The first Formula E race took place on Saturday in Beijing with the race being won by Lucas di Grassi, albeit after the two leaders collided at the final corner, with Nick Heidfeld’s Venturi car being hit by Nicolas Prost (E.Dams Renault) and then hitting a kerb and being launched into the air and into a crash barrier beside the track. Heidfeld was pretty upset after the crash as Prost clearly drove into him to try to stop Heidfeld stealing the victory. Prost was later given a 10-place grid penalty for the next round of the championship. Both cars retired in the incident leaving di Grassi (Audi Sport Abt) to pick up the pieces.
The average speed of the 25-lap race was published at 79.2 mph but the results appeared to be flawed as 25 laps of a 3.44km circuit amounts to 86.325km and if it took 52m23.413s to cover that distance then the actual race speed must be 98.86kmh, which translates to 61.43 mph. The official results were wrong (and still are), claiming that the 25-lap race was over a distance of 111.3 km.
France’s Frank Montagny, now mainly a commentator with Canal Plus, finished second for the Andretti team with Sam Bird third for Virgin Racing.
There was more than a little irony in the fact that the first Formula E race took place in a city that is famous for its dreadful pollution.
The next Formula E race will take place in Putrajaya, Malaysia on November 22, in 11 weeks from now.
joeblogsf1 
Like father, like son. Just seen the take out and it was so like Alain’s move on Senna at Suzuka in 89. i.e. carried out about a mile before the next corner. Daddy will be pleased.
Heh yes, after the initial horrified reaction, I did then notice a certain wry “oops, I remember doing something like that” guilty smile seem to cross Alain’s face….
So after all the discussion I had to take a look on You Tube, the shocking part of the crash is just how easily Nick Heidfeld’s car flipped and got airborne. That should cause everyone concern. The low mass of these cars, while conserving battery life looks like a BAD accident waiting to happen. Doing this on city streets, with high density crowds, small run off areas, even with catch fencing is asking for trouble either with debris in the crowd or crushed\impaled driver, or both. So yes Prost Snr should whack his son upside the head because it was dumb on every level. He then needs to ask what can be done to keep these cars planted on the ground. If the series does not run out of steam before hand, then a bad crash might well do it in. Saying it is dangerous and not solving the challenge of keeping lightweight cars upright in a crash is silly because this is just the kind of engineering that will be required for ultra lightweight road cars. Seems enclosed wheels would have been a good idea though! I suspect some hard lessons are going to be learnt by this series.
Second point is when Joe says that battery developments to be worthwhile are at least 25 years out, he “might” be correct based on recent history. But rarely does technology advance in a linear fashion, that a 25 year prediction suggests. Nano technology is just one change that “COULD” suddenly propel battery technology forward and reduce the timeline you quote. Joe if batteries were so bad right now, why are you not lugging a 12v car battery around to power your laptop or cell\mobile phone. Remember bag phones? No one has a battery that big anymore and the phones do a ton more with less battery size and for longer. Sure that is down to electronics, but in electric cars similar efficiencies will be possible along with more power dense and importantly lighter constructed batteries. Demand and racing can be two driving forces towards that goal.
Ten years ago would you have said that many people would walk around with more and faster computing power in there pocket than an IBM XT PC? But they do and it includes a phone to boot.
Not a huge Fe fan after one race, don’t write off the utility of the electric car for 25 years – quite yet.
It really was a shocker wasn’t it!
Made some of Schuey’s moves look subtle. At least it shows that those cars are strong. They do look slow to the eye, even on a road circuit.
Still the racing was gutsy and great to see ex F1 guys like Trulli, Sato, Pic, Heidfeld, Senna, Chandhok, Alguersuari, Buemi etc as well as Brit Sam Bird and a couple of female drivers. No lack of driving quality that’s for sure. Nico Prost excepted. What is it with guys called Nico and *cough* ‘clumsy’ driving? 😉
Yes, the huge list of high-quality ex-F1 drivers on the grid is one of the main attractions for me. A far better line-up than A1GP ever managed.
Alain did not race dirty. Ask any journalist that covered F1 during his career. Senna on the other hand…
Alain raced very dirty in Suzuka in 1989
What was it that (I think it was Keke Rosberg) said at the time? Something along the lines of “You could tell Alain hadn’t done that before because he did it so badly”.
Ayrton however, for all his good qualities, had a long history of questionable moves. From before Suzuka 1989 and after. That shouldn’t be airbrushed out of the picture.
The dead can no wrong, rmm.
As Jackie Stewart wrote in his book, Senna touched the most drivers in his career which did not go well with him, thereafter Senna refused to speak to Jackie until just a couple of days before he died, he called Jackie about the safety issues in F1.
rmm, that was my biggest issue with the sycophancy of the recent Senna docu-movie. They definitely airbrushed his aggressive, win-at-all-costs side out.
11 weeks until the next race? Did they acquire their scheduling skilz from Indycar??
Not a way to generate interest in a new out of the box series.
It’s actually 10 weeks, not that that makes it any better. The calendar does seem to close up a little after that though.
it takes that long to recharge the batteries. 😉
Now, THAT is funny.
Overall impression= dreadful, on all counts
Too much straight lines, not enough turns on this circuit . I hope next time the track will be more suited to this kind of car
Actually, too little of each, it seemed to me. The straights were too short (and the top speed too low) to build up a tow and the wiggles too tight to attempt a pass. I suspect if they make the straights longer, they will run into energy recovery problems and the battery range won’t even cover 10 laps.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it but I found it very watchable. Prost’s move was a disgrace and to then suggest he was turning into the corner and it was Heidfield’s fault…. Well… Hmmm…
Quite a fascinating concept and it has taken a massive effort just to get to the point of an actual event. Good to see some familiar former F1 faces driving! And if one can’t get used to the new sounds of F1, well then Formula E will be an even bigger adjustment…
What are your thoughts on the race Joe? I wasnt expecting much but I actually really enjoyed it. It needs some work, that music they piped in during the car swaps etc was horrible and (I yawn as I say it) the cars sound terrible, but we got some racing!
Shame we have to wait a full month for the next one.
11 weeks
Between one and two weeks there’s a diff, but ten and eleven weeks what’s the diff? lol.
Shocking move on Prost’s part. I think Heidfeld was lucky to walk away from that one.
Thank you very much for covering it Joe, given that you actually had no requirement whatsoever to do so; a stark contrast to your fellow blogger who expended a lot of words on it when it was first announced, but now seems to have gone curiously silent about the whole thing. Publicity all round seems to have been lacking; I only found out it was on today entirely by accident.
Anyway as I wrote elsewhere on here I was pleasantly surprised by the racing, despite the occasional silly gimmick. I’m actively looking forward to the next one, shame it’s such a long way away.
