Driving the electric beast behind XE's off-road crusade

For decades, World Rally Championship and Dakar Rally teams have used the easily accessible Chateau de Lastours facility in the South of France as the roughest of proving grounds to put fledgling competition creations through their paces. Think Ford Focus WRC, Hyundai i20 WRC and Peugeot 2008 DKR to name but a few. Those machines have gone on to succeed in some of the harshest terrains on the planet, after first going through this very development school.

It's therefore fitting that the major initial running of the new ODYSSEY 21 E-SUV - the spec car that will be campaigned in the nascent all-electric Extreme E off-road racing championship - has been undertaken on those same gravel roads.

The inaugural 2021 XE calendar will visit five locations: Saudi Arabia (Desert X-Prix), Senegal (Ocean X-Prix), Greenland (Arctic X-Prix), Brazil (Amazon X-Prix) and Argentina (Glacier X-Prix). Each type of terrain will pose challenges that cannot be exactly mirrored, and each round will mark some of the most remote top-flight races ever held. It's all part of XE's bid to highlight areas that have been hit hardest by the climate crisis. So, the chateau's roads have been put to use to plan for as many eventualities as possible.

Feeding the development of the ODYSSEY 21 - conceived by Spark Racing Technology, maker of the spec Formula E chassis - there's been input from a raft of drivers. World Rally, World Rallycross and FE champions plus Formula 1 race winners have all had their turns behind the wheel. And in October, just days after Mercedes grand prix racer Valtteri Bottas and WRC legend Sebastien Loeb had occupied the same seat, Autosport had the chance to sample this new racer.

The test took place on a loose-surface track in the foothills of the Chateau de Lastours site. Of the many top-class drivers that ran during the official test week, only a select few actually took to the rough rally raid-style stages.

On arrival at the venue in the dark, there's chance for a quick recce of the circuit. On the way down the access track, it's time to slow to a crawl in Europcar's cheapest rental hatchback to negotiate three huge bulges in the road, which cover drainage pipes under the surface.

The sun rises, we're aboard the ODYSSEY 21 just an hour later, and the 2.3-metres-wide car rides over the trio of mounds in the manner that a Range Rover would disregard as urban speed bumps. It gives a small glimpse into the XE machine's all-terrain capabilities. With an identical 250kW motor front and rear, and a Williams Advanced Engineering-developed 800v Lithium-ion battery pack sitting behind the driver's compartment, the ODYSSEY 21 delivers 400kW (536bhp), can reach 60mph in less than 4.5 seconds, and climb gradients of up to 130%.

Each round of the maiden campaign will feature different surfaces, from loose sand to boulders and everything in between. SRT had a clean sheet of paper to design the ODYSSEY 21, albeit steered somewhat by XE and FE co-founder Alejandro Agag and his team's vision.

With its single-speed drivetrain, the ODYSSEY 21 serenely glides its way down the straights, progressively pushing the driver back into the seat, without the jolt of gearchanges

Without rules to follow, and led by engineer Theo Gouzin, SRT evaluated a Safari Rally-style car concept. But as plans for the series' nature matured, the French firm went for a cross-country/Dakar/rally raid-type platform instead. And while Dakar rules seek parity between two and four-wheel-drive machines by giving technical benefits such as increased suspension travel and tyre size to the two-wheel-drive cars, SRT cherry-picked the best from a range of rulesets to create the ultimate electric off-road racer.

With one pedestrian rental-car lap of experience under the belt, and having glanced briefly at an onboard with reigning World RX champion Timmy Hansen at the wheel from a few days earlier, Autosport heads out on track.

The jaw-dropping torque delivery of EV powertrains never ceases to amaze, although it's comparable to the electric rallycross car Autosport has been lucky enough to sample before. Coupled with the ODYSSEY 21's sophisticated torque distribution system working underneath, even a ginger application of the right pedal results in the car hurtling through the first right-left kink on the circuit. The rear immediately steps out as the purpose-made Continental tyres scrabble for traction.

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The course is scattered with a range of surfaces, from clean lines thanks to a week's worth of running, to rougher gravel then slimy mud. The area has been drenched by heavy overnight rain.

Driving down from the workshop area to the track, there is a chance to get a slight feel of the rock-solid, non-servo-assisted brake pedal. But now pressing on, both the stopping performance from the six-pot anchors and the feedback through the pedal - slowing from higher speed for the first time into a left-hand hairpin - is seriously impressive.

With the dust of a few days earlier a distant memory, this corner is now home to a substantial puddle right on turn-in. Contact with the water pushes a bow wave over the front of the car, despite its height off the ground, and over the windscreen. Although the splashy moment is indicative of the kind of visibility that can be expected on events next year, what's less realistic is the need to slow to a crawl to fumble for the wiper button on the dash. It's a safe bet the proper XE drivers won't have such problems.

