Formula E - Am I The Only One Excited?
Discussion
I watched a electric hatchback race at Pau a few years back - to me it was dreadful. Horrible sound, almost as bad as nails on a blackboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5VX3cPBoTo
Formula E is a stupid concept. Half way through, drivers have to pit and run to another car and set off again. The batteries won't do a full distance. Talk of an obstacle course and a brain teaser question have also been suggested to spice the racing up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5VX3cPBoTo
Formula E is a stupid concept. Half way through, drivers have to pit and run to another car and set off again. The batteries won't do a full distance. Talk of an obstacle course and a brain teaser question have also been suggested to spice the racing up
Edited by woof on Saturday 22 March 12:58
I think the hope is that it lasts long enough for the battery technology to mature and start making it a bit less "quirky". Batteries are developing at a crazy rate so it may work.
Personally I'm not convinced, but with F1 working hard to make a farce of itself then maybe FE will pick up enough scraps to survive..
Personally I'm not convinced, but with F1 working hard to make a farce of itself then maybe FE will pick up enough scraps to survive..
woof said:
Formula E is a stupid concept. Half way through, drivers have to pit and run to another car and set off again. The batteries won't do a full distance. Talk of an obstacle course and a brain teaser question have also been suggested to spice the racing up
I heard that in the old days people used to have to run to their cars at the start of the race. It'll never catch on. BritishRacinGrin said:
woof said:
Formula E is a stupid concept. Half way through, drivers have to pit and run to another car and set off again. The batteries won't do a full distance. Talk of an obstacle course and a brain teaser question have also been suggested to spice the racing up
I heard that in the old days people used to have to run to their cars at the start of the race. It'll never catch on. 
Lets actually watch it before we bash it as long as the racing is close and action packed and the cars don't look like current f1 cars im not bothered by them being electric. However if they know they have to swap cars why don't they make the races shorter like btcc races until the battery life can be extended.
Yes I am a little excited about formula E, It will have some top line drivers and no doubt some close racing.
But I do feel the FIA (or who ever is organising it) have got it completely wrong. They should have created an electric touring car series. That way the manufacturers will want to get involved as it will help sell their electric road cars. As it is, it is irrelevant single seaters which won't drive road car development and is unlikely to be a good marketing tool.
Imagine a TC series with all the top OEMs running 3 x 15min races in a day, there will be all the usual body contact and close racing associated with TCs and nobody will mind the fact they sound a bit crap because TCs already sound crap.
But I do feel the FIA (or who ever is organising it) have got it completely wrong. They should have created an electric touring car series. That way the manufacturers will want to get involved as it will help sell their electric road cars. As it is, it is irrelevant single seaters which won't drive road car development and is unlikely to be a good marketing tool.
Imagine a TC series with all the top OEMs running 3 x 15min races in a day, there will be all the usual body contact and close racing associated with TCs and nobody will mind the fact they sound a bit crap because TCs already sound crap.
wildman0609 said:
Imagine a TC series with all the top OEMs running 3 x 15min races in a day, there will be all the usual body contact and close racing associated with TCs and nobody will mind the fact they sound a bit crap because TCs already sound crap.
Like this but with better cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmdPLQrzZuMMunter said:
Like this but with better cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmdPLQrzZuM
the cars need to be adapted road cars with the original steel body in place, to make it relevant to manufacturers. or they need to look mental like DTM or japanese Super GT, as that generates fan interest. not be a space frame with a poor looking plastic body placed on top.I think that there are a lot of people missing a lot of points here.
We are mainly car lovers and love motorsport. We have grown up with the noises and smells of racing for many years and know what we like and don’t. Most of us could give a good basic description of the difference between F1/GP2/GP3/F3/F4/FR/FF and LMP1/LPM2/LMGT Pro/LM GP AM/GT3/BTCC/S2000. 99.999% of the people Formula E is aimed at wouldn’t even know what 75% of the cars from those series looked like, let alone what sort of cars they were and the sounds they make.
Formula E is not aimed at us.
The races will be held in City centres around the World and most of those who will attend the races will have never been to any sort of motorsport event before. They will not bring their big block V8 baggage to the table. They will see the thrills and spills and be told about the technology involved and think about the Twizzy or i3 that they are considering getting for their 15 mile trip to work and back every day. They will see cars that they will think of as F1 cars with electric engines covering half the range of their petrol counterparts but they are used to the shorter ranges of electric cars. This is fine as for the days they go to see Great Uncle Buggerlugs in the Cotswolds they will hire a 1.2 corsa or take the Golf. They will see that they will not be losing performance and that electric powered cars can be sexy.
In 3 or 4 years time the tec will mean that it will likely be possible to run a full race distance on the one charge. At that time people will have been introduced to electric racing and then people can look at expanding out to production based cars.
Talk to anyone who works for Autosport. With the exception of the LM edition if there isn’t an F1 car on the front page and 10 pages of F1 centric bulldroppings at the very front of the magazine they don’t sell that many copies. THAT is why Formula E has to start off this way, because the general public will ignore anything that doesn’t look like an F1 car.
We are mainly car lovers and love motorsport. We have grown up with the noises and smells of racing for many years and know what we like and don’t. Most of us could give a good basic description of the difference between F1/GP2/GP3/F3/F4/FR/FF and LMP1/LPM2/LMGT Pro/LM GP AM/GT3/BTCC/S2000. 99.999% of the people Formula E is aimed at wouldn’t even know what 75% of the cars from those series looked like, let alone what sort of cars they were and the sounds they make.
Formula E is not aimed at us.