That Heidfeld impact was terrifying though – he seemed to come within a few inches of breaking his neck on the top of the barrier when he landed, and when the director cut away for so long I feared the worst… presumably the director was thinking the same thing until Nick started climbing out the cockpit. And then for a few seconds I thought we were going to have a rerun of Piquet Sr. v. Salazar… 🙂
Surely having the inaugural event held in such a highly polluted city only emphasises the need for such vehicles though?
Anyway, thanks again for the words, Joe, as always.
The blog title seems pretty dismissive Joe, but what did you think of the event itself? I actually really enjoyed it, great on-track action and the other gimmicks weren’t so lame as to distract from the racing (I could even get used to the background music in time).
I think the whole thing is flawed.
And that’s merely being kind. Well said.
Seems though there’s a real need to look at the procedure for extricating a driver from an overturned car, looked all a bit casual to me.
Flawed due to the driver swaps? If so I entirely agree and don’t know why they don’t go for 2 races at half the length each like 1990’s DTM and BTCC races.
Or flawed due to other reasons?
The industry will not have a mainstream mass production electric car that is cost-effective for at least 25 years, according to most recent estimates. Battery development is not accelerating and has never accelerated but plodded along since the start of the industry. And the automobile world has turned to hybrid power – which is why f1 is perfectly placed and FE is not.
In US the consumers are shifting from hybrid to electric. Tesla, Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt are making history already.
Look at the sales figures.
Sorry but Chevy Volt’s battery is powered by a small gas engine, so it is a hybrid.
I am not so sure of the twenty five years Joe cites, but too many problems are ill considered, with electric automotive being a normal transport. Take only one: refueling infrastructure, and consequent strain onto he electric grid. Take California, whose electricity grid weaknesses were exploited unpleasantly by traders, just a couple of years ago, causing blackouts and scandal. Problems like that do not get solves by tax rebates. Too many of the other problems are masked by tax rebates. Some of those tax initiatives, more widely, are so disruptive already, that there may be backlash, electorally, within the time span that this kind of development entails. I’m far more optimistic that battery tech will be saved from slow development by breakthroughs in materials science, whether you look to nanotube anodes or materials that have amazing surface area in other ways, or chemistry breakthroughs. However, battery tech has been stable and slow to develop, for a good long time. The bet on Tesla, is that Elon Musk’s company is the frontrunner to benefit from any breakthrough. But, look at their licensing their patent portfolio. You can consider that is a generous gesture. Or, you can think of it along the lines they are so worried that they need a supportive feeder technology industry, from which real breakthroughs can be found, that they value their existing tech at nothing, compared with the chance of being close to a new discovery that is helped by their tech. The economics are so massive, they can support incredible valuations, and bold visionaries. I’ve no personal opinion about Musk, though he was allegedly the part model for Iron Man, and is oft talked of like a modern Howard Hughes. And why not? About time we put faith and real resources behind who is prepared to take risks in real technology, broadly, not in making the next iPhone. That’s all good. But, as irritating as this is to me, I am not prepared to bet against Joe’s 25 year proclamation. If I were to be, I would bet there’s a disruptive event long before, but one which leaves vested interests in the “have not” camp, who will fight rear guard to stall adoption.
The whole strain on the grid argument is a bit of a non starter. If everyone moved to electric the refining of petrol would decrease and that takes between 5 and 7.5Kw per gallon to do.
Also electric cars generally get charged up at night when electricity is cheap due to demand being low.
Finally, in 10 years when the old Tesla/Leaf batteries have lost some capacity making them unsuitable for car needs, they would still have more than enough power to act as energy backup for a house powered by solar/wind.
you do realise that refineries do not use electricity as the primary energy source don’t you? (this is what happens when you read the pro-EV forums!)
ie, no, they might use ~7Kwh of energy, but it’s not electricity (it’s from the crude oil itself)
you also dreaming if you think that the charge/discharge cycle of a Leaf (or any EV is anything like that efficient.
I watched the race yesterday with a friend who said that it would help drive the technology forward but I disagreed with him. Because it’s a one make series there is no incentive to improve the technology. The thing that really advances technology is an arms race. Competition. If you had 3 different battery manufacturers and several drivetrain/control systems manufacturers with rules relaxed enough to let them innovate then it would surely move the technology forward (if the series was big enough to draw sponsors and budgets) but as it stands, it will achieve nothing.
F1 is currently suffering from similar problems. The rules stifle innovation. For the benefit of the world they have to relax the engine freeze and give the engine manufacturers the ability to improve the hybrid technology at F1 rates. More relaxed rules and tighter budgets will force people to innovate rather than simply titivate.
It will drive technology forward, but the science of battery-making has been holding the industry back for years with only minor improvements year-on-year. If there is no likelihood of mass-produced cost-effective elastic cars before the years 2040, what chance does the series have of surviving that long?
Phwhoarr, I wouldn’t mind driving an elastic car!
Surely the key area where this series will make a contribution will be the use of wireless re-charging kits in years to come? And then they won’t be swapping cars and the range of the battery lengthens significantly – which is the ultimate aim for electric vehicles.
> Because it’s a one make series there is no incentive to
> improve the technology. The thing that really advances
> technology is an arms race. Competition…
I quite agree, but the plan is for it to become a proper constructors’ series in the next year or two. Only the first year or so is going to be a one-make series, while they iron the bugs out and the teams gain a better understanding of electric vehicles.
Our business is making battery chargers, and one of the issues with all these electric cars is the time to recharge the battery.
You can put a charger in of almost any size, but the ability of the battery to take the charge is the limiting factor more than anything else. For traction, the battery voltage needs to be as high as possible to reduce losses in the control electronics, this introduces all kind of issues, but doesn’t affect charging, we can go to almost any voltage or current, it just becomes pretty lethal once you get over 110V DC.
Nickel-Cadmium are amongst the best for fast charging, Lead-Acid not so good and Lithium or Lithium-Ion are very twitchy about fast charging.
Because the battery industry is still dominated by automotive Lead-Acid technology you probably won’t see any practical electric car ever, there’s no pay-back for the battery people to spend squillions on development.
Battery manufacturing is almost all done in the Far East now where they are not so constrained on pollution controls and labour is cheaper.
I think Mr Musk with his Model E would disagree with you on the timescale of 25 years, with it being more like 5, but only time will tell on that argument. The price of battery per KWH has decreased from $1000 to $500 in the last 5 years though, which I don’t think is plodding along.
Isn’t the motor racing world big enough for two series though, in the same way Football has the FA Cup and Premier League. Yes FE hasn’t got the glamour and the speed (much like Godalming Town do in the FA cup), but they do have a USP of getting into places like London which unfortunately I cannot see F1 doing.
Is that why Audi are developing their own powertrain for the 2015/2016 season? Strange for such a smart company to invest in flawed championship, but I suppose to some any motorsport series that isn’t F1 is flawed.
Flawed does not mean that companies will use it for their own ends. Look at the Prius, creates more pollution that many current cars but that does not stop Toyota selling it. Look at Ethenol, a stupid fuel that is more about the Iowa primary than anything real. Green and green PR are not the same thing.
