Any Formula E Fans Here?

[Captain Ahab Jr]

I'm not expecting many on here are as the racing isn't the most exciting and the change of cars halfway through a race isn't the best endorsement for EV cars.
First of the Season 4 Formula E races this weekend in Hong Kong and the first podium in 15 yrs for Jaguar Racing



Personally for me its my 40th race car and 1st EV race car I've helped to create

In a few years the FE championship has gone from privateer teams to automotive manufacturer teams, this year there is Renault, Audi and Jaguar, Next year when the races use one car per driver Mercedes and Porsche will join in too.

The manufacturer interest in the championship is creating a development war which will hopefully feed down into the battery, motor, invertor and software technology of the new generation of EV road cars.

I enjoy the pace/challenge of a good motorsport development war and was fortunate to be in the thick of the action between 1995 to 1997 when GT1 Le Mans/sports race cars went from being built from converted road cars to ending up being balls out racing cars homologated for the road.

[TheMentat]

I saw some of the highlights, which seemed more like a crash reel!

I'm surprised how well those cars held up after banging into each other that much.

[Tervuren]

I would much rather watch RC car racing.

Just can't get into F-E as it is based on a political mess.

I used to race an electric RC car in an open class against a field of nearly all petrol powered ones.

Sometime I'd like to get back into it; but it also opened up my eyes to just how bad for the environment electric cars will be if mass implemented.

[Nickshu]

One advantage to electric cars on the track is we will stop seeing urban sprawl forcing tracks to close...they will not create any noise pollution for neighbors to complain about anymore. LOL.

[aschen]

How could electric vs rc cars open your eyes to environmental issues of full scale cars

Most" Gas" powered rc cars burn nitromethane and spit castor oil every where. With lithium batteries and bldc motors, electric rc cars are higher performance than ic these days.

[HardDrive]

Pretty boring at this point, but that will change as the battery technology gets better.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by aschen

How could electric vs rc cars open your eyes to environmental issues of full scale cars

Most" Gas" powered rc cars burn nitromethane and spit castor oil every where. With lithium batteries and bldc motors, electric rc cars are higher performance than ic these days.

It is a matter of scale.

There is a great children's book called "This is what would happen if everybody did".

Mining for the batteries and electronics if we tried to replace gasoline with electric would make a mess that most people are unaware of. Petroleum mining is much much cleaner with less environmental impact.

Batteries and electric motors have a lot more environmental issues related to their manufacture and storage than is realized.

Electrics are fine for toys, luxury items, and great for places like LA and Beijing where smog is a major problem.

My problem is that for a lot of the world we're trying to politically push out clean petrol cars in favor of another tech that on a large scale brings a whole new set of problems, some of which (large scale production) there is no clean environmental solution to.

If it weren't for the annoying political ramrodding that F-E represents I could enjoy it. I enjoyed my RC racers.

[chapo]

Antithesis of everything I like about racing. Diversity in car design and power plants, noise, speed, smell, etc. I always look forward to Ahab's point of view on anything racing because of his experience, maybe you can convince me otherwise. F1 is horrid, NASCAR terrible and I don't hate NASCAR because they only turn left. I enjoy IMSA for the diverse field. Strangely enough I do enjoy Indycar, they seem to be on an upswing and the cars will look better next year but don't like that there is only two manufacturers. I really don't care what exotic car companies name is painted on the side of a large RC car, all of the power plants and chassis are the same. Racing for people who don't like racing I guess. Homogenized spec racing sucks, I don't really care whats fair if you think outside the box and build a better mousetrap. I think racing iss at a major crossroad now and personally would rather race my 911 than watch others race on TV even if I can only do it 3-4 times a year.

[cairns]

OTOH watching golf and grass grow is every exciting.

[sc_rufctr]

[MFAFF]

Went and watched both FE races here in Central London....great to be able to stand some 3m (10ft) from the track... at of the hardest braking areas before the chicane.

Cars might not be as fast or as noisy as F1 but being that close the violence of the braking and acceleration are so visible.. and seeing how hard the drivers are working to get the cars round the track... great stuff.

More involving than the track at Silverstone...for the most part. The grid and start is not the same....

