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Electric Chevrolet Camaro Drift Car Won’t Race This Weekend, Thanks To Red Tape

This weekend, Formula D was ready to usher in a new era with the first electric Chevrolet Camaro drift car from Napolean Motorsports. We reported on the radical new drift machine earlier this week, but thanks to red tape, the car won’t be hitting the track at all.

The first drift event is scheduled for this weekend in Long Beach, California, but a local city ordinance has denied the team a chance to take the electric Chevrolet Camaro sideways. According to information from Formula Derp on Instagram, the city ordinance forbids electric vehicles to race against gasoline-powered vehicles.

Electric Chevrolet Camaro drift car 02

Electric cars and gasoline cars can race on a track, but since the Formula D event takes place on a street circuit, the ordinance bars the electric Camaro from participating. A pity, really. The irony of denying a zero-emissions car to participate in a race in the state that champions emissions reductions is not lost upon us.

Other factors that may have been part of the decision to keep the electric drift car off of the track are untimely paperwork forms to ensure proper safety teams were on hand in the event of a crash and safety training in general. Fires that start in an electric car cannot be put out in like an internal-combustion engine. They’re often peskier and trickier and require special equipment and training.

Electric Chevrolet Camaro drift car 03

Where that leaves Napolean Motorsports is unclear. We’ll likely see the electric Camaro take to another event where regulations won’t bar the car, or perhaps catch the car going sideways on a closed track where such ordinances will have no effect.

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Source: Tire Meets Road

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. Just when you thought California couldn’t get any stranger…

    Reply
  2. “the city ordinance forbids electric vehicles to race against gasoline-powered vehicles.”

    But drifting isn’t really a race, it about pleasing a panel of judges.

    Reply
  3. One has to wonder whether this is the next generation Chevrolet Camaro especially if Democrats win in 2020 and begin implementing the New Green Deal and outlaw new gas powered cars.

    Reply
    1. I think the Tinfoil poisoning from your MAGA hat is causing post traumatic events that the GOP health care plan will not cover

      Reply

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