Season ended with two races in. NYC Jean Eric Verne top driver Audi top constructor Bmw coming in big next year with andretti New car and no more mid race swap Interesting
I tuned in for about 10 minutes for today's race. Looked really boring. At first I thought it was the warm up lap, but then I realized they were actually racing. The lack of meaningful sound really makes them appear slower than they are actually traveling.
Mercedes-Benz will be dropping their DTM program (which they've been competing in since forever) in favor of Formula E. Porsche pulled the plug on their WEC P1 program in favor of Formula E and are dropping hints about producing their entire line-up of cars all-electric. Watch where the money is going guys. The list of manufactures in Formula E beginning next season will grow to 12 and they include: Mercedes-Benz with a full assist from the Formula One team operating with tech from Tesla. Porsche AG BMW Jaguar/Land Rover Renault Audi Sport DS Automobiles Mahindra Racing NextEV NIO Nissan and where ever Nissan goes Honda, Toyota and Mazda are sure to follow Penske Autosport with their own in-house platform collaborating with Faraday Future Venturi Once these manufactures get into a spending war and prove their technology in a real world environment, others will certainly join in. Note the lack of any American manufacturer involvement from the "Big 3" or any certain Italian brands. As usual, U.S. manufactures will be content to sit back and get swallowed by foreign competition (again) as the market segment grows and then will complain about unfair business practices and how these foreign manufactures should be sanctioned, tariffs imposed, all this. For those thinking that Formula E is a joke, think again. Formula One, Indy Cars, sports cars, et.al. would KILL to have that many manufacturers involved right now as the money they're investing into the category (and vis-a-vis, the technology) is getting ready to explode. BHW
It will never takeoff as long as it stays a spec series (chassis + battery have to be the same). The inverter, electric motors (with cooling system), and gearbox they can change. I don't think that's enough.
I watched my first Formula E race today and found it pretty entertaining. it will be interesting to see how this evolves over the next few years, especially since there are more big name manufacturers jumping in. The lack of sound is very weird and does take away some of the excitement but one thing I did like is that the aero on the cars don't seem to leave a huge wake so there was a lot of very close racing.
Congrats to JEV for winning the title! He dedicated it to Jules Bianchi. I am only half French but to win it on Bastille day the day before the frogs win the World cup certainly makes for a historic weekend. Yes watch FE, it may not sound exciting -neither did the VW Pike's Peak thing at Goodwood this weekend- but this is the future. I wish they could impose carburetted V12 sounds on them It does not take a math genius to compare F1 with 4 manufacturers...and zero additional ones on the horizon with the ever growing list of them in FE to see the writing on the wall...alas.
To this point, it must be considered that Formula E has only put a toe in the water so far. Now that this platform is gaining the notice of so many manufactures, all eager to show their technology, it is going to take off and grow at an incredible rate. The spec aspect will evaporate as these manufactures want to showcase their own technical advances, whomever wins on the track, wins in the market place. Not sure about playing to small audiences. The races I've seen broadcast look to be playing to full houses at every venue. The event they did in Zurich for example was huge and this sort of reaction will continue. BHW
I think Formula E will need to abandon the specs series format and also to race on real circuits to keep all these manufacturers interested. Formula E has already outgrown some of these improvised tracks, and there is still too much limitation of electrical development.
I've probably posted this before, but here in Miami during Basel Week, my friend, the great artist Santiago Montoya, had an open house at his studio in Allapattah. Among his guests was a gentleman who introduced himself as being in the renewable energy and automation business and the subject turned to Formula E and electric racing, etc. He was telling me about the relationship in place between Mercedes-Benz and Tesla which to that point I was not aware of and how the battery technology in the series is developing because, and I think we may all agree here, the aspect of having to change cars mid-race is a bit absurd so there has to be some advancement there. In any case, he also began telling me about automated racing (basically driverless racing cars) and that's where I drew the line. What would be left of racing if the human element was removed? What would be the point of people wanting to see what theoretically would be little more than full sized slot or RC cars running around the track? Now, my friend Santiago's cousin, Juan Pablo, happened to be standing a few feet away and I told this gentleman, pointing in J.P.'s direction that he may want to go tell him about this notion about driverless cars too! It's all fun and games until someone who makes millions of dollars driving is aced out of their job by a computer right? BHW
I'll watch it if they get rid of batteries to save weight and run the electricity through an overhead grid or road surface like a bumper car or electric train. That would allow them to really push the limits on a human's ability to handle those Gs. They would accelerate faster than basically anything and with aero turn at extremely high speeds. Spectators would get a sense of speed by visual cues rather than audio given lack of engine/motor sounds.