I’ve always wondered how much fossil fuel is needed to power and electric power station. It has to make sense or else why the electric car unless sound pollution is what they are aiming for.
It makes sense because you don’t have to be using fossil fuel power stations. But it’s still a pretty tricky question and depends on more variables than I can find the energy to type out.
I’ve read reports about that – the basic summary was that in areas with coal power, it was better to use gasoline-powered cars. With any other type of power plant, electric cars were more efficient overall.
Are Audi developing a powertrain that they will sel for a profit? In this case the concept could still be flawed but they’ll make some money out of it and will be in at the forefront should it take off.
I guess this is why Renault, McLaren and Williams are also involved.
McLaren and Williams are largely involved because it pays.
Glad to be able to enthusiastically agree with you, Joe
Any thoughts on the quality of the racing, Joe? I was sceptical to begin with but actually quite enjoyed it… It looks like the promoter has actually put some thought into, well, promoting it as a brand… bit of a novelty!
I’m slightly surprised you even mentioned it. I was unfortunate (or daft) enough to put myself through the trying experience of watching it. So painfully slow and dreary. Until the crash at the end, I’m not sure how they managed such a spectacular crash when they were going so slowly.
Yeah typical of the prost dynasty eh ! And did you hear the interview with prost jr amazing he can even bullsxxt like prost snr ! Im suprised he didnt run to the officials crying like his txxt of a father did when senna managed to keep going after a certain incident that he caused . A 10 place penalty!! shame they didnt ban him or has daddy used his bullsxxting skills again and laid blame on the innocent party once again
If the father is a murderer, does it make the son a murderer too? Please grow up people. I didn’t see the race. If Prost Jr made a mistake, so be it. The accident with Senna has nothing to do with this. Just let Prost Jr have a life.
He did not make a mistake. It was a deliberate unsubtle take-out.
Quick Nick has already forgiven him and said he knows Prost did not do it deliberately, are you calling him a liar?
Of course, maybe your hatred of his father is clouding your judgement.
If he said that it was not deliberate then Nick is an idiot and I don’t remember that being the case.
More likely he was being extremely gracious and diplomatic as both he and Prost Jr are WEC teammates! I expect he received a grovelling apology and agreed to say convivial things publicly whilst fuming within! He knows he was taken out surely!
Nico is regreting the incident.
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/09/13/formula-e-crash-heidfeld-prost-video/#continued
Why do I suspect all you know about Alain comes from a rather biased “documentary” called Senna?
I watched Alain take out Ayrton at Suzuka in 1989 from the BBC’s lunch time re-run (i.e. on the day). Watch the shots from the helicopter. If Senna hadn’t been there, Prost would have gone over the grass before the kerbing at the approach the the chicane. It’s absolutely blatant, a very poor effort on Prost’s part and he lost all respect in my eyes by attempting to deflect any of the blame onto Senna at the time. If you think opinions were biased by a film released some 20-odd years later, I’d love you to explain how you work this out. Not a logical argument that I can see.
As for Nico… Well, the only difference is he hit Heidfeld even further away from the next corner than his old man did. Faced with the clear video footage of both incidents, and Hiedfeld being lucky to walk away with his life as a result of Nico’s actions, I’m surprised people seem to be defending either Prost in either incident.
Are we back to the whole ‘nationality’ thing again?
My thoughts exactly. Anyone who can look at the whole of Prost’s career and call him a ‘dirty’ driver has some missing synapses.
That’s life, you do all the good and great things but just one mistake and you’ll be remembered for the rest of your life. It’s cruel eh.
I’m afraid RonnyRocket, you appear to be a victim of your own accusation. You seem to have a somewhat clouded opinion of Mr. A. Prost…
Leaving Senna aside (I do agree with the points about the Senna movie white-washing his ‘negative’ side) and talking about Prost, his driving at Suzuka in 1989 was very dirty.
To top that, what people did not like about him was how political he was, and his close relationship to Jean-Marie Balestre, who’s corruption was somewhat blatant.
There’s no doubt that he’s a all time great, but as soon as I saw Nico Prost swerve in the breaking zone right into Heidfeld, the first thing that went through my mind was ‘Alain would be proud’… And then for both of them to accuse Heidfeld of ‘suicide’ moves was just unbelievable.
Prost takes a clear look in his right mirror just before Heidfeld begins to make his move left up the inside. It would be fascinating to know if he thought Heidfeld was comfortably dealt with and was as shocked as the rest of us when he shifted left and made contact with Heidfeld (suddenly right beside him) only a short moment later.
Looked to be a great drive by Heidfeld and a well timed move to finish the job. What a scary moment for him, but you have to feel bad that two great drives were so suddenly just…over.
Yes, I wondered that too – when he looked in his RIGHT mirror, Heidfeld was still directly behind him – in which case the accident changes from being a nasty cynical piece of work, to simple gross incompetence (not then looking in his LEFT mirror before moving)…
I thought that Prost glanced in BOTH mirrors actually, and then although Heidfeld was alongside, decided ( for the Glory of Prost & France? ), to take Nick off and hope that he ( Prost ) could still get to the line in 1st place….Alain obviously hadn’t taught the boy the finer principles of tossing another driver off track without it appearing too blatant! Much as I have always liked Nigel Roebuck’s columns, I found myself wondering if the next one I read would have him exclaiming that Heidfeld was the culprit, mainly as he is a compatriot of Schuey and therefore must be to blame, and if that doesn’t hold water, then because he has obviously never been half the driver that Nicolas Prost is…..ha ha ha!
I watched about 10 laps and wasn’t impressed as it is quite dire in my view. No internal combustion engine, that on it’s own makes the series just Milk Float juggling to me. However, although Joe clearly dislikes it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes hold with a new type of fan, especially the young, social network, short attention span, maximum gratification, person. And maybe this is what the FIA want to do. Maybe it is their way of undermining Bernie, and as F1 is ( in spectator terms ) on the slide, then maybe this E series could give the FIA a way back to getting F1 in their Portfolio.
If E catches on, and a do hope it does not, then the FIA may hope that more fans can be sucked away from F1, to the point where it becomes unloved by sponsors and uneconomical to stage, at which point maybe the FIA could get hold of it from whomever owns it at that stage?
> I thought that Prost glanced in BOTH mirrors actually…
Interesting, I never saw that, and I did look out for it quite carefully on every replay I saw; unfortunately I was watching it on an old-skool non-rewindable SD TV, so it’s entirely possible I missed it.
