After
unveiling its 99X Electric race car back in August, Porsche decided to also
show it off at the 2019 LA Auto Show before its official debut in the upcoming
Formula E championship. Racing will kick off in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia this
upcoming weekend, with a total of 24 cars (12 teams) lining up on the grid.
Now, if you’re not a racing enthusiast, rest assured that the purpose of the
99X Electric is quite multilateral.
The
German automaker is planning to use the race car as a development platform for
future production electric vehicles, so placing it alongside the Taycan in LA
makes all the sense in the world. While the chassis and battery are built
according to Formula E regulations, the E-Performance powertrain certainly
benefits from Porsche’s experience with LeMans. It produces up to 335 HP, but is limited to 268 HP in Race Mode and 316 HP in
Attack Mode. Top speed is 280 km/h and 0-100 km/h takes 2.8
seconds.
Compared
to Formula 1, a Formula E car is nearly as quick off the line (on a good day),
but considerably slower with regards to top speed. As far as its aesthetics are
concerned, the 99X Electric features a traditional red, black and white Porsche
Motorsport livery, with multiple sponsor decals from the likes of Vodafone,
Hugo Boss, TAG Heuer, Puma and a few others.
Driving
the cars this season will be Formula E veteran Andre Lotterer (formerly with DS
Techeetah) and Neel Jani.