The races will be held in City centres around the World and most of those who will attend the races will have never been to any sort of motorsport event before. They will not bring their big block V8 baggage to the table. They will see the thrills and spills and be told about the technology involved and think about the Twizzy or i3 that they are considering getting for their 15 mile trip to work and back every day. They will see cars that they will think of as F1 cars with electric engines covering half the range of their petrol counterparts but they are used to the shorter ranges of electric cars. This is fine as for the days they go to see Great Uncle Buggerlugs in the Cotswolds they will hire a 1.2 corsa or take the Golf. They will see that they will not be losing performance and that electric powered cars can be sexy.
In 3 or 4 years time the tec will mean that it will likely be possible to run a full race distance on the one charge. At that time people will have been introduced to electric racing and then people can look at expanding out to production based cars.
Talk to anyone who works for Autosport. With the exception of the LM edition if there isn’t an F1 car on the front page and 10 pages of F1 centric bulldroppings at the very front of the magazine they don’t sell that many copies. THAT is why Formula E has to start off this way, because the general public will ignore anything that doesn’t look like an F1 car.
Edited by Rude-boy on Tuesday 25th March 13:02
I'm excited about this. In fact I'm excited by the development of technology in F1 and WEC too. I think WEC has the best formula to date - here's a calorific value of fuel, now get on with it. Personally I wouldn't even bother with fuel flow sensors - just limited energy and give it your best shot!
Formula E is flawed in some respects but this is the first effort at this kind of racing and the technology is really very new. While electric LSR cars were briefly de rigeur 100 years ago, otherwise we are at the genesis of the electric racing car. They had to start somewhere and there's a general perception that single seaters are 'sexy'. As stated above, the public will want to see something which looks dramatic. The technology will move extremely quickly and I doubt FE will stay the same for long. I'm certain in ten years' time we'll say how archaic the existing cars look and how out-dated the technology is.
I've been fortunate to see virtually every form of conventional circuit racing over the last 27 years. Now I get to see electric cars around a street circuit. How cool is that? A whole new spectacle to enjoy! I can still go and savour all manner of aural treats in the multitude of different global race series. Here is something completely unique. I'll be down at the London race - and cannot wait. Oh, and the UK has been chosen as the series' HQ - and at Donington as well. All the more reason to celebrate.
Formula E is flawed in some respects but this is the first effort at this kind of racing and the technology is really very new. While electric LSR cars were briefly de rigeur 100 years ago, otherwise we are at the genesis of the electric racing car. They had to start somewhere and there's a general perception that single seaters are 'sexy'. As stated above, the public will want to see something which looks dramatic. The technology will move extremely quickly and I doubt FE will stay the same for long. I'm certain in ten years' time we'll say how archaic the existing cars look and how out-dated the technology is.
I've been fortunate to see virtually every form of conventional circuit racing over the last 27 years. Now I get to see electric cars around a street circuit. How cool is that? A whole new spectacle to enjoy! I can still go and savour all manner of aural treats in the multitude of different global race series. Here is something completely unique. I'll be down at the London race - and cannot wait. Oh, and the UK has been chosen as the series' HQ - and at Donington as well. All the more reason to celebrate.
Rude-boy said:
chevronb37 said:
I'll be down at the London race - and cannot wait. Oh, and the UK has been chosen as the series' HQ - and at Donington as well. All the more reason to celebrate.
I'm certainly going to that one and am discussing going to the Beijing race with the Mrs.
If the Formula E spectacle is up to it, I'd gladly travel to watch it. Nice excuse for a long weekend in Rome, Beijing, or wherever
Rude-boy said:
THAT is why Formula E has to start off this way, because the general public will ignore anything that doesn’t look like an F1 car.
A bit like A1GP you mean, where the general public ignored it anyway?I can't see it being a success - the cars are slow, and can't complete a decent race distance. Furthermore, it's not a feeder series for F1, nor is it a rival. The concept seems flawed and it will probably go the way of most other poorly conceived series.
The best thing you could say is that it's "ahead of its time" i.e. unworkable in terms of current technology.
dr_gn said:
A bit like A1GP you mean, where the general public ignored it anyway?
A1GP brought little or nothing to the party, conventional cars, conventional tracks, conventional teams, etc, etc. Nice idea, doomed to fail without a sugar daddy as F1 is/was much better and already established. dr_gn said:
I can't see it being a success - the cars are slow, and can't complete a decent race distance. Furthermore, it's not a feeder series for F1, nor is it a rival. The concept seems flawed and it will probably go the way of most other poorly conceived series.
The best thing you could say is that it's "ahead of its time" i.e. unworkable in terms of current technology.
1. Cars are not that slow. Don’t forget that they have yet to really get any miles under them yet.The best thing you could say is that it's "ahead of its time" i.e. unworkable in terms of current technology.
2. No, at this time they can’t. It might bother you but it doesn’t bother me because I see change as something to be excited about and try before I write it off. I also remember the days when a driver could wrap their car round a tree and then take over another from their team mate and still win the race. It is different, but we can’t say it is a farce or that it is the way of the future until we have seen it. In any event it will not be long before that is no longer required.
3. It is not supposed to be a feeder for F1. It will be distinct from F1 as, for a start, it will be racing in places that F1 could only dream of going. Monaco is the only track that they will have in common. It is not intended to fit in in the ladder, it will be stand alone and that is why it could well work for those who have no interest in motorsport. It is not intended to rival F1 but to tap into the millions who have no interest in noise and pollution (as they see it) but like the idea of cutting edge motorsport with a genuine and obvious line to ‘improvement of the breed’.
4. I don’t think that it is ahead of it’s time. It will drive forward the progress of this area of the sport. Yes it is pushing the boundaries but if it wasn’t I am sure that there would be detractors complaining about it being too conservative.
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