In which case it was even MORE cynical than I thought, as only the look to the right-hand mirror was obvious (in the same way as you do for the examiner on your driving test), in an attempt to fool us…
> I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes hold with a new type
> of fan, especially the young, social network, short attention
> span, maximum gratification, person
Yes… I noticed, much to my grim amusement, how even the national anthems were cut short, presumably with that audience in mind…
Oops, I’ll try again with correct formatting – feel free to delete the other one if you can, Joe… one day I look forward to a Preview button. 🙂
> I thought that Prost glanced in BOTH mirrors actually…
Interesting, I never saw that, and I did look out for it quite carefully on every replay I saw; unfortunately I was watching it on an old-skool non-rewindable SD TV, so it’s entirely possible I missed it.
In which case it was even MORE cynical than I thought, as only the look to the right-hand mirror was obvious (in the same way as you do for the examiner on your driving test), in an attempt to fool us…
> I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes hold with a new type
> of fan, especially the young, social network, short attention
> span, maximum gratification, person
Yes… I noticed, much to my grim amusement, how even the national anthems were cut short, presumably with that audience in mind…
Roebuck’s defense of Prost in ’89 has always been that the driver in front in entitled to choose his line into the corner. Apparently, this includes changing line in the braking zone and even turning in early regardless of whether another car is edging alongside, So yes, by his criteria, it was indeed Heidfeld’s fault.
I’m guessing the next race is in November because that’s how long it’ll take to charge the batteries!!!
Wow…now that’s an original and informed joke.
😀
LOL!!! that’s a very good one.
Cheers to this new league. In the hopefully-never event that the Sierra Club becomes a major political power, it may be what saves racing’s very existence. And heaven preserve it from following in the footsteps of A1 Grand Prix.
From the tv coverage I saw, Daddy looked rather embarrassed. I think they need to drop the ‘car change’ section – only serves to highlight the range/mileage problems with electric cars. Two shorter races would be better.
It was moderately diverting, but not a patch on watching Anthony Reid, Andrew Jordan and Emanuele Pirro giving it their all in 50s touring cars at Goodwood a few hours later.
Joe mentions above a 19 lap race. How can you have a race shorter than 19 laps?!
Go karts maybe but it would be farcical to have full fledged racers doing two 9 lap races.
Vivek: it was actually 25 laps, although several were held under a safety car. I assumed that Joe wasn’t counting the safety car laps, but it turns out (see Rob’s post below) that he got the figure from the championship’s own website, which was wrong!
Just to clarify: the number of laps is correctly stated on the official result sheets (available at the Formula E website) as 25, but the race distance of 111.3 km on there is incorrect (25 laps of 3.453 km equals only 86.325 km). As a result all average speeds are too high. I have pointed out this mistake to them, let’s see if it is rectified.
I concur and did all the sums to get the right numbers. Whether it was an honest mistake or a deliberate error will no doubt be debatable.
Thought I would let you know: Formula E responded to the message I sent concerning the errors in the Beijing ePrix results. They have corrected the downloadable pdf-files (except for the pole position speed in the race results, which has been overlooked and so is still wrong). The results on the website itself as well as in the official app still need to be updated, which I have pointed out to them. Considering the above it does look like an honest human error by the person who fed the timing computer with the (incorrect) track length.
A convenient one
Checked it out, out of curiosity what it would be like, but it did not impress me. The sound is of course minimal, but that was well known, but what bugged me most that it was very slow (top speeds of 160 km/h…) and looked that way. The drivers are quite good, but the atmosphere itself was rather clinical and brought little excitement. I guess F1 does not have to be worried yet 🙂
About the crash: I think Prost should be punished much more for that, as it was both very unsportsmanlike and quite dangerous as well.
Three things that sells racing to me, SPEED SMELL and SOUND as “E racing” has non of that I really cant see the point of it
From the Fact Police: the race was actually over 25 laps and won at just under 99 kph average speed… The race distance and average speeds on the official FIA result sheet are actually based on an incorrect calculation; using 4.453 km as the track length instead of the correct length of 3.453 km (which is actually stated on the sheet). Not that anyone will notice or care… For the record, I thought the race was entertaining (and not just because of the last corner incident), even if the speeds are underwhelming.
So the championship had the wrong results on its own website?
Classic.
> So the championship had the wrong results on its own website?
> Classic.
Classic indeed. What a bunch of muppets if true.
I’m disappointed though that you are so vehemently against something that you – and I apologise if I am wrong – don’t seem to have seen apart from the last-corner incident. It was quite an entertaining race overall and having all those familiar ex-F1 faces jostling it out was great to see.
I do take on board what you are saying about it being a flawed idea (no need to repeat your standard paragraph here!) but I think it’s good that somebody is at least trying this. After all, just as F1 in the past has been used to “trickle down” engine developments to road car production, could not the same happen with FE when they start designing and building their own cars next year? And then, hopefully, electric car and battery design *could* start accelerating. We need to be free of fossil fuels one day, as you yourself have said in the past.
I know that might sound like wishful thinking, and in part I suppose it is given absurdities like the mid-race car-change, but you often take your commenters to task for being relentlessly negative and not giving things a chance… I think it’s only fair that we at least TRY to be positive about this new initiative for at least a few races, if not a season or two, to see if it’s going anywhere.
All the best.
A cynic might say they deliberately “messed up” the calculations in order to conceal the rather low true average speeds (99 kph for the race = 61.5 mph)… but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. I shall point out the mistake to Formula E, although it’s probably pointless as the FIA doesn’t communicate with mere mortals like me.
Looks like the more mistakes the more interest, that’s human nature. If not for the Prost and flying Nick I don’t think there will be much comments. So it’s good I thought. I’d give it a seven.
I thought it was a positive experience. I would change the time limit restriction for the car change, I’m sure they can come up with an idea to ensure the drivers are strapped in.
Some of the racing was good and I’m sure its better experience at the track with the music pumping to the action like a 90s futuristic arcade racing game.
Wish it was in HD. My ears toned out the whine by the pit stops as it was annoying at first. I would be interested in the viewing figures and hope itv takes the team out there and drop the studio. It could be good and a shame its so long until the next race, lets hope it doesn’t get forgotten in the break.
Having been at the track (main grand stand), I have to say the experience is rather less than electrifying. The music is a matter of taste – not mine – but the racing was plain boring. The cars file past in a neat line every two minutes or so. They don’t look fast and they certainly don’t sound fast. On lap 12 or 13, they all file into their garages to change cars, there is a huge traffic jam in the pit lane and then the procession resumes. Maybe on TV, they can cut together the few interesting bits to make it look exciting, but as is, you’ll never get fans camping out at Silverstone for that!
Conveniently, they aren’t aiming to race at Silverstone.
I gave it a chance, but this was extremely boring. the cars were abysmally slow, and they sounded like toy rc cars.
to me, it is proof for all that a spec series can have extremely processional races anyways. probably even more so that cars of differing designs.
the tacky video game background music was embarrassing.
during the car change my wife blurted out “this is so fcking dumb”.
the car setups also seem way too stiff. is that by regulation?
lets be real, the race cars may be electric, but they still use petrol transporters, cargo aircraft, support vehicles, etc. and how much toxic waste is created in China by the mining and export of the lithium used in those batteries?
