ELECTRIC CIRCUIT

The first EV-only track day took place at Llandow circuit recently. Illya Verpraet was there to catch the action and the pit-lane chat

-  Illya Verpraet

Llandow circuit in South Wales at 9am. Cars start to trickle in. Owners gather around each other’s vehicles to chat. Some unload their car from a trailer. Some start to fit a spare set of wheels with track tyres. Others fiddle with the adjustable suspension to put it in its track setting. It’s a very common start to a track day at one of the UK’s motorsport venues. Except there are no engines to be warmed, no oil levels to be checked and no V8s coughing into life. In fact, the only noise these cars emit is a faint hum.

That’s because this is the UK’s first EV-only track day. It’s the brainchild of John Chambers, who runs Tevo Solutions, a business catering to suspension upgrades for Teslas (see separate story, p49). Few countries are as well catered for as the UK when it comes to track days, so you might imagine an EV-only track day wouldn’t be necessary but, according to Chambers, there are still lots of misconceptions. “Only a year and a half ago, only about 50% of tracks would allow EVs on in the first place, because they all were worried about fire and getting electrocuted if there was an accident,” he says.

“Another reason why I’ve organised this track day is that there’s this opinion that… EVs are just good at drag races because you see so many drag racing videos,” continues Chambers, adding that even owners aren’t aware of their cars’ potential.

Over the past few years, he’s gathered a small band of people who do track days in their Teslas, and some of those are in attendance at Llandow, but there’s a good mix of people and cars here, from diehards to those with a casual interest.