Electric GT: Tesla Model S P100DL race series explained

“It’d be insane not to do standing starts,” he says. “Seeing 20 of these cars launch into turn one will be very exciting. You will get an interesting sense of power.”

Silverstone will host the opening round on 12 August. The following races will take the Electric GT circus to Assen in the Netherlands and then the Nürburgring to race on the German track’s DTM configuration.

After this, Portugal’s Algarve International Circuit, Misano in Italy and Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya will host a race each, before Paul Ricard in France closes the 2017 season on 25 November.

That means the inaugural EGT series is condensed into just 15 weeks, which Gemmell says is intentional: “Having the races so close together means we can keep a good rhythm. It also helps to engage the audience more; if you have a big gap in the calendar, people can lose interest.”

Maintaining interest is something EGT intends to do by pulling fans close to the action. Spectators will be able to stream live video feeds from each car’s cabin during races. They will also be able to engage with the drivers via what Gemmell calls “a non-distracting heat map of support”.

Put simply, a fan watching a race at home will be able to use social media to ‘like’ a particular driver who has impressed them. This support will be displayed for the driver on the Tesla’s infotainment screen, with the intention that it will encourage the driver much in the same way that a cheering crowd can spur on a football team.

The interaction between drivers and fans will be two-way, according to Gemmell: “By removing the engine noise, the driver can also interact more with spectators. In normal motorsport, where the car is loud, the driver in their helmet can seem like a bit of a robot.

In EGT you’ll be able to hear drivers in the car easily, [so] they’ll become a human being again.”

Gemmell compares the experience with watching a tennis match, where a player’s effort can be heard as they strike the ball.

“It gives you a tremendous degree of empathy with them,” he says. EGT races will be fairly short, with the chequered flag falling after the leading car has covered 37 miles, which will equate to about 17 laps at Silverstone.

There’ll be two races: one in the day and the other at dusk. The first race will be contested by 20 identical cars divided into two-car teams.