But remember av2290, that the same toxicity applies to hybrid F1 now, in terms of mining and waste product disposal. As with all so called renewables, hybrid is just as lethal, if not more so, than carbon waste. There is no such thing as a ” free lunch ” in this life!
I guess alternative energy solutions need to start somewhere in the automotive industry and a fast paced rolling development test bed like Formula e and certainly Formula 1 will speed up such developments.
I’m a huge F1 fan but I am open to other avenues, if they can increase the speed (which they will) , endurance of the batteries to remove the car swap (which they will) and also eventually have junior formula’s then I’m happy to support it.
It’s great to see some of those names that we know so well out there.
Thank you Joe for including it in your coverage, its much appreciated. The down side was that it certainly made me feel my age watching electric cars race!
The industry will not have a mainstream mass production electric car that is cost-effective for at least 25 years, according to most recent estimates. Battery development is not accelerating and has never accelerated but plodded along since the start of the industry. And the automobile world has turned to hybrid power – which is why f1 is perfectly placed and FE is not.
The main problem here in eastern U S of A is since it was on 3AM local time it ran late and I didn’t extend to dvr time-missed the end. It looked slow compared to what I’m used to. I am not a believer in the future of electric powered cars but it’s nice to see someone use racing to improve the technology.
Two American teams but no American drivers?
As others have said it was a bit too slow and the car change mid-race is pretty terrible. However overall I enjoyed it, and as the teams and drivers adapt to a different style of racing and the technology improves in future seasons I think there is the potential for it to give F1 a run for its money in the longer term.
Of course it will need to grow a sustainable fan base over the next 2 or 3 years while the cars develop, and F1 will need to keep shooting itself in the foot for this to happen – but the 2nd of these two points sadly seems to be a certainty…
The industry will not have a mainstream mass production electric car that is cost-effective for at least 25 years, according to most recent estimates. Battery development is not accelerating and has never accelerated but plodded along since the start of the industry. And the automobile world has turned to hybrid power – which is why f1 is perfectly placed and FE is not.
In terms of selling cars to the mass market 25 years sounds about right Joe, I think I read one report that said electric cars will only account for 5% of global vehicle sales by 2020. However Formula E did provide a quick sprint race with some entertainment value, I think my two to three year timescale is more based on improving the Formula E product to a point where it comes across much better.
Perhaps to say that Formula E could give F1 a run for its money is over the top, but I think they should definately keep an eye on it as there is always things that can be learnt and the first race seems to have caught the attention of the general media in a way that other all new single seat championships have not.
Also – I was surprised Elon Musk and Tesla were nowhere to be seen?
One of the track cars was a Tesla, but they didn’t have an official presence
Perhaps I missed it, but I think the support vehicles were supplied by BMW – the medical car was an i3 and the safety car an i8
That’s correct. Two i8 as SC and a i3 as medical car. More interesting were the rescue vehicles: an old pick-up truck and two equally old panel vans of Chinese make.
M. Todt looked like he wished he was a continent or two away from proceedings. Very early to judge what we are looking at here. Complete disaster? The next big thing? An interesting support race “wedge” to get F1 into big cities?
I thought the races at Goodwood were more interesting to watch but, I am an old guy. This, not so much.
How cringe-worthy is this?! Even on video, the crowd’s disappointment is palpable: http://wtf1.co.uk/tumbleweed-formula-e-donut-demo-sucks-really-badly/
Speaking of lack of sound…I know Joe will hate this, but while watching a video of Schumi explaining his AMG Petronas F1’s steering wheel functions I heard the sound overlay of the V8 roaring and had strong visceral reaction followed by pangs of nostalgia.
I happened upon it by accident, too. Not impressed by any means.
Even the V10s? If neither impresses you by any means, then I don’t know what would impress you.
“Even the V10s? If neither impresses you by any means, then I don’t know what would impress you.”
Nick – I was referring to the Formula E race. At least it was quiet so it’s easier to catch a nap!
It was reported on NPR news in the US – first time I’ve heard anything re motor racing on that outlet – and a nice piece on the NYT website. Regardless of all other issues, this thing has some traction for the green inclined. I get up early to watch F1 from the US west coast, but I’ve still watch the repeat for this series, so no opinion re the actual racing. I thought Will the Journo’s blog on it seemed very fair.
See my remarks to Colin Grayson
Flawed is the word on several different levels. The industry will not have a mainstream mass production electric car that is cost-effective four at least 25 years, according to most recent estimates. Battery development is not accelerating and has never accelerated but plodded along since the start of the industry. And the automobile world has turned to hybrid power – which is why f1 is perfectly placed and FE is not.
My point was mostly to show how much interest there seems to be among the non-motor racing public. We will see if that sticks. If there’s no next level of technology coming out of it, as you suggest, then its future would seem to be limited
Not sure a minute of NPR airtime and an NYTimes article equates to showing “how much” interest there is. NYT runs F1-related articles buried in its paper on decently regular basis. However, in my mind, the relevance of the technology is secondary to the ability to market and develop the series in a way that strikes the right chords. Tenuous relevance has never stopped films and other forms of entertainment from becoming popular pseudo cause-related/driven successes. Frankly, though, the show stunk to me. That was the main concern from my end.
Yes, much to my surprise a lady friend of mine in the States – who normally has no interest in motor-racing at all – emailed me last night to say she’d seen it and was really fascinated by the idea of “green” racing… and wants to know when the next one is. She’s talking about getting a ticket to go see it live in Miami and/or Long Beach (where attendance is going to be free), both of which are about 1500 miles from where she lives.
Also one of my brothers (again, not a racing fan), said he’d seen a clip of the cars on the news and was fascinated that electric cars could go so fast.
Anecdotal evidence, sure, but seems maybe it’s going to pick up fans from unexpected places…
Joe seems unimpressed and a bit disappointed the race was a slow speed processional. Am I wrong? I watched with a chip on my shoulder. The chip didn’t get knocked off as this was a crummy excuse for racing with some great names from the distant and not too distant past involved. Were they embarrassed? Probably not as most of them have large commitments to fulfill. I will not watch again as this is not motor racing. What can I say; I gave it a try.
I watched it out, out of curiosity, like most it seems. The racing was good at times, but if you put drivers of that calibre in equally-prepared karts you’ll get good racing too.
I found two things very interesting: first, Jean Todt smarming about on the grid talking about doing racing properly and running a formula suited to the 21st century, or whatever it was (now I wonder who that was directed at?); and second, how excruciatingly amateurish the whole thing was — the car-change pit stops, a circuit layout that makes the Caesar’s Palace parking lot seem like Silverstone by comparison, and N. Prost’s sudden attack of GP2itis, certainly, but in particular the aftermath of Heidfeld’s shunt. He went into a barrier rollhoop-first, ended upside-down in a shredded chassis that could have been electrified in all kinds of interesting ways, and he had to crawl out from under his own car and then walk back to the pits himself. Where were the marshals? Where was the medical car? Was anyone actually paying attention, or were they all crowding around Todt telling him how wonderful his new creation is?
