RE: Embracing our electric future

[jason61c]

stuart-b said:

The driver and the pit crew

i doubt they find it interesting

[aaron_2000]

DoubleTime said:

Oh, I don't know maybe we are being a bit harsh on the E-racing.

I mean, this doesn't really sound that good in reality, does it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz5JoGJaHMY

Agreed 100% this sounds way better IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zBFeAPSpbM

[Wammer]

I have always thought that somebody should use the model S in the BTCC. I reackon it would make a great touring car as they do relatively few laps compared to other race series.

[camel_landy]

shakotan said:

camel_landy said:

Motorsport has always been a platform for development, so seeing as electric cars are here to stay, to me this is a logical development.

suffolk009 said:

I'm looking forward to the 24h.

...and seeing as one of the big issues with EVs is range & recharge time, IMO a 24hr race is the way to go.

M

Be like a WWE Royal Rumble, Last Man Standing.

It may well start off like that...

M

[havoc]

The Crack Fox said:

"Sustainable" - Please fk off with such language. How is building a new car, using all those materials, charging it, using all that electricity, and then racing it, which means going round in circles for no discernible reason, ever be "sustainable". Please, fk off, and I mean right off, not just a bit, properly off.

Probably not as forthright as I'd have been on the subject, but Fox has summed it up for me!

Would rather stand by the side of the M25 for 2 hours...would sound better and probably be more entertaining!

[firebird350]

Wammer said:

I have always thought that somebody should use the model S in the BTCC. I reackon it would make a great touring car as they do relatively few laps compared to other race series.

Well, I just hope the Tesla Touring Car drivers are quick off the line - in a two and a half lap race...

[Turbobanana]

Maybe we're taking too short a view.

I'm in my late forties and confidently expect fossil-fuelled cars still to be around when I croak. I certainly hope so anyway.

But my kids are 10 and 5 and already love motorsport. With any luck they'll outlast me by some margin, and I'd like to think that some form of racing will be around for them to enjoy. If that means it has to be electric, then so be it. They don't care what powers the cars - the spectacle is the same.

Is this sustainable? No, as others have pointed out. No more so than what we currently have is sutainanble. But how long until someone in power somewhere decrees that fossil-fuelled motorsport must be banned? Do we lay down and die? Or do we encourage development of an alternative that allows the sport we love to continue, in whatever way necessary?

[MikeGoodwin]

I remember the first time I went to Le mans in 2009, walked into the stadium at night time, up a grass bank and for the first time witnessed LMP and GT3 class cars coming down the gears, brakes glowing and stting fuel all over the road, electrifying atmosphere and was great just standing there with a massive grin on my face.

Oh and then there were the Audi diesels...... A C6R shaking the whole stadium on the starting straight, followed by the most disappointing whoosh from the Audi on its way past.

Cant wait to go watch EV's race up the main straight at Le Mans, only to have to stop for 30 mins to recharge. Itll be an electrifying race.....

I dont think Ill mind commuting to work in an EV, an easy silent commute in st traffic seems appealing actually, but there will be times when I want to stir up an ICE with a manual gearbox and itll leave me feeling dead inside. Far as motorsport goes I wont go watch EVs race ever.

[havoc]

Turbobanana said:

But how long until someone in power somewhere decrees that fossil-fuelled motorsport must be banned?

Have the animal rights brigade done it with horses yet? (Horse racing is hardly good for the horses)

...and much like horse racing, it won't happen because too many rich / influential people have a LOT of money invested in classic racing cars that they (a) enjoy; and (b) would see plummet in value if they became static lawn ornaments.

[robemcdonald]

Tesla can’t seem to win.

On the Tesla roadster thread they are getting criticised for being a 0-60 one trick pony, they can’t lap a circuit as they weigh 50,000 tonnes, can’t corner and overheat after the first straight.
Someone decides to race them and they get criticised for that too.

Like it or not EVs are the future. It’s going to happen just like diesel replacing steam. Lots of people like steam trains, but wouldn’t want to commute on one.

[Plate spinner]

robemcdonald said:

Tesla can’t seem to win.

On the Tesla roadster thread they are getting criticised for being a 0-60 one trick pony, they can’t lap a circuit as they weigh 50,000 tonnes, can’t corner and overheat after the first straight.
Someone decides to race them and they get criticised for that too.

