Formula E- electric open wheeler championship

I only just found out the season has started:

the sound is pretty cool:

http://www.fia.com/championship/fia-formula-e-championship/2014/fia-formula-e-championship

“Overview:
10 international teams, each with two drivers. Each driver will have 2 cars.
Races will take place on 10 city-centre venues around the world
Circuits will be from 2.5km to 3 km in length
Cars will accelerate from 0- 100Km/h in 2.9 seconds, with a maximum speed of 225Km/h
The cars will still produce sound at around 80 decibels (more than a road car travelling at 70mph)”

The ‘get out and run to change battery pit stop’ rule has been ditched:
http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/guide/rules-and-regs.aspx

“Pit stops/Car changes
During races, drivers must make one mandatory pit stop in order to change cars. This must take place in their box and be observed by an FIA steward to ensure all safety equipment is correctly applied. A minimum time period (determined on the day) will also be enforced. Tyre changes, unless a puncture, are not permitted during this pit stop.”

You are only hearing the whine of straight cut gears and wind. It will produce a lot of sound because of spoiled aerodynamics. I bet from the grand stands, it will be pretty quiet, comparatively.

Some drivers were saying that they are hearing so much of the sounds that the car makes which they never heard before over the engine noise. Quite a new feel for them.
In the highlights video, they basically only showed the crash. Doesn´t seem to be much excitement in the rest hm.
But that crash was insane, turning in the air, with the driver head first to the fence… good that nothing happened. That would have been a horrible start for a new race series (or not…)

Impress me, take these machines to Indianapolis. Granted, it’s only left hand turns, but it is the perfect venue for developing endurance. But changing vehicles vs. changing batteries is a problem, unless you “qualify” all the cars that you would be running.

I doubt that there will be too many folks interested in purchasing “city cars” with the capability that these race cars possess, the name of the game in, electric vehicles, is range, and reliability.

I believe for the next season they were thinking about changing batteries in a way the F1 pit stops used to be. The cars this year are pretty much stock cars, but next year teams will be able to develop them, so it’s gonna be more interesting. This season is more about becoming known and testing out the technology.

  1. I hope they don’t have “push to pass” or DRS. That crap has made F1 unwatchable and Indycar barely tolerable.

Drawing upon its many years’ of experience, Michelin has developed a bespoke 18-inch treaded tyre that is unique to Formula E and usable in both wet and dry conditions.

YES!!! After 15 years of me complaining about how someone should run an all-weather tire in a series, it finally happens!

  1. 25 laps or a little over 50 minutes. Wow. I’m curious if the drivers have to stay off full throttle along the straights to get it home. Riders in the electric TT Zero have to control their speed on the straights or they will run out of juice before their lap is done.

  2. Funny how there is Mahindra and Audi racing Renaults. Very strange.

  3. Lew: Isn’t it weird that they are starting this in China? I’ve been to China…not an auto racing mecca. I think Indy would have been the best place for this. The track knows how to promote. It’s in a country that likes racing. I can’t think of any place that I would even put #2.

I didn’t realize there will be a formula E race in my home city of Portland, Oregon, for the 2023 season! I’m going to try to go to this!

It’ll be more exciting when teams build custom cars Formula One style.

needs this

How to Make a Bike Sound Like A Harley Using a Sports Card - YouTube

I much prefer the electric buzz to ICE sounds now.

They finally opened up ticket sales for the Portland race. Got some tickets and will be taking my nephew. Really looking forward to it! :smiling_face:

Good to see that pitstop recharging is coming in. Bad that it is still a spec series. Let the engineers (and designers) cook!

@Mr-914 I guess in a spec series like this it just comes down to the skill of the driver and how good the pit team is… if you listen to the VO it sounds like they are really monitoring each other’s charge?

I assume in time as the series gets off the ground they will allow for more individualization?

As far as liveries go though I really enjoy the Jaguar cars @AnthT ! Very bold.

Don’t get me wrong, there are benefits to spec series. I especially like the junior series that are typically spec series because of the emphasis on driver skill.

However, I want an open EV series to see what the engineers can do.

They did have an open EV class at the Isle of Man for a few years. Mugen and MotoCzysz had cutting edge bikes, but no one else wanted to spend the money to compete and the class was canceled.

BTW: totally worth watching the doc. Amazing to think that this ever happened.

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this weekend:

Super fun event.



IMG_3289

Some highlights from the race:

and what it looked like to us in the cheap seats :smiley: