Day-glo electric scooter racing, coming next year, looks like Tron in real life

When a group of motorsports pros got ready to lift the veil on the launch of an upcoming series of newly-sanctioned electric scooter races, they could have gone the conventional route and given us a fast-paced preview festooned with all the conventional hallmarks of track action: helmets splashed with corporate sponsor stickers, vehicles that look like rolling billboards, and clear daytime views to catch all that (cough, cough) burnout smoke.

Instead, they took a page from sci-fi and went dark-city neon. In a new trailer teasing the inaugural season of Electric Scooter Championship (eSC) racing headed to major cities worldwide next year, sanctioning body eSkootr Championship keeps the fast-paced action and ditches all the predictable stuff. Plug into your inner Tron and check out these IRL light cycles, which have us suddenly wondering why we’ve not seen the future-cool potential in electric scooters before now:

Adding to the appeal that makes this feel like more than a glorified contest with kids’ toys, the action will take racers up to speeds of 100 KPH (just over 60 MPH), which is probably a tick or two faster than anything with wheels this tiny was ever meant to go. Officially dubbed the eSkootr Championship, the racing series was co-founded by a group of industry veterans led by motorsport entrepreneur CEO Hrag Sarkissian and COO Khalil Beschir, a Formula 1 broadcaster and former A1 GP racing driver. The fledgling sport is also supported through a collaboration with Formula E racer and UN Ambassador Lucas di Grassi, and former F1 driver Alex Wurz.

Like its Formula E four-wheeled counterpart, the idea behind the series isn’t just to turn a profit while reward innovation and skill; it’s also to shine a light on the high-voltage e-bikes not only as an energy alternative, but as a diminutive answer to resource-intensive transportation demands in an increasingly urban world.

“At the heart of the eSC is the central belief that micromobility is perfectly suited to our times,” the organization said in its media release. “For young people and those on a budget, it provides an affordable transportation solution with zero emissions. In a post COVID urban landscape, micromobility offers an escape from congestion, an escape from pollution, and an escape from car dependency.”

Judging by these mainframe-ready night racers, it also offers a colorfully quick escape from low adrenaline. eSC Racing hasn’t said whether the neon bikes and cyber-cool riding suits will actually be an integral part of the competitive events it has planned beginning next year. But now that we’ve seen it, we won’t be content until our Tron fantasies break free of virtual reality and hit the streets for real.