Extreme E comes to the Queensberry Estate

Extreme E took place at Glenmuckloch, a former opencast coal mine, which is about to undergo the next phase of its major transformation into a Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) plant and wind farm. The site provided a poignant backdrop for the sport which uses its platform to raise awareness of climate change and global solutions.

Extreme E is an off-road rallying series for purpose-built electric vehicles. It offers an exciting wheel-to-wheel racing format and also provides a world-first gender-equal motorsport platform, which sees men and women drivers race equally for success. The series has some legendary motorsport names involved with it including Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, McLaren, Andretti and DJ Carl Cox, all aiming to raise awareness of climate change and global solutions through the sport.

As an off-road rally series which focuses on the promotion of electric vehicles and clean energy innovations, the old mine was the perfect natural amphitheatre to showcase the necessary industry transition to move from fossil fuels to clean energy futures.

Anna Fergusson, Estate Director of Buccleuch’s Queensberry Estate, home of Glenmuckloch said:

“Hosting Extreme E was a wonderful opportunity for Buccleuch and the local community. Their commitment to the environment flows through everything they do, and using the sport to highlight local and international nature-based projects enables engagement on so many levels. For me, personally, recognising gender equality sends an incredibly positive message.”

Being a sport which takes its impact seriously, many measures were in place to keep Extreme E’s event footprint to a minimum. These measures included capping the number of team personnel and staff who could attend the event, remote working, and crucially, not having spectators on site. The racing action was streamed live on STV and ITV, in the UK, over both Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May and can be seen now on catch-up at Extreme E – Series 3 – Episode 3 – ITVX