Air Race E has said its forthcoming race series, which is due to launch next year, will race eVTOL and a high performance aircraft as well as the previously announced open class.
The move, which it is said is in response to high levels of interest and demand from across industry, will see teams in the Performance Class “modify and enhance” aircraft that are built around a standard electric powertrain Air Race E is building in-house with the help of “leading manufacturers in the industry”.
Air Race E’s existing race airplane formula has been re-named the Open class, referring to the fact that any and all manufacturers can produce their own powertrain configurations up to 150kW power. Both airplane classes will be raced according to the same rules but with differences governing the powertrains.
Meanwhile the V-Class for VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) aircraft will use a different format and rules than the other two classes and be promoted as “the world’s first vertical motorsport”.
Jeff Zaltman, CEO of Air Race E, said: “The launch of the new Performance Class and V-Class will allow us to include more stakeholders in our project and greatly increase our ability to meet the needs of the industry while organising a thrilling motorsport.
“The Performance Class will provide deeper insights on power management and best practices and will steer more dedication to the sub-systems such as cooling, battery management systems, power electronics and aerodynamics.
“The V-Class demonstrates a major step-change in air racing. Air Race E will be working directly with the top pioneering organisations in the e-VTOL world to shape the event to be at the vanguard of both technology and entertainment in this next generation of motorsport.”
Air Race E is partnering with companies such as Airbus and simulation software company Ansys.
