For the first time ever, Formula E electric cars will be racing from Biscayne Boulevard to the AmericanAirlines Arena, to the underside of the MacArthur Causeway on March 14.

Why is this happening? Miami officials and the CEO of Formula E Holdings have announced Miami as the fifth stop in an 11-city international circuit that goes from Beijing to London, known as the 2015 FIA Formula E Miami ePRIX.

“Two-and-a-half years ago we came to Miami with an idea.” Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E Holdings said, “We didn’t have cars. We didn’t have teams. We didn’t have drivers.” However, they are now mere days away from finishing this vision in the Miami ePRIX.

The race itself will include a 30 lap trip around downtown Miami, with eight turns per lap, and 11 drivers that will be driving the Spark-Renault SRT_01E, an extremely fuel efficient electric race car created by Spark Racing Technology based out of France.

The race track starts in the southern part of Biscayne Boulevard, between Northeast Seventh Street and Northeast Eighth Street. The track continues north to 11^th Street, then goes west to Northeast Second Avenue. Next, racers loop around Interstate 395 on the overpass and race to Biscayne Boulevard toward the AmericanAirlines Arena. Finally, they will loop around Parcel B, head down Sixth Street, and drive back onto Biscayne to complete one lap.

Daniel Alfonso, Miami City Manager, said that race organizers are going to pay the cost of holding the whole event this weekend, including the test drives, which will close the streets for a day and cause many detours.

Source: miamiherald.com

Photo credit: Map - miamiherald.com