Green car championship EV Cup finalises dates for inaugural season

The schedule is set for the EV Cup and series, the first dedicated to zero-emission electric vehicles and backed by Damon Hill and Ben Collins.

The first race of the EV Cup will be on August 6. Courtesy of EV Cup

It is said that racing improves the breed. So fans of electric vehicles can take heart in the knowledge that the EV Cup, the world's first racing series dedicated to zero-emission electric vehicles, last week announced a list of dates and circuits for its inaugural 2011 season.

The season begins with a race at Silverstone, the UK's grand prix circuit, on August 6, followed by a further six dates in Belgium, California and other UK venues. The season finale will be held at the California Speedway in the US on December 17.

One of the founders of the EV Cup, Sylvian Filippi, said: "Being able to add two races in California takes us in exactly the direction we have targeted. We only launched the EV Cup in January so to be able to arrange seven races in year one is a sign that the world is ready for electric car racing." And in order to allay any fears that sustainable motor sport might lack any of the visceral thrills offered by its less green counterparts, he added: "We want to combine the traditional excitement of motor racing with an event that showcases the latest in electric motoring technology. It's our intention to make each event a great day out."

The series has the backing of two famous names in UK motorsport: Damon Hill, the former F1 world champion, and Ben Collins, who last year famously unmasked himself as BBC Top Gear's The Stig. Hill said: "Racing electric vehicles should convince the wider public of their potential. The race is to save the planet from us!"

Collins backed this up by adding: "Electric vehicles represent a new dawn in motoring by running on clean energy that can be sourced as locally as organic sausages. Motorsport still offers the purest research and development platform to deliver the true potential of electric power and dynamic energy recovery, perhaps to a level that will shame the carbon combustion engine the way rubber tyres did the wooden cartwheel."

Green sceptics and environmentalists alike will no doubt take keen interest in the EV Cup's first season, for wildly different reasons. Who knows, before long we might get to see - if not hear - electric race cars tearing up the tarmac at Yas Marina.

For more details on the EV Cup visit www.evcup.com