Street Race Comes With Built-In Buzz

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The streets of Long Beach roar each April when the Toyota Grand Prix comes to town. But another race, coming this weekend, will be a much quieter – and cheaper – affair.

FIA Formula E Championship, an upstart street racing series with 12 events worldwide, will host a race April 4 in Long Beach featuring battery-powered race cars. Unlike the annual Grand Prix in Long Beach, the race will be free to attend.

The Long Beach Formula E race is one of just two – along with Monaco – that won’t charge admission. Alejandro Agag, chief executive of FIA Formula E, said he can afford to do that because the race will tweak the existing course set up for the gas-powered Grand Prix, which is just a few weeks away. The electric series partnered with the Toyota Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, which manages the Grand Prix, on the Formula E race.

Agag plans to cover event costs by attracting corporate sponsorships, particularly from California tech companies. Already, Formula E has inked a multiyear sponsorship deal with San Diego tech giant Qualcomm Inc., and Agag visited Silicon Valley last month hoping to do more deals.

“We’re bringing in new sponsors,” Agag said. “We’re going in a good direction. We expect to break even in the next six to 12 months.”

Formula E race cars look similar to the IndyCars that race through Long Beach each year, but they’re quieter and run on batteries that last only about 25 minutes, making for a very different kind of pit stop: Instead of stopping for fuel, drivers pull their cars into the pit midway through the race, jump into a second car with a fully charged battery and get back on the track.

The Grand Prix event a couple of years ago added a drifting race, in which competitors are judged mainly by how they slide their cars sideways.

“We’ve always been interested in expanding our event,” said Jim Michaelian, chief executive of the Grand Prix association. “Now, with Formula E, Formula Drift and then the Grand Prix, the spotlight will be on Long Beach for three consecutive weekends. It’s a neat development in terms of how the race has grown over the years.”

– David Nusbaum

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