Formula E

ScumLord · 24-02-2015 12:11pm

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

I agree with him on pretty much all of that, especially the speed of the cars. the racing is close but it looks slow. I

I don't see how they can do much about that with the city courses though. They're narrow with no run offs.

AMKC wrote: »

Some news on the 8 manufacturers that are going to be in Formula E next season.There could potentially be 8 different powertrains from 8 different manufacturers racing against each other.

Now things get interesting. Are they just making their own engines for the current chassis or are they actually building their own cars from scratch?

I'd love it if they let them come up with their own concepts and don't restrict them to be another formula car.

Going Strong · 24-02-2015 12:45pm

Eight manufacturers in Formula E vs four manufacturers in Formula One. Interesting times ahead.

Charlie-Bravo · 24-02-2015 6:27pm

ScumLord wrote: »

I don't see how they can do much about that with the city courses though. They're narrow with no run offs.

Now things get interesting. Are they just making their own engines for the current chassis or are they actually building their own cars from scratch?

I'd love it if they let them come up with their own concepts and don't restrict them to be another formula car.

They are only allowed to develop their own power train. Chassis and aero are same on all cars to avoid any costly development work in that area. They want teams to create better electric power trains, thus resulting in tech that can be transferred to road cars. In the next few years, and this is where it should be more interesting, is that battery innovation will be developed to the extent that there will be no need to use two cars during a race.

ScumLord · 24-02-2015 7:45pm

astrofluff wrote: »

They are only allowed to develop their own power train. Chassis and aero are same on all cars to avoid any costly development work in that area. They want teams to create better electric power trains, thus resulting in tech that can be transferred to road cars. In the next few years, and this is where it should be more interesting, is that battery innovation will be developed to the extent that there will be no need to use two cars during a race.

Chris Harris has a video on the electric Mercedes SLS on youtube where he shows Mercedes next generation batteries, their something like a fifth of the weight of normal batteries.

I don't know how far they will be able to go with motors, I suppose there's a lot of weight saving to be done but at the end of the day they're so basic it's hard to see where they can eek an advantage. The fact it's probably going to have to be pretty similar to the motor it's replacing, because it has to fit into the same space would also lead me to believe there won't be too much room for improvement.

I hope the boffins will prove me wrong though.

oneofakind32 · 24-02-2015 8:08pm

Would not be surprising at all to see Formula E over take f1 in the next 10 to 15 years. Especially if F1 can't get costs down and attract new teams/fans/sponsors.

All these manufactures are shambling to produce the best batteries and prove that there EV get the best range. Formula E would be an excellent proving ground for them.

Having all street races in cities with big populations ensures big crowds and local interest. Much better than having a race in the desert in front of about the same number of people as the average league of Ireland soccer match.

Make the tech relevant, the racing close and bring the action to the people.

Zcott · 25-02-2015 1:16am

oneofakind32 wrote: »

Would not be surprising at all to see Formula E over take f1 in the next 10 to 15 years. Especially if F1 can't get costs down and attract new teams/fans/sponsors.

I think they said the same about A1GP, and also that football F1 league that never took off. Won't happen.

Uno my Uno. · 25-02-2015 11:12am

Zcott wrote: »

I think they said the same about A1GP, and also that football F1 league that never took off. Won't happen.

I think it has a much better chance than A1GP, its under the auspices of the FIA, it has major manufacturers involved, runs in the off season and crucially has High Class drivers like Jean Eric Vergne and Marco Andretti as well as 10 or 12 other former Formula 1 drivers.

If the cars and the series evolves as they hope it will it could become very popular. I think its unlikely to ever be as big as F1 but it certainly has the potential to go from oddity to well supported mainstream series.

Going Strong · 25-02-2015 11:33am

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

I think it has a much better chance than A1GP, its under the auspices of the FIA, it has major manufacturers involved, runs in the off season and crucially has High Class drivers like Jean Eric Vergne and Marco Andretti as well as 10 or 12 other former Formula 1 drivers.

If the cars and the series evolves as they hope it will it could become very popular. I think its unlikely to ever be as big as F1 but it certainly has the potential to go from oddity to well supported mainstream series.

