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

  • BMW i8 Coupe Safety Car’s (combined fuel consumption: 1.8
    l/100 km; combined power consumption: 14.0 kWh/100 km; combined
    COemissions: 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 i8 Coupe Safety Car 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 i8 Coupe
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 i8 Coupe Safety Car 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 i8 Coupe 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
i8 Coupe Safety Car 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 i8 Coupe. 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 i8 Coupe Safety Car 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 COemissions: 199 g/km), four-point harness, a
roof-mounted signal light system, BMW M carbon ceramic brakes and a
sports chassis.