Formula E - First Test

"Mike Griffith" (photobygriffith) 11/21/2013 at 18:39 • Filed to: Formula E, Open-Wheel, FIA

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!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! series will be the first worldwide, all-electric, open-wheel series in the world, and it's happening next year. Between being run by the FIA and opening up 20 top-level seats for the world's best drivers, it's shaping up to be a hell of a first season.

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The first question, however, is fairly obvious; what car will they be using? Look no further.

Lucas di Grassi is the Formula E official test driver, and he finally got to take a nearly-race-ready prototype out to stretch its legs. The noise this car makes is...Odd. Kind of how I would imagine a spaceship sounding if Renault built it.

Lucas says that this car has 25% the power and torque of the competition spec version, and one of the engineers says that this prototype version has only half the battery life of what they will have. Even with the more powerful batteries, drivers and teams will need to make at least one mandatory car swap (because swapping the batteries isn't feasible in racing conditions quite yet) per race.

Personally, I think it looks incredible. I think I'll get used to the sound when there's 20 of them sitting on the grid in a few months, and I can't get over how awesome it is to hear other things on the car at speed, like the clank of the gearbox or the squealing of the tires. My only concern is that the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! section of their website seems like it was the first draft they came up with in a meeting...It worries me that they are planning to run this series in less than 6 months and don't have a strict set of regulations together.

Excited or not?

ddavidn > Mike Griffith 11/21/2013 at 18:40

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Excited, because progress and future and science.

...But while watching, I might make my own car noises.

f86sabre > Mike Griffith 11/21/2013 at 18:44

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Interested, to a degree. Obviously, the fact that the teams need to bring two cars to each race negates any kind of "green" cred they are trying for. Also, need to understand how many races the battery packs need to last and how they will be recycled/refurbished.

The Transporter > Mike Griffith 11/21/2013 at 18:48

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I will never understand why they don't just run heat races instead of swapping cars mid-race. It's like putting a neon sign over the Achilles heel of all EVs.

Axel-Ripper > Mike Griffith 11/21/2013 at 18:54

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I will watch it, but I can't get excited about it. Too many things that just make no sense. Even if you overlook the use of the same spec Dallara (and trying to pass it off as another manufacturer) tub and the absurd pit stop strategy, you still have them racing on road tires that they have to use for the entire weekend (something about being realistic to road cars), the confounding idea of a Twitter vote for a push to pass, and the fact that everything about them has been run through the PR grinder so many times it has become dull.

Also, 25% power puts it well under what a bunch of college kids do yearly in Formula Student/FSAE. Yes, it is their install laps, but still, the video trys to make it seem like they just did a full race stint and tried making it look far faster than it was actually going.

CAR_IS_MI > Mike Griffith 11/21/2013 at 19:14

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"Even with the more powerful batteries, drivers and teams will need to make at least one mandatory car swap (because swapping the batteries isn't feasible in racing conditions quite yet) per race."

This might be the downturn of the series. The slightest difference in the way a vehicle is set up and how the driver react to that could cause so much chaos during car swaps.

Simplify, then add beer > Mike Griffith 11/21/2013 at 19:41

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This could be amazing.

This could also be shit.

The idea of switching cars over could actually be a benefit to this series. It's a type of pit stop we've not seen before, and it makes me think of the old Le Mans starts where the drivers would run to their cars.

However the FIA are trying to make this too many thing at once. They want real world relate-ability but want people to think of it as the Energiser Bunny F1.

Still, if I can drink whilst watching it, I'll be tuning in.

Team6.1 > Mike Griffith 11/21/2013 at 21:06

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If I wanna watch electric cars race I'll go to the local RC track. At least they have jumps! EDIT: In all seriousness though, look at the struggles of established series. This is a brand new series, not to mention a whole new technology, cars no one has ever seen before. I think this will need time and someone to pump a LOT of money into it to even give it a chance. And I think the average person would still rather watch something like AMLS that they could relate to or F1 with established personalities, history, etc.

lucky's pepper > Mike Griffith 11/21/2013 at 22:50

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I know there are people interested in this (though I question if there will be anywhere near enough interest to actually make this viable), and if it's your thing, then great.

But racing to me is more than just cars going fast and the drivers skill in operating them. It's the sounds and feelings of racing, exemplified by that video of the McLaren can-am car starting or this video of one being driven in anger:

Electric race cars? I'd rather watch golf.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Mike Griffith 11/22/2013 at 10:48

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Swapping vehicles is going to look silly. Who watched the Philipa Island MotoGP race where they had to do a bike swap mid race? It was totally ridiculous and got Marquez black flagged for missing his "swap" window.

If Tesla can do a 90 second battery swap on a production car, why can't they wait a year to develop a way to do it on the race track?

rwd&stick > Mike Griffith 02/10/2014 at 16:08

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