E1 Series commits to Africa with LeBron James and Will Smith backing in Angola

The E1 Series brought its electric powerboat racing to Angola, with team owners LeBron James and Will Smith in attendance – and the championship has committed to a three-year stay in the country

Electric motorsport took a major leap forward into its thrilling future last weekend.

Dubbed the ‘F1 of water,’ the E1 Series has surged into the sporting consciousness thanks to its celebrity-packed ownership group. But the real action unfolds on the water, where fully electric powerboats – bearing closer resemblance to spacecraft – battle for dominance at speeds exceeding 60 mph across some of the world’s most stunning locations.

So, why did E1 decide to bring LeBron James, Will Smith and electric global motorsport to Angola? “There are many different answers to that,” E1 CEO Jamie Copas told The Mirror in Luanda. “We’re a global championship, it’s important to us to go to new locations, it’s important to us to tell our stories where we go. We find locations through long conversations with many different people.

“Africa is a really important location for us to come to. We raced in Lagos in Nigeria last year, and it was always the intention to find other locations in Africa where we can race, tell our stories, work with like-minded people, and have the same understanding of the foundational stories that we have and the things we’re trying to do.

“When we choose our locations, it’s not just about country: it’s the backdrop and the location so that we can actually put on a spectacle. We need a waterway that’s long enough, wide enough, deep enough, safe enough, calm enough where we can do this. In Luanda, the Yacht Club was the perfect destination for us.

“From there, our conversations with the government, with the ministry and everyone were just so simple. We have 17 containers full of kit that gets moved around the world, and every venue we go to has different infrastructure so we need support, and we feel we’ve been given that in the local market.”

Copas is convinced Africa is vital to E1’s expansion, and left the door open to hosting more than one race per season on the continent. Last year, Lagos proved a resounding success, with a packed-out fan zone underlining the significance of making the sport accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

Luanda drew an equally impressive crowd, with fans going wild for LeBron and Smith. Copas also harbours hopes of recruiting an African pilot to join the paddock in the not-too-distant future.

As far as E1 is concerned, Angola and the wider continent could play a pivotal role in shaping the series’ future.

“The reason we do what we do is to tell three foundational stories,” Copas continued. “One’s about sustainability, the second one is about gender parity, and the third one is about innovation. Racing is the foundation of what we do, and it gives us the platform on which to produce an amazing spectacle and do the sport that we love doing. But actually, the stories are really important, and that’s why we do what we do.

“We’re a global championship, and if you actually look at our audience, we have quite a large market from Africa. We’re constantly analyzing the data to see where people are watching, how many people are seeing the spectacle that we create, the racing that we’ve got on, but also those three stories because the more we can talk about sustainability, gender parity and innovation, the more change we can make.

“Africa is at a point of its development that’s incredible, and if we can help with those stories, if we can get more people to see what’s happening in the destinations that we go to, wherever it is in the world, especially in Africa, why wouldn’t we? We want to work together.

“We’re not going to change the world tomorrow, we’re not here on that sort of mission, but we are trying to change electric mobility because that brings great benefits around the world and that can help here, that can help in Italy, it can help in America, wherever we go to. But we’ve got a great opportunity here to tap into a very wide audience and tell those stories more and more that will have an effect on everything we do tomorrow, the day after and the day after that.”

E1 has pledged a three-year commitment to Angola, demonstrating a dedication to advancing the series in a nation and region frequently neglected by international sporting events. Copas added: “It’s for us to help tell Angola stories, and I think it’s also for Angola to help tell ours. It’s about that collaboration and partnership. I think the more we can be doing to help with sustainability, green energy, the better.

“Hopefully next year it will be even bigger, the following year it will be even bigger and we can continue to tell the stories. Earlier this week, some of the pilots and some of our team visited a mangrove and planted seeds there. It will be great to come back next year and see how that’s grown. The opportunity to come back is something we welcome.”