I Completed a Race in an Electric Car Running on Empty

Audi is not yet at the cutting edge of electric car technology and recognizes this. On the other hand, the brand is a champion when it comes to organizing atypical events for customers (and for journalists). Its objective is to change views on electric cars. This is how I found myself embarked on April 25 and 26 in a strange automobile adventure with 83 other participants.

The operation set up by Audi, and its partner Oreca, is nothing less than an endurance race, as a team, in an Audi e-tron GT and on the Paul Ricard circuit. You had to dare! It is even an event made official and monitored by the French Motor Sport Federation.

Lead shoes in the closet

21 cars are lined up at the start of a race which must last 3 hours without recharging. 3 hours on the 3.8 km of the Paul Ricard circuit: those who are strong in calculations will quickly understand that the account is not good in terms of consumption to cover the greatest distance. This is the whole challenge of the event, which requires leaving the lead shoes in the closet and thus giving the most novices a chance on the circuit.

Reaching the Audi e-tron GT RS's top speed of 250 km/h on the long straight, then heating up the brakes and tires for the rest of the route, is out of the question. This would attack autonomy and consumables: we might as well forfeit in advance. You have to moderate your speed (around 105 km/h on average) and manage your trajectories carefully to contain consumption. A torture for some and a hell of a challenge for all!

Get caught up in the game

With Marie, Jean-Baptiste and Dimitri who made up my team, Thursday's tests were encouraging – thanks to our coach Stéphane. The objective of consumption as close as possible to 30 kWh/100 km was maintained throughout the laps, despite a pace which was inevitably increasing to gain a few seconds without compromising the sacrosanct autonomy. From the first hesitant laps at 2:25, I was even able to let go on a lap at 2:08, without seeing the consumption being irreparably weighed down.

The frustration of not exploiting the car's 475 kW of power was felt by certain teams during testing. But the competitive spirit caught up with all the participants during the particularly close race on Friday.

There is no point running

The exercise would almost could have been easy, if the weather hadn't played a trick on us. What would a race be without rain, wind and a temperature of 8.5° instead of 17° the day before? The objective of an average consumption of around 30 kWh/100 km had become untenable, at least not at the pace of a race. But, beyond 35 kWh/100 km, crossing the finish line was no longer guaranteed.

This is where the strategy and talent of the drivers of the day were expressed. My team managed all the stints well by modulating its lap time and fuel consumption. As in the fable of the Hare and the Tortoise, it is not the one who left the fastest who came first, quite the contrary.

I was in charge of the last relay and seeing the checkered flag waving was a relief. With 8% battery when leaving, I was able to afford the luxury of overtaking a few competitors already idling due to lack of battery. The 0% battery penalty fell for me a little over 3 laps from the finish. An end of the race in turtle mode! The trajectories were crucial so as not to have to abandon the broken down car on the track. Only one car failed to reach the paddock.

Podium for my team! We finished in 3rd place. The car no longer had any juice, like its drivers, at the end of a race that was much more intense than it seemed.