Like it or not EVs are the future. It’s going to happen just like diesel replacing steam. Lots of people like steam trains, but wouldn’t want to commute on one.

Plenty of people hear are saying EVs are fine for commuting, just not racing.

[suffolk009]

robemcdonald said:

Lots of people like steam trains, but wouldn’t want to commute on one.

Are you kidding? I'd love to commute behind a steam train. In a carriage with compartments and corridors. Six seats to a compartment, three seats across the width of a train and ample legroom. That sounds bloody marvelous.

[cookie1600]

Plate spinner said:

Plenty of people hear are saying EVs are fine for commuting, just not racing.

+1

Somewhere here we are missing the essential elements of emotion and passion - usually bought about for petrolheads by the sounds and smells that go with raw, fossil-fuelled power.

If I wanted to watch an electrical contraption going round and round, I've got a washing machine at home. It's great for washing clothes and I wouldn't be without one, but it just doesn't float my boat in any way otherwise.

[robemcdonald]

Plate spinner said:

robemcdonald said:

Tesla can’t seem to win.

On the Tesla roadster thread they are getting criticised for being a 0-60 one trick pony, they can’t lap a circuit as they weigh 50,000 tonnes, can’t corner and overheat after the first straight.
Someone decides to race them and they get criticised for that too.

Like it or not EVs are the future. It’s going to happen just like diesel replacing steam. Lots of people like steam trains, but wouldn’t want to commute on one.

Plenty of people hear are saying EVs are fine for commuting, just not racing.

And plenty of folk on the other thread are saying they can’t be taken seriously as a super car manufacturer until they go racing. Hence my saying they can’t win.

[Frimley111R]

Plate spinner said:

An electric one-make series is pointless IMO - just look at how ste that Formula E thing is.
It's like the 'fun run' novelty race at the end of school sports day for all the non-athletic kids - ultimately nobody cares who wins expect those with a vested interest in the non-athletic kids....

When electric racers are competing on level terms with IC cars over a proper race distance (not just 0-100-0 sprints) - and winning due to power, handling, battery endurance vs fuel tank capacity etc - then attitudes may change dramatically and very quickly.

But I don't see this happening - racing authorities seem to love having regs so tight that you just see a parade of near identical cars on any given grid with no significant opportunity for new tech and engineering prowess to rise to the top..

Part of the issue is that they race on 'non' tracks mostly, they need to be seen on proper tracks where IC cars race. Ranges are increasing and in the future they'll do longer distances but don't forget many IC cars only do short distances, look at Rallycross for example.

[havoc]

Frimley111R said:

Part of the issue is that they race on 'non' tracks mostly, they need to be seen on proper tracks where IC cars race. Ranges are increasing and in the future they'll do longer distances but don't forget many IC cars only do short distances, look at Rallycross for example.

EVs would be a good fit for rallycross, thinking about it.

However, I still have a REAL beef with the hypocrisy of calling EV racing "sustainable"...

[oldtimer2]

This idea is not new. Jaguar has already announced (last September) an I-Pace eTrophy race series to be run as a support race for the Formula E series. I believe that Jaguar will supply the cars and that drivers will pay to race them - but I may have that bit wrong.

Such events are needed not to keep motor racing alive but to help manufacturers sell their cars. If we are to believe Jaguar's predictions of the I-Pace range, at least they will not need to swap cars half way through the race as in Formula E.

[PGNSagaris]

this looks like it will be.........fking gash.

And I hope it is. I once had the misfortune of being invited to watch Formula E at Battersea. A farce. st racing. st course.

Long way to go this electric stuff in racing guise.

[Rocket.]

I seriously hope EV racing dies a death and fast, once the nimbys know that race tracks can be quiet more of the time then they'll try and limit even more of motorsport/track driving based supposed 'noise pollution', track day noise limits are already a PITA.

EV for the road I get but it has zero attraction for the track from a spectator point of view.

[CaptainRAVE]

Meh.

5 minutes listening to the high pitched whine of Formula E was enough to put me off for life. It's like they don't want to exist, but have been forced into existence until they can't take it anymore and their battery gives up.

Edited by CaptainRAVE on Thursday 23 November 17:08