Yet rather than an either/or situation how about a 'both'....

Sadly it does not seem that we'll have a race in London this season...politics of taking over a park..shame as it a good event.

[astrochex]

I've been following FE since the start. I worked (corner worker) the FE race when it first came to Long Beach. It was great from the perspectives you could see the drivers working in the cockpit and you could clearly hear tire squeal. The lack of engine noise was something to get used to.

I am pleased to see the cars getting faster, which is translating a little better to TV coverage. I'm not a huge fan of the latest front wing redesign. IMO, it makes the cars look awkward. With all the contact these races generate, however, I can see the structural advantages of the box design. The driver roster is impressive.

Congrats on the team's podium, Captain! Knowing you're involved gives me someone to root for.

[Borders Reivers]

The heyday of liquid-fueled race cars is largely behind us. Electric powered competition vehicles is the future if there is one.

It's getting to the point a vehicle can be characterized on a memory stick, then two or more data sets can be compared on a characterized "race course" complete with environmental details to determine a "winner". Just plug-in the sticks and computer spits out a result.

Virtual Reality makes it possible to display a "race" between the data sets so there is a spectator component to be exploited. Real-time online for larger audience. Sponsor advertising reaches larger audience. 4K/8K video makes it as real as you want.

Actual cars can be characterized with actual vehicle weight, dyno data, tire data etc.

Yes I know there are lots of racing video games out there but I'm talking about building real cars. Show up for "tech" with your real car.

Drag racing is the easiest to adapt to this method. Somebody's gonna make $$. Millennials will love it. FIA will too, cheap profits for Jean Todt.


For an example, look at Jim Hall's vision of next-generation Chaparral 2X



For old guys who can't keep up with technology:
Remember - It's not the speed of technological change that gets you, it's the acceleration of change.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Borders Reivers

The heyday of liquid-fueled race cars is largely behind us. Electric powered competition vehicles is the future if there is one.

It's getting to the point a vehicle can be characterized on a memory stick, then two or more data sets can be compared on a characterized "race course" complete with environmental details to determine a "winner". Just plug-in the sticks and computer spits out a result.

Virtual Reality makes it possible to display a "race" between the data sets so there is a spectator component to be exploited. Real-time online for larger audience. Sponsor advertising reaches larger audience. 4K/8K video makes it as real as you want.

Actual cars can be characterized with actual vehicle weight, dyno data, tire data etc.

Yes I know there are lots of racing video games out there but I'm talking about building real cars. Show up for "tech" with your real car.

Drag racing is the easiest to adapt to this method. Somebody's gonna make $$. Millennials will love it. FIA will too, cheap profits for Jean Todt.


For an example, look at Jim Hall's vision of next-generation Chaparral 2X

I really hope you are wrong on that.

Yea, virtual racing will be about as exciting as Formula E, virtually none would be a better name.

A car can't even finish a short race, and my brother's stock 65 year old 1952 VW bug can out race them in a 300 mile race car vs car. And all the electricity was mostly made from fossil fuels. Why not just skip a step and drive on the fossil fuel.

[pitargue]

As the world rushes forward with E-cars, us old codgers will relate to this...

[aschen]

I don't love watching motor racing or any sports really, but I do enjoy the engineering and tech associated with race car development. I am not sure how the rules are structured for formula-e but I really think recent the le mans rules were conducive to interesting technology developments in the prototypes. The last several years had such varied and interesting implementations especially in the hybrid domain

[VincentVega]

I dont get it, maybe I will someday. For now I still really like the sounds and smells. I'll never forget going to the Indy race and hearing the cars from the road next to the track.

[Borders Reivers]

Originally Posted by VincentVega

I dont get it, maybe I will someday. For now I still really like the sounds and smells. I'll never forget going to the Indy race and hearing the cars from the road next to the track.

You will get ALL the sights, sounds, smells and feels with VR.
Everything.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Borders Reivers

You will get ALL the sights, sounds, smells and feels with VR.
Everything.

Only if the porn industry leads the development of it.

[Borders Reivers]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Only if the porn industry leads the development of it.

Live under a rock?
Sex robots have been a thing for a couple years.