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Narrator: 2.3 seconds. That's exactly how long
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it takes Tesla's top-of-the-line Model S sedan
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to sprint from 0 to 60 miles per hour.
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But while YouTube is filled with
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countless videos of Teslas dominating drag strips
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and leaving the fastest street-legal cars in their dust,
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these all-electric speed demons have yet to make it
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into a professional racing series, until now.
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Electric Production Car Series, or EPCS,
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is an upcoming zero-emissions
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international racing championship
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featuring the first official race-ready Teslas.
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As the flagship series of electric racing organization
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Electric GT, EPCS is planned to feature
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up to 20 drivers piloting identical track-optimized
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Model S P100Ds.
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So what separates these Model S race cars from those
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you can pick up at your nearest Tesla showroom?
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First, the company takes a production model
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and strips out all of the interior fittings
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that would be considered excess.
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This is replaced with safety equipment
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that includes a full race harness and roll cage.
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Much of the body work is also removed
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and replaced with high-grade carbon-fiber body panels.
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The production car's wheels and tires
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are scrapped for new race slicks and rims.
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Aerodynamic features are added
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that include a large rear wing,
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and the suspension is strengthened heavily.
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- Electric GT came about essentially
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four years ago
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when we saw that electric racing
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was starting with Formula E.
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I remember going to the Monaco race
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and being impressed with what they were doing
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and thinking, "Well, this needs to happen more."
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What is Electric Production Car Series?
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So that is the formal or official name
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that has been given by the FIA
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to our championship.
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Narrator: The FIA, or
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International Automobile Federation,
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is the governing body over a number of
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global motorsport events.
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When it comes to rules and safety regulations
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in auto racing, what they say goes.
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- This is a FIA-approved international series,
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so we can race in multiple countries
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using full FIA safety specialists,
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you know, their marshals and such,
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and also we can attract FIA-licensed drivers,
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FIA-sanctioned teams, and essentially
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put on a show that is proper motorsport.
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We do aim to go to the best circuits that are available,
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so Silverstone, Paul Ricard, that kind of thing.
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Now, I have thoroughly recognized
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that Tesla is not perfect and that it has
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thermal-management issues, above all,
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but it's got pretty good performance,
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as in the obviously out-of-the-blocks acceleration
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that's certainly at or even above a Formula-1-car level.
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Top speed is very good, and we can buy them today.
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Narrator: However, Electric GT wants to make it clear
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that in the future, they do not plan
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to limit their racing series
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to Tesla cars only.
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- Any high-performance electric car,
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we welcome in our series.
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It would be a pleasure
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to welcome a Porsche Taycan on the circuit.
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I have no reason to believe that it would be
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in any way an inferior car.
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Narrator: However, the road to an all-electric
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racing league hasn't been as smooth
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as Electric GT had hoped.
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The series was originally expected
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to begin back in 2017, but the company ran into
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a number of major delays,
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including difficulties securing a lead investor.
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Still, the company claims their problems may soon
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be solved and EPSC's inaugural season
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could almost be here.
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- The fundamental fact, and there's no surprises of course,
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you need to have the capital to launch an event
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of this caliber.
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You get everything together, and you need to find
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the right investor.
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The right investor, apart from having the right money,
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needs to be appreciative of what's going on.
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So here for instance, you need to find an investor
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who understands that the electric future
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is definite and is worthwhile,
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that renewable energy is a fantastic,
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positive future for us all,
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and someone who also appreciates the value of motorsport.
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But I'm pleased to say we have run into a few investors
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who do place a lot of value in these vectors,
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so I'm very enthusiastic that we will find that investor
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and that we will launch in the near future.