THE main company behind a futuristic new racing series, where electric sports cars race off-road in dramatic locations around the globe, has opened a new HQ in north Oxfordshire.

Extreme E, the brainchild of one of the men who founded the Formula E electric racing series, has moved into a warehouse in Bicester.

The competition sees electric SUVs race in remote parts of the world, including the Amazon and the Arctic.

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Likened to ‘Star Wars Pod racing meets Dakar Rally’, the races are designed to display short, sharp racing action.

All racing locations are chosen to raise awareness for some aspects of climate change.

The company has taken over the Bicester warehouse – in addition to its existing facility at Donnington Raceway – as it gets ready so set sail for its first international season of races on board the former Royal Mail ship St Helena.

Extreme E commissioned and fully refurbished the ship for the expedition, and it will now act as the operations, freight, logistics, accommodations and floating garage hub for the series.

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The company will be running its inaugural season in early 2021, staged across five environments, where climate change challenges across different ecosystems will be the focal point of each race.

Locations will include Greenland in the Arctic, Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, the Saudi Arabian desert, Argentinian Patagonia, and Senegal on the West Coast of Africa.

James Taylor, chief championship officer at Extreme E said: “Thanks to White Commercial, we are settling into our logistics and distribution premises in Bicester very well. The area itself is well-known as a motorsport hub, so it made perfect sense for Extreme E to have part of its operation based there.”

The racing series will be working closely with a scientific committee of experts in each region to raise global awareness and highlight such factors as rising carbon emissions, melting ice-caps, deforestation and rising sea levels – whilst encouraging the way to a lower carbon future.

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Each race, known as an X Prix, will incorporate two laps over a distance of around 16 kilometres.

Four teams, with two drivers – one male, one female – completing a lap apiece in-car, will compete head-to-head in each race over the two-day event.

The championship car is a fully electric SUV, named ODYSSEY 21, and in order to withstand the harsh conditions, the car’s peak 400kw output is capable of firing the SUV from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds, at gradients of up to 130 per cent.

The warehouse in Bicester is situated within the heart of the ‘Motorsport Valley’ and close to both Bicester Heritage as well as the Silverstone Circuit, which provides a significant and world leading cluster in the UK for automotive technology uses.