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[h=2]Why is BMW doing Formula E?[/h] Thursday, 20 July 2017


George Tamayo / Images by BMW

For decades, any manufacturer searching for a high-stress environment in which to fast-track the development of cutting-edge technology would look to Formula 1 or sportscars. But the increasing prominence of hybrid and all-electric road cars over the past few years has made Formula E a player in that arena, too – and there's an increasing manufacturer count to prove it.
On the heels of announcing that Andretti Autosport will become the factory BMW entry for Season 5 of the FIA Formula E Championship at the end of 2018, Jens Marquardt, director of BMW Motorsport tells RACER that there is no turning back from electric racing and mobility.

"I think that the (driving) range and battery capacity issues will improve dramatically over the next decade," he says. "So, my 10 year-old daughter will think of it as normal to tap into a public charging station as we do a gasoline station today."

If anything, he sees the proliferation of hybrid and electric powered racing only increasing, including beyond Formula E.

"At the moment, people still look at Formula E as something new and different," he says. "But I don't think that it will take too long before the series is placed on the same level as any other major global series in terms of legitimacy."

If the thought of an electric motor replacing the internal combustion engine is a bit off-putting, fear not. BMW, in addition to expanding deeper into Formula E, is also going to Le Mans next year with the all-new M8, which will replace the current M6 GTLM in both the IMSA WeatherTech Championship and the World Endurance Championship. The race car, which has already started running laps in private testing, will make its public debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show in mid-September this year in anticipation of its first race in the Rolex 24 At Daytona come January 2018.

Moreover, the company will continue its DTM program with the M4, expand its customer GT3 program with an improved M6, and go full force with a GT4-spec version of the M4, which should see action in both the IMSA Continental Tire SporsCar Challenge and the GTS class of Pirelli World Challenge. In addition, the M235i Racing remains a hot commodity in the street-tuner classes worldwide despite the fact that its production, originally slated to be just 50, has ended after over 170 examples were produced.

"Our customer racing programs with the M6 GT3, M4 GT4 and M235i Racing are extremely important to us," says Marquardt. "The teams that enter these cars are our customers, but they are also great ambassadors for BMW, and we are putting more effort behind supporting them than we ever have before. As a result, we are seeing growth in America, Australia, Asia and Europe at marquee races like Bathhurst, Daytona, Macau and the Nurburgring 24 Hours."

If Marquardt believes that the future of racing is headed toward electric propulsion, why is BMW pursuing a GT Class win at Le Mans instead of a prototype program with hybrid technology?


"We want to race the cars we sell," he says. "We've been able to spread our racing activity through the model range, and it shows the variety and sportiness of our cars. Also it shows the shape of the car and with the M8 coming, we wanted to show it as competitive against the cars in its class within the market. It also features production-based technology. The M6 GTLM contains about 90 percent production technology in the engine, but the M8 will be closer to 50 percent production-based engine technology. In the end, however, these cars are real BMWs."

Yet, it begs a question about Formula E. The brand from Munich currently does not sell single-seaters. So how does this segment fit in with the strategy of racing what they sell?

"Every iPerformance powertrain engineer working on our hybrid production models is also working on our Formula E program," states Marquardt. "The Formula E program gives them a chance to push the limits in ways we can't do with production cars, which have so many different targets that need to be met. So things like the electric motors and the inverters that are in the i3 share much of the same technology and intellectual property as the Formula E versions, but are being pushed much harder in terms of performance.

"For instance, the powertrain for the Formula E car is 50 percent lighter than what is currently in the i3 and yet produces 50 percent more power," he continues. "This is really the most innovative platform in racing right now, and all this technology is directly relevant to our future road production vehicles."

Formula E now makes up a quarter of BMW Motorsports activities along with GT Racing, DTM and Customer Motorsport, and it is rapidly catching up to the other three areas in terms of human and capital resources. In the nearer term, BMW Motorsport is enjoying its best season in recent memory on both the IMSA WeatherTech Championship and the DTM.

Milestone wins in both series have given the whole group an added boost in anticipation of the M8 launch. The plan is for two cars to run full-time in both the WeatherTech Championship and the WEC. Driver line-ups for both should be announced toward the end of this year. Thanks to the plentiful line-up of BMW GT Drivers, Marquardt is spoiled for choice. He also notes that neither program has a defined timetable for longevity. So long as they are meeting performance objectives, he says, there is no reason to limit the length of participation.

And in the meantime, he hopes that Formula E will start to win over some of racing's traditional fans that have, up to this point, had a hard time embracing its idiosyncracies.

"Have an open mind," says Marquardt who admits to having harbored his own reservations when the series was first announced. "Don't approach this with standard expectations. It's not any less emotional, because once you plant your foot on the throttle pedal, it goes."