Surely if your goal is to show the world what a good job you can do of running a motor racing formula, and if you’re going to use said formula to try to justify your evisceration of F1’s technical and safety structure, things like having enough properly-trained marshals and a doctor who is able to get to a driver who may have a severe head/spine injury or be electrocuted or both, are fundamental.
Dr H., if you happen to be reading, it would be very interesting to hear your perspective on all this.
Appalling move by Prost, I’m very surprised he only got a 10 place grid penalty for the next race, all credit to Heidfeld for the way he conducted himself in the interview afterward.
Your dismissive and pretentious attitude toward the new series says far more about you than it does about Formula E.
Tosh. Learn a bit about the world of the electric car before mouthing off.
Not strictly true Joe. Ask BMW. The issue has been that we have been taking designs to run on a combustion engine and chucking an electric power source in. Think you will find that new battery technology and lightweight designs will mean an acceleration in electric design. Not that this is better environmentally – it’s just cheaper to run and does not leave you in the control of those that have oil fields if you catch my drift
If they can build a mass-market electric car at a competitive price why are they not doing it?
C’mon you don’t want to be a dinosaur do you. Give it some time. I’ve been warming up to the new F1 sound for a start, honestly and the racing has been fabulous.
Your accepting and cheerleading attitude toward the new series says far more about you than it does about Formula E.
(Perhaps check the boot of your Prius for discarded taste and discretion?)
Too much straight lines, not enough corners. I hope next circuit would have them. The speed is too slow for long straights.
I’m starting a countdown until F1 adopts the ridiculous Fanboost gimmick, then claims it as a world first.
is flawed the right word joe ?
in my view premature ….the technology is nowhere near ready for this , and in my view the danger is that going off half cocked like this will set progress back rather than advance it
Flawed is the word on several different levels. The industry will not have a mainstream mass production electric car that is cost-effective four at least 25 years, according to most recent estimates. Battery development is not accelerating and has never accelerated but plodded along since the start of the industry. And the automobile world has turned to hybrid power – which is why f1 is perfectly placed and FE is not.
If F1 is so perfectly placed, why is Honda the only new company to join? Where are the rest?
Once again you do not seem to understand the reasons behind things. Have a think about it and why I have not written it in letters eight feet tall.
Here’s a think: You’ve been stuck in the F1 bubble for so long that you can no longer report on it objectively.
Here’s a thought: What do you know about the subject? From your comments I would zilch is close. Opinionated + zilch = tosh.
Then if you’d be kind enough to oblige, let’s all have a chance to benefit from, and critique, a few samples of YOUR specialist (free) reporting RonnyRocket
Lithium Ion battery technology is only about 15 yeas old, so batteries are being developed. Tesla is in the process of building the worlds biggest battery production and research facility and the Americans, within the year will bring online a huge mine that will produce the rare earth metals needed and eliminate the near monopoly the Chinese have on REM’s (97% of world production). With only about 50 years of oil supply left they better be working on better batteries.
When was the last time that the improvement in batteries leapt more than 10 percent in a year?
It was no interest for it, Joe. Nobody did anything to improve gas mileage in decades for the same reason. How about drawing a parallel between cellular phone technology and cars industry, and we will understand how fast can a product evolve in a couple of years, if the competition and the market wants it.
Not true. Huge sums have been spent on battery development. Vast sums. But physics is physics.
I have to say that I have bought solar panels and batteries since a very long time now. I wonder why those things don’t last longer than before. It seems to me that little progress is made, although some guys are investing loads of money.
Could it be that Joe is right about the development of those batteries? I guess so.
Look at the progress the ‘normal’ engines have made during the past years, we have more horsepower, much more torque and less fuel consumption. Can we say the same thing of batteries? No, should be the answer if you are objective…
Probably last year but we won’t know for a few years what they learned last year.
Nice way to kill a discussion, lets all repost the same thing 20 times…
I am supposed to write a bunch of different answers?!? OK, I’ll do that if you pay for my time… No, thought not.
Nobody asked you to answer anything. Copy pasting the same answer 20 times brings nothing and just points out how arrogant you sometimes are with people that don’t share your opinion.
Anyway, just my two cents, and no, they are not going your way…
Cheers
I answer the question once and no-one reads it because they are only interested in their own comments. So I answer everyone and I am accused of arrogance. Great, maybe I just answer no one and stop comments. Is that better?
No, that is not better. You should comment what ever you want to, it is after all your blog.
I was just annoyed by the same answers and the shear negativity towards a new series, not to mention that you asked me to pay you for posting on your blog!?!
Anyway back to the topic, I think FE is a good way forward. As much as I like the smell of petrol and the sound of V12 I think we should move on from the technology that hasn’t changed a lot for the last 100 odd years.
Of course it has its downsides, the change of cars is just silly but a few years of investment from the teams and miracles will happen in the development.
Keep up the good work and keep an opened mind…
My mind is open. This is why I am telling you FE is a flawed concept, because I have been in it in great depth. If you read my Business of Motorsport newsletter you would know this. The thing is that people judge one on the blog along, which is not the full body of my work.
“The thing is that people judge one on the blog along, which is not the full body of my work.”
I would love to read your other work, but it is out of my price range. Is there any way to get your motorsport newsletter for less than $200+ a year?
I for one am thoroughly enjoying your cut/paste responses to the same dreary comments.
Me thinks this type of racing could be matched by spectators watching a competition of how long it takes the batteries to recharge. First to 100% capacity wins!
I do think there will be a future, interesting, electric car racing series, but not until the concept is embraced by car mfg. with a corresponding leap in battery technology.
I agree
🙂
+1
As the cars approached the first corner, the sound was akin to a swarm of excited fruit bats with Ebola somewhere in my wardrobe. The good news is the next F1 race will sound better than before. I think the high pitch of battery or turbo sounds great in symphony with a grumble of a combustion engine but on it’s own or with a flaccid hip hop beat, it reminded me of a mediocre playstation game from the 90s.
I’m not sure what everybody is going on about? Joe is obviously right about the difficulties surrounding development of a mass production electric car, but this should not detract from the spectacle of a race series, which in time will advance the image and profile for the future of electric cars in the car buyers mind.Personally I thought it was great to see some old faces back on the track again. My only advice would be to do two sprint races, including reverse grids, and just like the new sounding F1 engines, we’ll soon get used to the whine of the electric racing car…it’s called the future -adapt or die!
TV companies want longer races
I think the concept of using racing to promote electric cars is good but currently it is good at highlighting the downsides. The rules aren’t very clever either.
