Why Formula E is so appealing

Formula E.jpg

After much fanfare and news the inaugural season of the all electric Formula E series will kick off this September in Beijing. The series aims to be the pinnacle of electric motorsport and the series will definitely receive plenty of press attention in it's first season.

The series has a purpose built Spark-Renault SRT_01E car with plenty of interest and support from the F1 community. The electric motors for the car has been developed by McLaren whilst the battery system has come from Williams F1. With a link up with Renault and prominent support from Renault ambassador and 4 time F1 World Champion Alain Prost, it's clear to see why the series is garnering so much attention.

The F1 link doesn't simply end with the car however as previous figures from the F1 paddock have signed up to run teams in the series. The Amlin Aguri squad will be ran by ex-F1 driver and Super Aguri team owner Aguri Suzuki, with ex-Monaco GP winner Jarno Trulli taking over the Drayson Racing entry to field his own Trulli GP entry. Other significant entries come from Indycar teams Andretti Autosport and Dragon Racing, Audi Sport Team Abt, E-DAMS and Virgin Racing ran by Richard Branson.

With a highly professional car and line up of teams it's only logical therefore that so far the grid for the inaugural Formula E season is filled with seriously quick professional drivers. Over half of the currently confirmed grid, 10 of the 17 drivers, have previously raced in F1, whilst another 4 have previously driven or tested F1 cars in the last 5 years. The series has been enough to tempt ex-F1 drivers Jarno Trulli and Jaime Alguersuari to return to motorsport after several years out of racing.

A majority of drivers are dovetailing Formula E with other prominent series such as the World Endurance Championship, with the link between these two being relevant for the future of Formula E. In the past few years the WEC has increasingly become a haven for both ex-F1 drivers and talented youngsters who find themselves frozen out of F1 seats.

Although if Formula E can deliver on the abundant promise it has in the first few seasons, we could soon a shift whereby Formula E becomes the new haven for ex-F1 drivers and young hopefuls disillusioned with their chances of making it into F1.I, alongside plenty of others, will be eagerly watching how the inaugural season of Formula E plays out.
 
I was very sceptic when the FIA introduced hybrid engines in the FIA WEC at first but now I must admit that was the smartest move ever. Love the technical progression that series has made every since.

For sure i'll miss the epic engine sounds, but that we know up front. If the series will become the pinnacle of technical innovations, ill get my joy from that instead.
 
I was very sceptic when the FIA introduced hybrid engines in the FIA WEC at first but now I must admit that was the smartest move ever. Love the technical progression that series has made every since.

For sure i'll miss the epic engine sounds, but that we know up front. If the series will become the pinnacle of technical innovations, ill get my joy from that instead.
I've listened to the Hybrid WEC's for the past 3 years at Silverstone rounds. When the E-tron first appeared, it was silent I swear. To be stood a few metres from them putting their feet down for the Wellington Straight and only hearing a faint whoosh... sound was odd. Audi, to be fair to them, have at least made them a bit noisier now.

Luckily, the Toyotas always blurted out loads (but not deafening amounts) of sound.
 
For one, I'm really looking forward to F-E.
They start in September, just as F1 will be winding down to its finale in November.

So instead of a winter of discontent and hardly any racing, we will have F-E to fill the void.
Granted, there will be some adjustment needed to get used to lack of roar from a conventional engine, but it's not as If these electric cars are silent. I think the whine they make is quite appealing.

Only a month or so to wait, it's time to get your excited pants on!
 
I've listened to the Hybrid WEC's for the past 3 years at Silverstone rounds. When the E-tron first appeared, it was silent I swear. To be stood a few metres from them putting their feet down for the Wellington Straight and only hearing a faint whoosh... sound was odd. Audi, to be fair to them, have at least made them a bit noisier now.

Luckily, the Toyotas always blurted out loads (but not deafening amounts) of sound.

I loved the whoosh these audis made, standing at eau rouge the first time I heard that sound, immediately followed by the deafening growl of a corvette ;).
 
I heared they also want to make Nascar electric, they put these big sun collectors on the cars roof and the pitcrew iluminate the car with huge amounts of concentrated sunlight, from special helicopters hovering around . Saves fuel :D
 
For one, I'm really looking forward to F-E.
They start in September, just as F1 will be winding down to its finale in November.

So instead of a winter of discontent and hardly any racing, we will have F-E to fill the void.
Granted, there will be some adjustment needed to get used to lack of roar from a conventional engine, but it's not as If these electric cars are silent. I think the whine they make is quite appealing.

Only a month or so to wait, it's time to get your excited pants on!

After reading the article, I decided to look at some test footage (which is something I have not done yet). I must say, these things are faster than I had expected and seeing as it is a spec series, it should have close racing!

Like I said above, I will withhold further assessment until after the first few races. :)
 
I'm really looking forward to electric, I think electrics will make much better cars possible in the future.

I hope they don't restrict the cars to be like one of the formulas and take away some of the restrictions so electrics can utilize all the benefits of electric. Along the lines of Mercedes SLS electric that has a motor at each wheel and can utilise torque vectoring and things like that. If it's just making a standard formula car with an electric engine instead of a combustion engine they'll kill the sport before it has a chance to take off and come up with new developments.
 
It's not appealing in my opinion.
Having seen some of the proposed track layouts.

Small straight > Right angle corner > small straight > right angle corner.

It's like a Tilke track but worse.
 
I'm genuinely interested in the career progression of drivers looking to get to Formula E. I mean, is this supposed to be on par with F1 or on par with the likes of GP2 in terms of the career ladder???
 

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