooling system to ensure the motor doesn’t melt when Travis redlines to 16,000 RPM all the time.
Will Electric Cars Invade Formula Drift In The Future?
Electric motorsport is slowly becoming a staple in many racing scenes. You have different kinds of e-motorsport events, including Formula E, MotoE, eTouring Car World Cup, and Extreme E, to name a few. It’s only a matter of time before Formula Drift creates another racing series where it will strictly feature EV drift cars. While many still prefer loud, screaming engines in Formula Drift, there’s no saying when other teams will decide to use EVs in future Formula D events.
With EVs, there aren’t too many moving parts you have to deal with compared to your usual drift cars with standard combustion engines. This means drift teams using EVs can service their cars faster than usual. The only downside with an all-EV Formula Drift series is you’ll never hear anything but the tires and the faint, high-pitched noise coming from the electric motor. Hopefully, we’ll get to hear better artificial engine sounds in the future if they ever decide to create an all-EV drifting event.
