Taking on an electric extreme challenge
Having never raced an electric vehicle before, Gilmour had to acquaint herself with a feature exclusively employed by batterypowered cars. During the Extreme E races, one hyper drive power boost could be used per lap which provided extra power for four seconds.
“The hyperdrive feature is another thing to get used to and it becomes strategic about when to use it on the course to make the biggest gains against other teams.”
The qualifying standings also determine which second round race each team advances to. On the Sunday, Veloce Racing made it through to a threeeSUV lineup in the first semifinal. This multicar situation allowed Gilmour to hark back to her rally cross days when she drove for the Hyundai USA Global Rally Cross team in 2014.
“I was lucky to have had that different experience. Rally cross makes you more comfortable being amongst other cars. You have to be a little bit smart about it and preserve the [Extreme E] cars as the terrain is tougher than a rally cross course.”
Sarrazin pushed the eSUV to its limits and found them in the semifinal when he took an alternative route through the rock garden. Making a lastditch attempt to move into the lead with the finish line in sight, the boulders he was hurtling over punctured a tyre and collapsed the steering arm. Game over for the Veloce Racing team.
Not making it to the final wasn’t her goal for the weekend, but Gilmour had plenty of amazing anecdotes to add to her international driving scrapbook. After the past four years of competing solely in
New Zealand – travelling the country contesting the New Zealand Rally Championship Extreme E ramped up Gilmour’s usual travel and lodging standards by a couple of notches.
All the teams flew into Greenland on a chartered plane together and they stayed on the series’ St Helena vessel in the harbor. The floating centerpiece and base transports the championship’s freight and infrastructure, including the race vehicles, to the port nearest each of the five race destinations. A former Royal Mail cargopassenger ship, she has undergone an extensive multimillion Euro renovation to transform her into “a high standard of accommodation,” Gilmour said.
“It’s like a fivestar hotel.” The company wasn’t too shabby either, and she rubbed shoulders with former, multipletime World Rally Champions Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz, who were both driving and team owner Formula One World Champion Jenson Button.
“I spent lots of time with the other drivers. Everyone got along really well. There was a nice atmosphere in the pits.”
Aside from the luxury transport and onwater base, there was no excessive glitz or glamour surrounding the environmentally focused championship onevent. Teams are limited to eight personnel total, including the two drivers. There are no spectators and only a select few approved media in attendance. The teams also used their own plates and cutlery, like they were camping, to minimise waste for the event.
RETURNING to England after the August racing, Gilmour had it confirmed that Chadwick would be double booked for the Island Prix Extreme E round in Sardinia [being held this weekend]. So she elected to forgo coming back to New Zealand and forfeited her managed isolation quarantine (MIQ) spot. Staying on in the United Kingdom, she is living with her former codriver Claire Mole in Scotland.
“I would’ve had about three weeks of freedom if I was lucky, then I’d have to turn around and fly back to the UK,” Gilmour said.
The New Zealand Government then further restricted MIQ opportunities, leaving Gilmour stranded overseas, away from family, friends and her car dealership business in Dunedin. While she is grateful to her team at work for doing a great job in her absence, she soon developed itchy driving feet. To alleviate the symptoms, she recently signed up to contest the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally held on northern Wales’s forestry roads.
Gilmour and Mole decided to rekindle their incar partnership that began in 2006 and continued through to 2013. The pair, who have rallied together in Europe, Asia and New Zealand, will contest the sevenstage Welsh event in a Ford Fiesta R5 car, prepared by Martin Wilkinson and CA1 Sport.
“It’s the best class of car out there that’s accessible at a world level. Obviously, it’s not a WRC car but it’s the next best thing. I’d like to say a big thanks to Martin Wilkinson and CA1 Sport Ltd, who will be running the R5, and to my long term sponsor Vantage Windows and Doors who are supporting our entry.”
“I’m also really looking forward to rallying with Claire. We haven’t been in the car together since 2013 when we did the International Rally of Whangarei,” Gilmour said.
But this weekend, the weekend before she heads to Wales, she is in Sardinia racing in the Extreme E’s penultimate round. After studying the data and incar footage from Greenland she feels better prepared for her second outing, which will be held in the army training area at Capo Teulad in SulcisIglesiente.
The route in this historic area situated in southwest
Sardinia will be around 7km, and the organisers promise a completely contrasting landscape to the previous three rounds. Teams can expect a harder compact surface with multiple rocks and bushes plus dry, cracked riverbeds. Myriad racing lines should allow for overtaking opportunities and the course will mix up fastflowing areas with tight corners.
Following the excitement of racing in two contrasting European destinations, in as many weeks, Gilmour will return to hitting the refresh button on the MIQ website. She will go from trying to beat some of the world’s best offroad racers in an eSUV; and clocking the fastest possible times in a toplevel rally car, to having a computer system decide her result.
“Sadly, I don’t think I’ll get home this year,” Gilmour said.
She was staying positive and has been working on her 2022 plans.
“I’ve been an Extreme E reserve driver this year, but hopefully I’ll be a number one driver for next year.”
Extreme E is broadcast in New Zealand on Duke TV and Extreme E’s YouTube Channel.