What’s it like to race a Jaguar I-Pace electric car?

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  Bryan Sellers behind the wheel of his I-Pace racing car. He currently lies second in the championship for Pro drivers. [credit: Jaguar ]

“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” Like many aphorisms from an earlier time, this no longer works quite as well as it did. But for an auto industry trying to persuade people it’s OK to buy one of their newfangled electric vehicles, some racetrack glory never hurts. That’s the thinking behind the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, which sees a grid of identical electric Jags duke it out as a support act during a Formula E event.

One-make series like the I-Pace eTrophy aren’t exactly new. And for a manufacturer like Jaguar, you can see the appeal: whoever wins on Sunday (technically Saturday in the case of most ePrix events), they’ll be driving an I-Pace. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t good entertainment.

The annual Toyota pro-am race at IndyCar’s Long Beach Grand Prix was always a highlight of that weekend, until the company called time. The International Race of Champions series showcased drivers from different disciplines in identical Porsche 911s, then Chevrolet Camaros. Even Formula 1 crowds have been entertained by one-make races. BMW’s M1 Procar series traveled with the F1 circus for a couple of years and drew in some of F1’s then-stars to compete. Jaguar even gave us the short-lived but dramatic Intercontinental Challenge, a three-race series for the XJR-15 supercar that offered a $1 million prize for the winner.