The series founder seems to have taken lessons on how to run the show from doing the exact opposite of what F1 gets up to. Mostly by having a more welcoming atmosphere and a less uptight "Show me the money" manner. You can see why the manufacturers would be interested as it's pitched more like a "Bring what you have and have semi-serious fun competing with each other" event rather than F1's "Spend billions for no great purpose" approach.

AMKC · 09-03-2015 12:11pm

Next race is this weekend and it is in Miami. Miami has also said it wants to hold a Formula E race until at least 2019. It will be the first time that both Formula E and Formula 1 have races on the same weekend.
Scott Speed is going to race for the Andretti Autosport team. He will be the only American driver on the grid. He raced for Torra Rossa in 2006 to 2007 but got replaced midway through the 2007 season by Sebastian Vettel.

Charlie-Bravo · 09-03-2015 1:56pm

timetable for the weekend:

EDT Times GMT Times that matter
7:00 18:00 Gates open/close
8:15 9:00 NON-QUALIFYING PRACTICE 1
9:30 9:50 FE School Series - Practice/Qualifying
10:30 11:00 NON-QUALIFYING PRACTICE 2
12:00 12:10 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 1
12:15 12:25 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 2
12:30 12:40 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 3
12:45 12:55 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 4
14:15 14:35 FE School Series - Race
15:23 15:33 Pitlane open/close ITV 4 Coverage:
15:50 FanBoost implementation 19.00-21.30hrs
16:00 17:00 RACE (39 laps) Race at 20.00hrs (8pm)

Charlie-Bravo · 14-03-2015 11:15am

A few new drivers in Formula E with Liuzzi making his debut in the Trulli team alongside his Italian counterpart. Scott Speed and Loic Duval also debut this weekend.

Here's the drivers:

Amlin Aguri: Antonio Felix da Costa & Salvador Duran
Andretti: Scott Speed & Jean-Eric Vergne
Audi Sport ABT: Lucas di Grassi & Daniel Abt
China Racing: Nelson Piquet Jr & Charles Pic
Dragon Racing: Loic Duval & Jerome d’Ambrosio
e.dams-Renault: Nicolas Prost & Sebastien Buemi
Mahindra Racing: Karun Chandhok & Bruno Senna
Trulli: Jarno Trulli & Vitantonio Liuzzi
Venturi: Nick Heidfeld & Stephane Sarrazin
Virgin Racing: Jaime Alguersuari & Sam Bird

FAN BOOST is open: http://fanboost.fiaformulae.com/

Ghost Train · 15-03-2015 1:50pm

Missed this yesterday, but found the race on YouTube after. Enjoyed it, racing at the end probably more entertaining than the f1, with the lead changing and Speed making up places

AMKC · 15-03-2015 4:36pm

Yes it was a good clean race this one with some close racing and good overtaking to. I think it was also the first Formula E race not to feature a safety car. Scott Speed done very well.

Uno my Uno. · 16-03-2015 4:07pm

Thought the first half of the race was pretty dull with things only getting interesting after the changeover. I didn't really care for the track, I thought it was much too narrow in places and it was a typical north american street circuit with 90 degree turns one after another. I also still think the cars are much too slow, Hopefully that will improve in the next couple of seasons.

Having said all that the second half was good and exciting with Scott Speed's Charge being great to watch. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

Frank Bullitt · 16-03-2015 7:30pm

Really surprised at how good this is to watch, proper racing.

The noise (or lack of) is a bit weird but you really don't care when the battles are good. F1 take note.

Uno my Uno. · 17-03-2015 11:19am

Gintonious wrote: »

Really surprised at how good this is to watch, proper racing.

The noise (or lack of) is a bit weird but you really don't care when the battles are good. F1 take note.

Dario Franchitti mentioned on the commentary that the low downforce set ups allow the cars get right up beside each other without losing grip so the racing can be so close.

Jordan 199 · 04-04-2015 3:30am

Long Beach this weekend. Coverage will start tonight at 11pm on ITV4.

Ghost Train · 04-04-2015 6:42am

Wonder does live streaming work from website, Ireland not listed as supported though
http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/live-streaming.aspx

Northern Monkey · 04-04-2015 8:25am

Does anyone know what the story is with tickets for this? The London races are the same weekend as the goodwood FOS, so the plan is the FOS on Saturday and this on the Sunday.

