McLaren is to become a supplier in the new FIA Formula E series, which will kick off in 2014. The equipment will be supplied by McLaren Electronics, which already has contracts to supply ECUs to F1 and NASCAR teams.
Frederic Vasseur, the boss of ART Grand Prix (now known as Lotus GP) has launched a new business called Spark Racing Technologies, which will assemble the cars.
The new series will be promoted by a company run by GP2 team owner Alejandro Agag and the aum is to have races on street tracks around the world.
joeblogsf1 
Any ideas what sort of components McL will supply? Are we talking onboard computers or are they looking at batteries and motors?
I heard it was the powertrain.
Press release suggests “engine, transmission and electronics”.
Joe,
Does that Lotus GP have any connection with the Enstone operation or is that the end result of the Danny Bahar sponsorship deal? Was all the money paid on that or did Proton/DRB Hicom manage to block at least some of it? Will the sponsorship and the licence to use the Lotus name continue?
Wilson
Lotus GP is another license deal
Another spec series, then… How tremendously exciting.
My understanding was that Formula E is not officially a spec-series, but that in order to get it off the ground one supplier has committed to being capable of providing and entire grid of cars if necessary – leaving open the possibility of another constructor putting rival cars on the grid.
I may well be wrong.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see McLaren start supplying other production road car manufacturers with DME/ECUs before long. In addition to the aforementioned F1, NASCAR and Formula E, they also supply the units for the Chevrolet, Honda, and Lotus IndyCars. It just seems to me that it would be a natural for say a company such as say Dodge, to have a McLaren control unit in a Hemi Charger, or a Viper. It would seem as though they are paving the way for something like this, be it with Dodge, Ford, Toyota, or any manufacture. The writing seems to be on the wall. Bosch may have to inch over a tiny bit in the not too distant future I would think?
Bosch would be more than happy to let McLaren supply the low volume ‘problem’ customers, their money comes from volume and getting parallel supply lines for the same parts across a wide range of manufacturers.
Looking at a fuel pressure regulator the other day, it went into 30 different cars across 6 different makers, they were those I could find quickly.
McLaren is a low-volume specialist manufacturer and is ideally placed for supplying these small but relatively expensive items.
Helpful comments from BE about Formula E – ‘lawnmower’ Formula apparently (never mind Bernie, too late to change now, keep taking the tablets). I remain open to this idea myself, one day things will have to change so why not try now. Perhaps putting something on the axle to make a noise, something like we used to put on our bike wheels at school (normally a piece of card hitting the spokes – you get the idea)! Jumpers for goalposts and all that……
….complete with 20 minute pit stops to recharge the batteries. Ouch! Was that my knuckle scrapping the ground???
Yes
Now if McLaren were an entrant instead of just a supplier, that would really be something. As it is they are going to get blamed for everything that goes wrong. In supplying all the major electrical components apart maybe from batteries they assume the equivalent roles of the engine, gearbox, electronics and control system suppliers. (And possibly the brakes as well if direct regen is used as braking)
I am wondering how tyres will cope with the acceleration, somewhat greater than F1 is possible.
“Now if McLaren were an entrant instead of just a supplier, that would really be something.”
Well they aren’t. This is spec racing run by suppliers delivering everything other than the wheels.
McLaren may be blamed when it does not work. By definition, the formula cannot work; there is no tech interest aside from McLaren, there is no tech evolution path for independents and there will be zero sponsor interest. It will be embarrassing to observe its downfall.
Prior to the 1907 French Grand Prix won by Renault with a petrol powered car, which is where Grand Prix racing started, there were lots of races for vehicles that established the concept of “automobile”. Manufacturers competed with Benz petrol engines, steam engines and electric power. For those of us who enjoy looking at what worked or might have worked, those were interesting times.
Formula E is about as far from innovation as you can get. The cars will race for 15 minutes and are expected to have 25 minutes capacity. When Renault permit the 1907 Grand Prix winner (or is it a sister?) to race, it races for 15 minutes at 100 years of age. The car was designed to run for tens of hours which partly explains why it exists today. But there were electrically powered cars in those early races and the manufacturers, illusional perhaps, expected them to run a few miles for the publicity. Manufacturers expected their electric cars to run for more than 20 minutes.
I suspect you are wrong but time will tell.
So you won’t be a terrific fan then!
The limiting factor in endurance is energy storage; there are current developments in battery technology which will extend this 10 fold if not a lot more.
“The series will feature cars powered exclusively by electric energy, and will have an almost open rulebook, the main stipulation being a maximum battery weight of 300kg” So that doesn’t sound too restricting.
Shocking news.