While yet to be introduced as the official safety car for this year’s Formula E championship, the BMW i8 Roadster Safety Car joined the actual i8 Coupe Safety Car for some hot laps around the Port of Monaco. The 2019 Monaco e-Prix took place this weekend in the beautiful Principauté de Monaco and it was, for many, the highlight of this electric car championship.
For BMW i and BMW Motorsport, it was also an opportunity to introduce the BMW i8 Roadster Safety Car, in the presence of Pierre Casiraghi, vice president of Yacht Club de Monaco, Formula E founder and CEO Alejandro Agag, and Dr. Robert Irlinger, Head of BMW i.
We’ve already brought you live photos and social media posts from the event, but now, it’s time to see the car on the track.
This new BMW i8 Roadster Safety Car has been modified from the production car with some modifications made to the i8 Roadster for Safety Car duty. It’s been lowered, given a shorter windshield and a new FIA-approved roll bar. Along with that, it received new M Carbon Ceramic Brakes, a new front splitter and a rear wing.
Safety car-specific modifications include a light bar that’s been added above the rear wing, a communications antenna, GPS antenna and a communication system inside the car.
BMW says the i8 Roadster is the world’s first open-cockpit Safety Car. Other BMW models in the current Formula E championship include i3s as race director cars, and the medical car is a BMW 530e.