Ticket sales seem odd, only this weekends event is currently on sale.

Jordan 199 · 04-04-2015 2:28pm

Northern Monkey wrote: »

Does anyone know what the story is with tickets for this? The London races are the same weekend as the goodwood FOS, so the plan is the FOS on Saturday and this on the Sunday.

Ticket sales seem odd, only this weekends event is currently on sale.

Practice, qualifying and the race all take place on a Saturday in Formula E.

AMKC · 04-04-2015 3:49pm

Jordan 191 wrote: »

Practice, qualifying and the race all take place on a Saturday in Formula E.

The one in London is going to take place over two days I think.

PopePalpatine · 04-04-2015 3:53pm

Yeah, there's two ePrixs in London. Lucky bastards. :pac:

Ghost Train · 04-04-2015 7:44pm

Ghost Train wrote: »

Wonder does live streaming work from website, Ireland not listed as supported though
http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/live-streaming.aspx

Caught the end of practice and stream seemed to work fine. Qualifying starts at 8pm

Ghost Train · 05-04-2015 12:17am

Some slightly clumsy racing

Sterling Archer · 05-04-2015 12:21am

Ghost Train wrote: »

Some slightly clumsy racing

I think the quote was "a dart without feathers"

Uno my Uno. · 06-04-2015 11:45am

Thought there was some exciting racing, made a big difference to have them on a real circuit instead of some of the narrow and short tracks we have seen.

AMKC · 07-04-2015 7:05pm

Only seen the race today.Watched it on You-Tube Enjoyed it. Lots of action again and good racing. 2 safety cars. There was a little bit of clumsy racing yes but that is to be expected in the narrow tracks they are racing on. Trulli unlucky again.

Charlie-Bravo · 06-05-2015 4:05pm

Its the Monaco race this weekend.

ALL TIMES CET (RACE AT 3pm IRISH SUMMER TIME)

STARTS ENDS ACTIVITY
7:00 18:00 Gates open/close
8:15 9:00 NON-QUALIFYING PRACTICE 1
10:30 11:00 NON-QUALIFYING PRACTICE 2
12:00 12:10 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 1
12:15 12:25 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 2
12:30 12:40 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 3
12:45 12:55 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 4
15:23 15:33 Pitlane open/close
15:50 FanBoost implementation
16:00 17:00 RACE

flazio · 06-05-2015 4:28pm

astrofluff wrote: »

Its the Monaco race this weekend.

ALL TIMES CET (RACE AT 3pm IRISH SUMMER TIME)

STARTS ENDS ACTIVITY
7:00 18:00 Gates open/close
8:15 9:00 NON-QUALIFYING PRACTICE 1
10:30 11:00 NON-QUALIFYING PRACTICE 2
12:00 12:10 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 1
12:15 12:25 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 2
12:30 12:40 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 3
12:45 12:55 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 4
15:23 15:33 Pitlane open/close
15:50 FanBoost implementation
16:00 17:00 RACE

Should be noted that they are racing on a shorter circuit than we see in Formula one, basically at the end of the main straight they will have a tighter left turn to take them down the tunnel chicane escape road. The chicane is now a hairpin and this will bring them back along the marina in the usual way.
No casino square, no Lowes hairpin and no tunnel.

Sterling Archer · 06-05-2015 4:56pm

flazio wrote: »

Should be noted that they are racing on a shorter circuit than we see in Formula one, basically at the end of the main straight they will have a tighter left turn to take them down the tunnel chicane escape road. The chicane is now a hairpin and this will bring them back along the marina in the usual way.
No casino square, no Lowes hairpin and no tunnel.

PopePalpatine · 06-05-2015 6:39pm

I suppose they wouldn't sound too great through the tunnel anyway. :pac:

antodeco · 06-05-2015 6:51pm

Have tickets for this! Shame it's not the same weekend as the F1 this time!

Charlie-Bravo · 06-05-2015 7:24pm

Enjoy antodeco.

Here's Formula E's graphic layout:

Hope its not too big for your tablet/phones.

AMKC · 08-05-2015 8:35pm

Looking forward to it. Hopefully this will be a good Formula E race like all the rest of them have been so far. Kinda glad that F1 is only the highlights this weekend or I would never be of the couch lol. Would still love to see the F1 race live do but not fussed about the Qualifying that much.

