A true BMW racer at the front of the field: new Formula E Safety Car livery presented in Mexico City.

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• BMW #i8coupe Safety Car’s (combined fuel consumption: 1.8 l/100 km; combined power consumption: 14.0 kWh/100 km; combined CO₂ emissions: 42 g/km) new look demonstrates closer relationship with the BMW iFE.18.
• New livery presented in the run-up to the Mexico City E-Prix.
• Michael Scully: “This livery gives the Safety Car a new dynamism and a bold level of expression appropriate to #racing in the streets”.
  
  

Munich. The BMW #i8coupesafetycar will take on the guise of a real racer from the Mexico City E-Prix onwards. The new livery – from the pen of Michael Scully, Head of Design BMW Motorsport – underlines the close relationship between this special BMW #i8coupe and the BMW iFE.18 race cars. It was unveiled in the run-up to the fourth race of this season’s ABB FIA Formula E Championship at the “Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez” (MEX). 

Among the guests were BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt, the two BMW works drivers, António Félix da Costa (POR) and Alexander Sims (GBR), Pia Schörner (Head of BMW Motorsport Marketing) and Alberto Longo (Co-founder and Chief Championship Officer at Formula E).

During the launch event, guests were given a first close look at the BMW #i8coupesafetycar in its new look. The design was developed in close collaboration between Formula E and the BMW Motorsport design team, and reflects the iconic design language of the BMW iFE.18. Like the race cars, the aesthetic of the BMW #i8coupe is inspired by the urban context of Formula E, in which spectators typically see the cars from positions that are higher and closer to the track than at other circuits.

“As with the BMW iFE.18, the first priority when designing the Safety Car was the top view of the car,” explained Scully. The iconic blue and white elements of the BMW logo structure each key view of the BMW #i8coupesafetycar in a way that makes no two views of the car the same. The asymmetric layout also shares the functionally-derived non-reflective matte black cockpit element seen on the BMW iFE.18.

Embedded within the livery is a connective graphic network of blue and purple ‘veins’ carrying the natural colours of raw electricity. “We have translated the themes found in the design of the BMW iFE.18 to the very different proportions of the BMW #i8coupe. This livery gives the Safety Car a new dynamism and a bold level of expression appropriate to #racing in the streets,” said Scully.

BMW i has been closely associated with Formula E as ‘Official Vehicle Partner’ since Season One and has provided the entire fleet of safety vehicles ever since. The BMW #i8coupesafetycar has been modified with many BMW M components to cope with the specific demands of motor #racing. These modifications include a roll bar, rear wing and rear hatch made of carbon fibre, a front splitter, sports seats from the BMW M4 GTS (combined consumption: 8.5 l/100 km; combined CO₂ emissions: 199 g/km), four-point harness, a roof-mounted signal light system, BMW M carbon ceramic brakes and a sports chassis.