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ESkootr Championship Puts Racers On 60MPH Scooters For Your Enjoyment

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Take one part of the mission from Formula E, one part sustainable mobility hashtag and two parts speed demons, mix them together in urban centers around the world and you'll come up with the new Electric Scooter Championship. Announced today, the eSC will be the world's first-ever international electric race scooter series, pitting riders against each other on special two-wheeled race scooters that can go up to 60 miles per hour. Helmets definitely required.

Despite the Tron-meets-Playstation look of the promotional video, when the eSC starts it will feature real people on real scooters, presumably with less neon. The eSC, confusingly also officially called the eSkootr Championship, will start racing in 2021 in cities around the world. Exactly where was not revealed in today's release, but the races will be held in "the heart of major cities." I'll let you know if eSC uses piles of those unused shared mobility scooters that litter many of today's city hearts as obstacles on the race track.

As with Formula E, the electric vehicle race series, the eSC is about more than who crosses the finish line first. One of the missions of the series is to “make international motorsport more accessible, affordable and sustainable than ever before,” the organization said today. The eSC will also “promote the cost, convenience and sustainability benefits of micromobility within the rapidly changing electric mobility landscape.”

The eSC was co-founded by a group led by motorsport entrepreneur Hrag Sarkissian, who will take the reins as eSC's CEO, and Formula 1 broadcaster and former A1 GP driver Khalil Beschir, who will act as COO. Formula E racer Lucas di Grassi, and former F1 driver Alex Wurz will also collaborate with the eSC to promote the mission.

To that end, Wurz, the eSC’s safety ambassador, said in today’s statement that the new series is well-suited for the world's current challenges. “The world is changing, and everything in our society reflects that dynamic change – whether it is anticipated or unexpected,” he said. “[With eSC, we're] creating a series that can operate from a tiny footprint yet still work as an accelerant for meaningful change within the world’s leading cities, As a racer, I want to create a series that has all the thrill and intensity of the motorsport series we all grew up with, but with the costs and responsibility that make it accessible and appealing to everyone. This is the next step we need to take, and it's the start of a really exciting journey.”

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