The exterior is made of CFRP and aims for the top

The fifth round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship “2024 Tokyo E-Prix”, the first full-scale public road race held in Japan, was held on 29-30 March 2024 (Fri-Sat) on a special course of 2.582 km per lap built around the East Exhibition Hall at Tokyo Big Sight. Held. In conjunction with the event, the E-Tokyo Festival 2024 was held at Tokyo Big Sight, where demo runs were conducted by EV competition vehicles. There, the Honda concept model seen at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2021 was ……?

Shakedown at the demo run after the Tokyo E-Prix

Tokyo held the E-Tokyo Festival 2024 at Tokyo Big Sight to coincide with Formula E, with a focus on children’s programmes. On Sunday 31 March, after the Formula E Tokyo event was over, a programme was prepared using the track where the cars, known as the Formula 1 of the electric car world, drove around. A course walk, where visitors could follow the race track with their own feet, and various demonstration runs were held.

One of the programmes included a demonstration run by vehicles currently competing in EV races organised by JEVRA (Japan Electric Vehicle Racing Association). The six vehicles running were the Jaguar I-Pace SVR, Tesla Model S Plaid, Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf (unfortunately the run was cancelled due to problems), Honda e and Toyota Mirai.

The Honda e made its debut at the final round of the JEVRA Series in 2023, the ALL JAPAN EV-GP SERIES ROUND.6 TSUKUBA, but the car brought in this time was completely different from the one that competed in that October 2023 race.

Many of you may have wondered where you’ve seen that vehicle before. It is based on the e-DRAG, which was shown to the public at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2021. In the last race, the car was forced to run at its own pace in the JEVRA race, where the Tesla Model 3 was battling for the lead, due to the 35.5 kWh capacity of the battery it carries.

This is why the team is introducing a car for the 2024 season with a one-off suspension by HKS and an exterior made from CFRP, which reduces weight by around 300 kg. Of course, the team will remain the Honda Access MS division.

As a result of the in-house club activities, things have progressed a little further, and the first race for this machine will be the second round of the JEVRA Series, to be held on Saturday 27 April at Tsukuba. The demo run this time was a shakedown for the entry. We asked the staff what they thought of the machine after it had returned to the booth.

“At any rate, it ran fine without incident,”

but what kind of driving will it show in the actual race? And how far will he evolve this season?　We’ll have to wait and see!

translated by DeepL