Vision restored, it's back under way. The first lap is just about finding our feet, the noise from the direct-drive powertrain, single-speed transmission and tyres on the road making the interior anything but silent, despite the perception of electric motorsport machinery. The ride is smooth, thanks to the 350mm of soft suspension travel and huge sidewalls of the tyres, but the chassis feels taut too, despite the centre of gravity being far higher than anything Autosport has driven before.

The traction provided by the 37-inch rubber is very impressive and the tyres give a satisfying judder as they search for grip on the firmer sections of track. They also allow the car to slide sideways nicely on the exit of the medium-speed corners. With its single-speed drivetrain, the ODYSSEY 21 serenely glides its way down the straights, progressively pushing the driver back into the seat, without the jolt of gearchanges.

In the very tight low-speed corners during the opening laps, there's a battle with understeer. But it's quickly learned that this isn't an inherent issue with the equipment, just ineptitude of the operator.

Our previous experience of four-wheel drive comes from rallycross machinery, which is soft in comparison to circuit racers but low-slung and stiff when pitched against this beast. There, understeer can be cured by either a tug of the handbrake or a good dose of throttle to rotate the rear. By contrast, the ODYSSEY 21 doesn't have a handbrake.

The SRT engineers toyed with the idea of using a regenerative braking system to lock the rear axle but, following a number of driveshaft breakages in testing with such rapid torque shift, the plan was canned. Also, with so much suspension travel, when you get hard onto the throttle at low speed the chassis starts to pick up the nose, rather than immediately rotating the rear.

To combat this, a Scandinavian-flick approach is required for the tight turns. While we'll never claim to be proficient in such an art, by the end of the all-too-short run, Autosport is getting to grips. Brake hard with the left foot and turn away from the desired corner on entry, then throw the tubular spaceframe, composite panel-clad machine towards the apex. Allow the weight to transfer to the outside of the car, the rear breaking traction and rotating nicely.

Once the rear is sliding, the 1750kg machine (with 45:55 weight distribution) is beautifully balanced and, by massaging the throttle, it's possible to hold a long drift around the track's most open of hairpins one-handed.

That is in no small part due to the ODYSSEY 21's sophisticated torque distribution system, which for Autosport's time at the wheel is running in one of its most 'active' modes. As with almost every four-wheel-drive electric competition car, there's no mechanical connection between the front and rear axles, but you wouldn't know that at the wheel.

While Autosport doesn't find sliding into the driver's seat the easiest operation under the gull-wing doors, the professionals already signed up are far slighter, and for them it will be far less of an issue, even in haste

While the driver is able to adjust torque bias and steering sensitivity in the cockpit, the various maps within the car's vehicle control unit can account for much more. Motor speed, steering angle, g-force and suspension attitude sensors constantly evaluate which axle needs the most or least torque in any given situation, and how quickly it needs to be delivered, for both performance and reliability.

For example, torque output is decreased while the wheels are in the air over a jump to protect the drivetrain on landing. And, when the system detects understeer, it can deliver a greater percentage of torque to the rear axle to aid with rotation. That's before it knows what to do when each wheel is in a hole or deep sand. Clever stuff! For such a large car, the ODYSSEY 21 feels nimble, even on this circuit, which isn't really representative of what it will encounter in competition.

Out in the field next year, drivers will race four at a time through a live-broadcast qualifying, semi-final and final format. Each race will comprise two laps, up to 10 miles in length. With the courses laid out by the XE team ahead of events, and with no traditional circuit or stage lengths to adhere too, the course distances can be tailored to the time they will take to complete to suit the broadcast schedule of around 15 minutes per race.

Each car will have two drivers, a male and female, who need to complete a lap each per race. While Autosport doesn't find sliding into the driver's seat the easiest operation under the gull-wing doors, the professionals already signed up are far slighter, and for them it will be far less of an issue, even in haste.

Each course will include different route options and the car has been built to cope with the rough and the smooth. But it will be up to teams and drivers, after only a short recce on foot the day before competition starts, to decide if they want to go over the rougher and slower but shorter sections, or the smoother but longer routes.

Regardless, drivers will need to pass through virtual waypoints en route and, just like in FE, there will be various ways for fans to get involved. A GridPlay system means public votes will determine grid positions. Or to gain speed boosts, the team that flies the longest from each track's first jump will receive the 'hyperdrive' speed benefit.

After the run at the wheel is complete, Autosport vacates the seat and the cockpit is sanitised - such are the times we are currently in - for the following driver to get their first experience of the new car. Next up is none other than double FE champion Jean-Eric Vergne, who we're quietly pleased to learn finds his first-ever run on a loose surface a challenge.

Even with its electronic wizardry at play, the ODYSSEY 21 needs to be tamed. There aren't going to be huge amounts of testing opportunity for teams before the inaugural season starts, which should make the racing all the more unpredictable.

Agag's vision is for XE to be a carbon-positive series, while highlighting the effects of climate change in some of the world's hardest hit areas. If that can be achieved while racing these exceptional machines, it will be both an impressive feat and spectacle to boot.