Ask Dan Ticktum a slightly existential question on Formula E and you’ll get a consistent thread of ideas that revolve around doing more ‘cool shit.’
Mr ‘Cool Shit’ has ideas that revolve around some surprising, leftfield and perhaps not entirely on message agendas. But he’s Dan Ticktum and he clearly wants to f*** some shit up.
Ready, steady….first question DT…….
How do we pop the bubble Formula E is in?
“That’s a good question and it’s very hard (to answer), because you’re always going to be compared to Formula 1,” the CUPRA KIRO driver told Formula E Notebook in Monaco.
“This championship’s inception 10, 11 years ago, whenever it was, the whole message of sustainability was everything. It sort of still has been which is important. People have different opinions on whether they agree with some of the stuff, but I won’t go too much into that.
“I think something like the Pit Boost, for example, is a fantastic thing to promote this new technology that can make everything faster, sustainable, will encourage more people to buy electric cars because they’ll charge much faster. All that stuff’s great.
“However, I think we should just be doing more cool shit. Basically, build a Formula E drift car, remember the Liberty Walk one with the body kit? Change the steering rack and put a round steering wheel and I’ll just drift it around Alaska and do some proper, just cool content, even if it’s not totally sustainable. Just start focusing on doing cool stuff. Make it cool.”
While Ticktum’s on track prowess hasn’t manifested entirely yet with the title winning Porsche 99X Electric, he has starred in a few cameos this season already, notably the Evo Sessions in March. It’s a concept he especially digs.
“I think that was a fantastic concept, but I think they didn’t really have enough time to put it together as well as it could have been,” he says.
“Making an event with fans there could be cool if they’ve got more time. But I think the whole concept of that event was brilliant.
“I really enjoyed being a part of it as well but just do some more weird stuff, like, even if it’s not a Formula E car underneath, make it look like a Formula E car, like those racing trucks do the massive jumps.
“Go somewhere and do some jumps, with fire and just some cool shit. I think that’s what we should be doing.”
Interview by Georgia Williams