“Cars 3 (Alguersuari), 77 (Legge) & 66 (Abt) handed 57s penalty for exceeding 28kw battery consumption”
If everything starts their 2 cars with full batteries then this should be the limit on external power used. If more power is regenerated by drivers different braking techniques this should be a fair advantage. Another part of the rules not thought through.
All seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? Referring to your last sentence there.
Imagine if Hammy, Nico, Seb or Fred got pinged for exceeding fuel usage during a REAL motor race……
Or if someone got disqualified from a podium position at their home grand prix due to using more power than allowed…
I think that if E series is the future, I will stop watching motor racing and just watch my video & dvd collection of F1 etc, on a Sunday afternoon and remember when the world was a saner and better place!
In the dim and distant past ( around 1975 ), where I worked, we used to have random Dept of Transport inspections on our lorry fleet, as did everyone else with trucks. Our Inspector, Mr Blimp ( real name not used ), told us, in all seriousness that by the year 2000, the ICE would be long gone, and we would all have Nuclear powered cars and lorries…..didn’t happen did it?
I have heard the demise of the ICE most of my life, and certainly for over 45 years, and despite hybrids, it still is with us. Electric won’t be any good until you can store energy that would fill a 3 bedroom house, into an AA size battery. Hybrid is environmentally damaging because of the Rare Earth Minerals that have to be mined and at a future point, then disposed of, and because the location of these minerals, means that a big chunk of C02 is used to produce the car and send it to the West.
The ICE can be made far more pollutant free than it is, although great strides have been made in that area. It isn’t dead and won’t be for maybe another 50-100 years, by which time, something will probably have been invented that works better.
I enjoyed the race and thought it was a decent first attempt. I will definitely be watching the next round. The series needs a lot of work, but name a racing series that doesn’t. I’m disappointed by the general negative reaction to this, but I expected it and I fear the series might be doomed… In recent times we’ve had some of the best F1 racing ever and people still complained. “Not enough engine noise” seemed to be the most common complaint. It’s always the negative aspects that get the most attention, no matter how minor they might be. Personally, I think noisy, smelly motors in modern times seems very low-brow and more of a throwback gimmick than anything else. There was a time when loudness couldn’t be controlled, but this is no longer the case…
I watched out of curiosity and necessity……curious to see if this new series would be watchable, and out of necessity because I had to keep my feet up having had a vasectomy on Friday afternoon! I was horrified to hear the cars sounded the same as the little device the doctor used to cauterise my tubes, which led to a terrible outbreak cold sweats and flashbacks.
On a more serious note, I take on board what you say about the rate of development of battery tech in the motor industry Joe, but…..IF Formula E were to gain momentum, and the rules freed up to allow more development areas, do do you think perhaps the competitive environment may push battery life and efficiency forward at a faster pace?
Hey Chris! Way too much information mate!!!!!!!!!!
I haven’t seen the race, because Canal+ here in France have taken the odd decision of buying the rights and then *not* showing it. Maybe they forgot it was on. But to be clear from the outset, I’m generally in favour of the idea and keen to see where it goes.
However, the problem that F-E has is that it is in a position of weakness currently and needs to become a major part of the automotive industry to have any serious chance of pushing battery tech forwards. Unless it reaches the point where a few proper car manufacturers see winning in F-E as a major PR coup, as they do with F1 and Le Mans wins, it’ll never be more than a curiosity.
If it becomes big enough that car companies consider it worth putting up billboards about winning an F-E championship, it might be worth spending money on. Until then budgets for R&D in F-E will be entirely dwarfed by general electric car R&D budgets and its impact will be near zero.
I really, really enjoyed the racing. The combination of the torque of the electric motors with relatively small tires seemed to be a challenge for the drivers, and it made for some really interesting passes in some of the 90 degree corners. Cars with more power than grip are a challenge for the drivers and can make for very entertaining racing. There was a lot of passing throughout the field throughout the race as the drivers struggled for grip.
I can understand how many folks are skeptical, but I imagine those crazy horseless carriages were regarded with the same level of skepticism when they were introduced. Racing was a great way to help the internal combustion engine gain acceptance and improve, and I hope Formula E can help do the same for the electric automobile.
There certainly are some growing pains, but I’m looking forward to seeing the series continue to develop as they continue to open up areas of development. I do think it is unfortunate that there is a 10 week gap until the next race. If I remember correctly, there was a desire to have 12-13 events but a couple fell through. They still have a TBA for February 2015. They also had some issues with their website and the U.S. telecast could use some work, but considering how this all came together, it was a pretty impressive feat. They’ve got a good collection of famous names involved (Andretti, Prost, Senna, Piquet), 12 of the current drivers are former F1 drivers and there are 4 current and former IndyCar drivers, and I understand Andretti Autosport might rotate a couple of their current IndyCar drivers in the car Charles Pic ran this weekend.
Anyway, I really enjoyed it, and hope to take my family to Long Beach in April.
Race showed the massive danger of the sausage kerbs … again. After Tereschenko’s launch at Spa as well what has to happen before we start to reconsider their usage …
Felt very sorry for Heidfeld, what does he have to do to win a major race… Hope he gets the next one!
Batteries not included… Couldn’t resist that one.
Joe, the all important question, is it hemorrhaging money as a series. Obviously very early days but gate/tv revenues would be interesting statistics. Hopefully there is more than a one year financial commitment from the majority of involved parties.
Read a lot of the above. In my view the Prost/Heidfeld incident was the only excitement in an otherwise entirely tedious event. It looked like not so much a proving ground for electric technology as one for gimmicks suggested in F1 – and it proved they added nothing to the racing.
Why tedious? Not just the cars, the circuit and presentation was rubbish too. The combination of identical cars “racing” at speeds lower than on public roads, cars sounding like fingernails on a blackboard, a ridiculously short race (especially given the car swap) and the corners on the track that didn’t allow more than one car through at a time. Plus on-screen graphics using white on pale blue so none of them could be read, useless commentators and dreadful camera angles.
Contrast with the Tour of Britain on the same day – that was a race, that was exciting, that was visually stunning, that held my attention for hours.
Oh, and don’t think Formula E will drive battery or any other development, the formula is single manufacturer so there’s no reason to spend anything on better batteries is there?
Don’t think I’ll watch any more.
Single manufacturer for the first one or two years, cant remember exactly. After that it is open to development under regulations.
Wasn´t a bad race, do not forget it´s just the beginning….but two issues should be changed soon: 1. the exchange of the cars in the middle of the race which is quite embarassing and 2. fans voting for the result which makes the series kind of “Loto Sportif”. On the other hand, the promotion for the first race was 1a, a fact the FIA should learn a lesson from regarding the s…storm about new F1 and the bad job they did to prevent it. And the prominence of the grid is remarkable and causes extra tension. And the sound…….what do you expect from electricity? It is conceived as a different formate compared to other racing series. Well, the downhillers at Kitzbuhel race also won´t drive their race high-pitched screaming and rumbling. I guess people will get used to it. Facit: I enjoyed it watching, but the whole thing has to be improved. Don´t count it out now.