Ghost Train · 09-05-2015 10:40am

11am on itv4 for qualifying, and 2pm for race

Ghost Train · 09-05-2015 11:11am

Alternative part of the track looks pretty narrow, shortened track as a whole seems a bit disappointing. Will see how it works for racing

_rebelkid · 09-05-2015 2:28pm

PopePalpatine · 09-05-2015 3:04pm

Jesus, that was like a race with the rFactor Formula E mod! :pac:

Ghost Train · 09-05-2015 3:05pm

Ghost Train wrote: »

Alternative part of the track looks pretty narrow

narrow lol

Ghost Train · 09-05-2015 3:08pm

pretty big pile up, wonder will it happen again

_rebelkid · 09-05-2015 3:09pm

Bit of a crash...

_rebelkid · 09-05-2015 3:53pm

AMKC · 09-05-2015 8:11pm

I thought the track was very short. I think they could make it a bit longer and have a few less laps. The race was good do. The crash at the beginning was cleared very quickly. Would have took longer if it was an F1 crash. Lucky no one was hurt. They will have to look into doing something different there next year even if it means moving the start back a bit to give the cars space to spread out. It is a very narrow track.

Ghost Train · 09-05-2015 9:39pm

AMKC wrote: »

I thought the track was very short. I think they could make it a bit longer and have a few less laps. The race was good do. The crash at the beginning was cleared very quickly. Would have took longer if it was an F1 crash. Lucky no one was hurt. They will have to look into doing something different there next year even if it means moving the start back a bit to give the cars space to spread out. It is a very narrow track.

Wonder were they were restricted to keeping the race in the harbour area so as not to shut down the rest of Monaco or maybe wouldn't have the resources to cover the full circuit or something. I see it won't be back to Monaco next year because it was taking the place of the Historic GP which happen every second year.

_rebelkid · 09-05-2015 10:35pm

AMKC wrote: »

The race was good do. The crash at the beginning was cleared very quickly. Would have took longer if it was an F1 crash.

Because they could pull the cars up the hill after Sainte Devote first, then take them off the track.

10-05-2015 1:10am

Gonna guess they basically used the bit of the GP circuit that's already ready.

Infoanon · 10-05-2015 10:51am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Gonna guess they basically used the bit of the GP circuit that's already ready.

The full circuit is used for the historic race which takes place this time of the year every 2nd year so I would guess the full circuit could have been used .

On the way into Monaco there is a storage area where the equipment is kept all year round.

I would guess,like Long Beach,that there would have been very few laps if the full circuit had been used.

Attendance seemed ok - tickets were free for the event and there was a lot of publicity over the last few weeks.

AMKC · 10-05-2015 7:57pm

Ghost Train wrote: »

Wonder were they were restricted to keeping the race in the harbour area so as not to shut down the rest of Monaco or maybe wouldn't have the resources to cover the full circuit or something. I see it won't be back to Monaco next year because it was taking the place of the Historic GP which happen every second year.

Its because the cars are electric and there range is not great yet. They would not have done a lot of laps and it would have been a very short race if they tried to race the whole circuit. Maybe in a few years when the battery,s are better they might get to race the whole track.

So will it be a biannual race at Monoco for Formula e then.

AMKC · 23-05-2015 12:18am

Formula E is back again this weekend. Its in Berlin this time. Qualifying from 11am on ITV4 and the race from 1pm I think.

Charlie-Bravo · 23-05-2015 9:17am

Race is at 3pm Irish Summer Time. Coverage starts at 2pm on ITV4. Qualy is also TV.

Below times are local to Berlin.

STARTS ENDS ACTIVITY
7:00 18:00 Gates open/close
8:15 9:00 NON-QUALIFYING PRACTICE 1
9:30 9:50 FE School Series - Practice/Qualifying
10:30 11:00 NON-QUALIFYING PRACTICE 2
12:00 12:10 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 1
12:15 12:25 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 2
12:30 12:40 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 3
12:45 12:55 QUALIFYING SESSION GROUP 4
14:40 15:00 FE School Series - Race
15:23 15:33 Pitlane open/close
15:50 FanBoost implementation
16:00 17:00 RACE

Formula E

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