Subaru Solterra EV becomes official Safety Car in major bike racing championship

Subaru Solterra EV becomes official Safety Car for the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship this year. DAVID HOOPER went to the Donington Park to find out more, and put in a couple of hot laps!

SUBARU is in pole position in the world of EVs with its impressively capable Solterra taking on the role of the official safety car in the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship this year.

The UK race in the 12-round championship was held at Donington Park in July when Subaru invited VIP guests and journalists to soak up the atmosphere of the race weekend and to experience a passenger lap around the fabulous Donington Park Circuit in the Solterra EV safety car.

After the afternoon’s exciting racing was completed guests had the opportunity to get behind the wheel and experience a flying lap in an EV for themselves – a first for me, although I have done several track days both corporate and private at Donington and know the circuit well.

The Subaru Solterra is a four-wheel-drive EV with two motors and a power output of nearly 300 brake horsepower, so it is no slouch, but the World Superbikes were on a different level – they were so quick you could hardly follow them with your head as they flashed past.

The Solterra really looks the part with all its decals on and handled surprisingly well on the racetrack, and certainly better than I expected having tested numerous EV’s on public roads now. While, you could feel the extra weight of the battery in the car, its handling was still very competent and predictable in the way it dealt with changes of direction at speed and remained composed unless you took big liberties with it, and perhaps even more impressively, the brakes stood up to the test on what was quite a warm day.

The demonstration lap by the safety car driver was very quick, smooth and impressively tidy, but there were no cones to hit, unlike the guest laps, but as far as I know most of the cones survived the afternoon to tell the tale!

The whole event had a very laid-back and friendly ambience to it, a big contrast to Formula One the weekend before at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone where everything was very tightly locked down with stewards on every entrance to every area.

The WSBK racing was incredibly exciting and very tight at the front, and we saw a few spills as well as the thrills, but fortunately nobody was seriously hurt.

We also had the rare opportunity to take part in a grid walk before the second race of the day in the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship which is a women-only racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme and Dorna, the company that also organizes MotoGP and the Superbike World Championship. The race series was announced in April 2023 during the 2023 Spanish Motorcycle Grand Prix.

The machinery looked just as impressive as the men’s, but the competitors were definitely prettier!

I’m not ashamed to admit that my son and I, who are both keen bikers, were both left feeling a little outclassed in their company as they flew past our vantage point in a stand at a rate of knots neither of us would have fancied trying to keep up with on our own motorcycles!

With plenty of food stands, merchandise and bike kit vendors, there was more than enough to keep us entertained for the day and we both came away in agreement that the Subaru Solterra was a great car to drive on the circuit and the whole event combined to make a really enjoyable day out for anyone who likes their motorsport, be that on two wheels or four!

Read our review on the road-going Subaru Solterra here