Formula E racing series launchedOpen Wheel 

  • Thread starter Thread starter ECGadget
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mustafur
I really wish Tesla got onboard, I feel like this is a wasted opportunity if they don't.
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Definitely, they have the best full electric cars out there at the moment. It would be great to see them further develop there cars the racing way. :)


LeGeNd-1
Somewhat related, apparently a full electric car managed to take the overall victory at Pikes Peak this year: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/...pikes-peak-victory-under-electric-power-video

Obviously the batteries doesn't have to last 30-60 mins in a 10 minute sprint up a mountain, but it shows what's possible in terms of speed for electric cars. In a few years time when battery and charging tech has improved maybe electric race cars might render its ICE counterparts obsolete :scared:
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I think hybrids will stick around in Endurance racing for quite some time, because batteries charge slowly. Shorter races will die out more quickly, such as karting and Formula racing as we are already seeing in both of those ex.



legacyMACHINE
Really don't understand the whole "The cars are slow" critique. They do 0-60 in 3 seconds, a tad slower than a GP2 racer, and a top speed of 155 mph on circuits where anything higher would he difficult to achieve at all.
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The complaints that I usually hear is the sound and the smell, but I quite like the sound; the smell is toxic and you can't smell the cars from behind a TV monitor anyways. :lol:



The problem that I have with some of the series that I've seen lately is the boost button. "Fan boost?" seriously? That's cheating. :p I saw boost in the Indy car series too, and I think I saw it in one of the many pro-am GT championships.
 
sk8er913
The complaints that I usually hear is the sound and the smell, but I quite like the sound; the smell is toxic and you can't smell the cars from behind a TV monitor anyways.
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Sound: The cars made enough sound that you can hear them when you need to, but even nice and close to them, I was able to talk to someone, because they weren't too loud, which was fantastic. They still sounded like race cars, but different.
Smell: I never even noticed a smell, but that was not a problem I found, seeing as I never thought of it. The only smell I got was burning rubber when the drivers (mostly Sarrazin and Duval) cut across the rubber kerbs too much and sent a cloud of blue rubber dust up. :D
 
Jimlaad43
Sound: The cars made enough sound that you can hear them when you need to, but even nice and close to them, I was able to talk to someone, because they weren't too loud, which was fantastic. They still sounded like race cars, but different.
Smell: I never even noticed a smell, but that was not a problem I found, seeing as I never thought of it. The only smell I got was burning rubber when the drivers (mostly Sarrazin and Duval) cut across the rubber kerbs too much and sent a cloud of blue rubber dust up. :D
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Did you have blue rubber on your face for 2 days? :D
 
Jimlaad43
Sound: The cars made enough sound that you can hear them when you need to, but even nice and close to them, I was able to talk to someone, because they weren't too loud, which was fantastic. They still sounded like race cars, but different.
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They sound like futuristic jet fighters, and that is awesome 👍
 
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Nice to see a little more front downforce on these cars.
 
Honestly, it's not that bad. It's pretty simple, but so are many of the Formula E circuits. It's nowhere near as bad as the old Canberra V8 circuit.
 
I understand the mentality behind using street tracks to make it feel closer to home and more appealing but frankly if all the tracks are just going to be right 90 degrees or left 90 degrees then why bother going to different countries. Nothing stands out. The iconic tracks have iconic corners. What from that track make me go wow that's amazing?
 
Not all of the tracks are so generic. A lot are very individual, really - London and Berlin stand out as two very interesting circuits. It's not about making it appealing, it's about demonstrating that a street circuit can be set up with minimal disruption to the city.
 
m8h3r
I understand the mentality behind using street tracks to make it feel closer to home and more appealing but frankly if all the tracks are just going to be right 90 degrees or left 90 degrees then why bother going to different countries. Nothing stands out. The iconic tracks have iconic corners. What from that track make me go wow that's amazing?
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They go to other countries because it's an international series :) It brings the innovation closer to lots of different people. Besides, I'd much rather go to an ePrix in Punta del Este than Hull :p
 
m8h3r
I understand the mentality behind using street tracks to make it feel closer to home and more appealing but frankly if all the tracks are just going to be right 90 degrees or left 90 degrees then why bother going to different countries. Nothing stands out. The iconic tracks have iconic corners. What from that track make me go wow that's amazing?
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I asked last year about why FE didn't go to actual circuits, the answer I got was that the cars would appear too slow on the circuit (slower then F1 under safety car). On a street circuit, the cars appear faster.
 
ukfan758
I asked last year about why FE didn't go to actual circuits, the answer I got was that the cars would appear too slow on the circuit (slower then F1 under safety car). On a street circuit, the cars appear faster.
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They aren't horribly slow like some people claim. If you can sit through a Formula Ford race, you can sit through an FE race. Apart from what I already mentioned above, the 90 degree turns physically suit electric cars better - torque is their strength. Lots of stop/start racing that would appear processional with IC cars is where electric cars excel for racing.
 
hsv
They aren't horribly slow like some people claim. If you can sit through a Formula Ford race, you can sit through an FE race. Apart from what I already mentioned above, the 90 degree turns physically suit electric cars better - torque is their strength. Lots of stop/start racing that would appear processional with IC cars is where electric cars excel for racing.
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They're faster than Lola T70's around Donington GP. Enough said really :lol:
 
It was a little bit pathetic, flat out laps and very little entertainment. Not the best advertisements for electric technology OR racing...
 
This series can and will evolve. The cars can and will evolve. There may also be more quality up-and-coming racers or even some ex-F1 and ex-sportscar racers coming up. I just don't really know to evolve this series, though. You just can't judge these machines on sound or anything. Only thing I am not betting on is these cars having performance levels comparable to F1 or the fastest prototype sportscars. At best, these Formula E cars may probably be developed enough to where they could match the pace of GP3 or Super Formula (formerly Formula Nippon) even on longer and more undulating courses.

I did like the sound of the ABT machine the most of the Formula E machines in that video. I just want to see these things become better performers. You can't just judge these things on sound or anything.
 
Jimlaad43
An interesting read about the different powertrain approaches by teams.

http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/august/jack-in-the-box-thoughts-from-test-one.aspx

There's going to be a lot of differences this season.
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Interesting how the different packages use differing amounts of gears.
Aguri is using last year's powertrain, with 5.
Mahindra and Venturi (And customer Dragon) are using 4.
ABT is using 3.
e-Dams Renault is using 2.
And DS Virgin and NEXTEV TCR are using a direct drive system, 1 gear.

I'm not sure on Andretti or Trulli, as neither team completed a lap in the test.
 
JohnBM01
Only thing I am not betting on is these cars having performance levels comparable to F1 or the fastest prototype sportscars. At best, these Formula E cars may probably be developed enough to where they could match the pace of GP3 or Super Formula (formerly Formula Nippon) even on longer and more undulating courses.
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What are you talking about? The SF14-Toyota is as fast as F1 backmarkers, possibly the fastest non-F1 car in motorsport and faster than the "fastest prototype sportscars". The pace of current Formula E cars is in the region of F4 cars; they have a long to go to get near the likes of GP3, nevermind Super Formula.
 
It's great to see the team taking different solutions, and the cars sounding subtly different from each other. I just hope one team doesn't run away with the Championship because close racing is what makes FE interesting.

Also, I would love to see Tesla and Koenigsegg (with their direct drive system) take part in the future :D
 
Jacques Villeneuve was really impressive in testing. Im very happy for him to still be so competitive
 

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