Having been there, I have to say that it is going to take a lot more than a DJ with a helmet on and 25 laps of a procession to turn this into a successful racing series. You’re right to point out the errors in the official statistics and results, but they are indicative of the shambolic organisation. With a track like a tunnel, no run-off areas and cars of equal performance, drivers couldn’t take the risk of trying to overtake. The couple of straights were too short and the speeds too low to build up a tow. Average speed for the 25 laps was barely 100km/h and that’s the way it looks as well – even the fastest lap was just over 117km/h. The sound – or lack thereof – doesn’t help either: the field files past in 15 seconds and is then gone, out of sight and inaudible for almost 2 minutes. The car change half-way does not create opportunities for a pit stop strategy as it is confined to a two-lap window; all but two cars came in on the same lap, creating a traffic jam in the pit lane. Teams will be looking for little drivers who can quickly get out of and into their cockpits. The actual change-over takes place inside the garage, so is invisible to the spectators except when shown on the trackside screens – two of them for 3.4km of track.
I hope the FIA and the promoters can find ways to make this work, but after this first race, the doubters have it!
Presumably the time that was spent standing still in the pits/changing cars was deducted from the total overall time to give a higher average speed.
That said, regardless of whether this was the point you were trying to make, my biggest problem with this series is that they are so slow. It’s enjoyable, but hardly what you’d expect from a televised, cutting edge, international single seater event
I didn’t watch it. I would have done but I was out!
What I find interesting is that all the F1 people are bashing it. If it’s of no consequence why mention it.
“Me thinks the ladies doth protest too much!”
Make no mistake the day will come when it will be lauded.
See my comment above. I am not bashing it per se, I am simply pointing out the flaws.
I didn’t bother watching because I had better things to do. How can you laud something if you didn’t even watch? The only thing FE will become is a last ditch attempt for F1 Refugees to continue some sort of racing.
Robert, I’ve been watching various bits of motor racing for the past 40 years. I travelled to Beijing to watch it because I was interested, wanted to form my own opinion on this new series and not least, because I’ve become disillusioned with F1. I was disappointed (see my earlier post for the reasons why). I hope they (whoever they are) will find a way to make this work, but as it is, no TV channel will pay for it for long.
With respect to all, as yet I haven’t watched it. And if you tell me it’s boring I’d say that you are probably corrrect. I also watched Goodwood yesterday and that was exciting enough for me to watch the first and last 5 minutes of a race. I often fall asleep watching F1, that may be because it’s boring or it may be because I have been watching it (with a brief gap in the early 80’s) since the early 60’s.
Nearly 110 years ago a bloke called Locke-King sank the equivalent of several million pounds of his own money into the worlds first purpose built motor racing circuit. At the time I suspect most people thought he was barking mad. Today it is hallowed ground for all motor racing enthusiasts.
My last sentence alludes to the fact that one day elecrtic cars may be common place, and may race and FE will be looked upon as a pioneering endevour. Or they might not and it might be something else like hydrogen fuel cells or warp drive and dilythium crystals.
Knocking it serves no purpose in the long term. Although it might suit some short term agendas.
For a flawed concept Formula E have a done a very good job of attracting sponsors, media coverage and fans.
Personally I enjoyed the race, it was refreshing to see something a bit different. Yes there are issues with the presentation, but how long did it take for F1 to become the ‘Show’ it is today?
Car swapping it not good for consumer perception of EV’s. I would support 2 shorter races, which would also be more likely to appeal to the younger target demographic. I don’t support the thinking that the races are long at the request of TV companies. The format was defined before they came on board.
FOM and F1 teams should pay attention to what is being done with FE, A single day event in the city with affordable ticket prices, I’ll be heading to Berlin next year with the family for a long weekend, I’ll see a city i’ve always wanted to visit, get my motorsport fix and not bore my family with a 3 day event.
As my wife says, I will watch most things on wheels that race. She was interested in it from a sustainability point of view, as well as the racing (she watches F1 and the Goodwood Revival with me), so we were looking forward to it with interest. We watched it on ITV4. I have the following points. The presentation team was enough to send me to sleep. Where did they get these people. The track was a badly thought out version of Monaco, but through concrete blocks, and little chance of overtaking. The little noise there was was an irritating whine, and yet we couldn’t hear the brake/tyre noise we now get on F1. Having to stop and change cars halfway through is a joke. The speeds were slow – the commentator kept rabbiting on about them braking from 160 kph. That’s 100 mph – my discovery will just about do that. After about 5 laps, we looked at each other and said “enough?”. We both agreed it was, but watched to the end, just to give it a fair run. We then saw the move by Prost, which was absolutely irresponsible and cynical. If he’d continued to tale the line he did when he swerved, he would have hit the armco well before the corner. There was no way he was taking anything like a normal line. He could have killed Heidfeld, and should have been banned.
Oh, and stop having a go at Joe. He’s the best F1 blogger on the planet. If you don’t agree with his views, present some logical argument, but if you can’t, either keep quiet or find a different site.
Excellent analysis! Although I doubt that your Discovery would comfortably reach 100mph in your neck of the woods, or that your wife would be happy if it did. Couldn’t help noticing that 50-year-old F1 cars lapped Goodwood at an average speed about the same as the top speed (must we call it V-max?) of a Formula E car. Probably with about the same power available (and running on treaded tyres). But the racing was so much better at Goodwood, and drivers seemed (generally) to be able to take different lines round corners without touching, which leaves the problem firmly with the circuit designers. See Joe’s other post today I guess…
This is the kind of noise people wanted….coming not from the cars, but from the organizers……..There’s not a reason for the miscalculations on avg speed and total distance…It’s basic math….If that’s how its going to start…I can start guessing how’s going to end…..
I think it is a very good opportunity for all people/companies involved in F1 business to closely watch what works and what’s does not work in this new series.
I mean, F1 could never afford to “test” in real, things like shorter races, fanboost voted on social media, gimmicks such as background music in replays and over-coloured-graphics on screen … etc.. all the things that potentially could attract a new and younger audience to watch motor racing.
I’m not saying all of this should be implemented in F1, but it’s certainly not a bad thing for F1 to keep an eye on the formula E.
It’s like having a living laboratory for new ideas and to confront them with reality.
I guess the FIA is also expecting to draw some conclusions, on a global level (=not only for F1), about the future of motorsports…
Joe. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Battery tech has come forward a long way and become a lot more affordable. But just as important is lowering the actual energy required to move a box and person in a forward motion and this has also flown forward. I agree that for the short term if you want speed – it’s got to have an ice. For commuting however – lower rolling resistances, drag and weight along with improved electrics storage and motors does mean there is a future – which is a shame as I love a gas guzzler 🙂
Interesting battery related article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/15/us-renault-sa-nissan-batteries-exclusive-idUSKBN0HA0CA20140915?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews