Will it be another A1GP episode or is it the future?
It will be a complete bust - wanna see electric cars racing?, buy scalectrix or a few remote control cars. Silent race cars - who needs it, it's like football without a crowd, no atmosphere created, no correlation to speed and power. What a crock, hope it goes bang in the first season.
Even though there are some notable names behind it, I think you are right. A1GP had some notable names too. Jones, Lauda, Emerson and look how quick it folded. Hate the covered wheels. An open wheeler that is not an open wheeler...reminds me of another series.
It will have very few viewers but the FIA and their green agenda will keep it alive as long as possible. Quite a few of the drivers right now are begging for votes so that they get more power (REALLY!!!). Good way to raise ''viewing numbers'' (which quite simply are lies, as many will vote to help out a driver they support but will not watch the races) I suppose. I mean, what's next? Let people vote who should win the next F1 race and thats that? It makes me want to weep. Some are saying that because a lot of ex F1 drivers are in it people are going to watch...They need to take a look at racing currently and the lack of money in it. These guys need money to live too so a big paycheck from Formula E will keep them afloat and chase seats in other racing series (not strange for anyone not racing in F1 to race in multiple series at the same time). Apparently they're now going to play car sounds (and crash noises!!) on the speakers around the circuit so that it seems like the cars make noise. It's painful. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxXEVKsn1yE]Formula E Cars Race On London Bridge - YouTube[/ame] They sound like those electric monorails for ****s sake! It is the most pathetic excuse for racing, ever. I urge everyone to NOT watch this and encourage the FIA more to bring this into other forms of motorsport.
I believe this whole electric / hybrid thing will eventually disappear. Now this is my opinion. I could be wrong. Remember down thru the years, all the new tech that was going to make the IC engine disappear. We shall see. Ago
Formula E is stupid and no one will watch it. Fewer will know when it dies than even knew it existed in the first place.
Let's get some perspective on this: Motor racing fans are complaining that this years F1 cars are too quiet, taking away some of the excitement from the races, so how well is a race series that is virtually silent going to go down with the fans? Once the initial novelty factor wears off (probably by lap 3 of the first ever race!), then Formula E will start to die the death! It's got: "One year wonder" written all over it!
My biggest worry is that the viewing numbers will be vastly inflated and Formula E forced upon us through other series.
Formula E is here to stay. It's an inevitable evolution of more power with less oil-based fuel source. Subjectively arguing, it can still be exciting despite the noise factor- LeMans still is. Previously, Audi won LeMans with a gasoline engine. When LeMans switched to diesel fuel, Audi won LeMans with a turbocharged direct injection diesel engine. Now, Audi has won with the etron (Diesel Hybrid) system which uses 22% less diesel fuel than last year. Nearly all the YouTube videos show these electric cars tuned down to 25% of speed capacity because of the venue restrictions (Las Vegas, London). They are much faster. As for the sound, I have no comment other than give it a chance.
Not many people are big fans of the Audi's. Actually, most people that cheer on the Audi's are Audi fanboys. At first people thought the noise of the Diesels was quite cool, the woosh of the wind and just the gearbox and tire was all you could here but people that where at the race mostly commented the novelty wore off quick. Now most everyone (bar audi fanboys) want anyone but the Audi to win. A lot are cheering on the Toyota because of the noise. I'm not really sure what your point is with the whole Audi thing anyhow, other than that you're listing of that they won LM. Le Mans is still exciting for a whole lot different reasons than Audis; mostly because they've had a few good challenges recently and they won because those dropped out. In a 24h race there are so many variables, that's what keeps it exciting. As a little boy I had scalextric. The noise wasn't exciting. This is just Scalextric in 1:1 and no rails to guide them. I predict less roll overs and men to push them over too. The drivers have to switch cars (during the race I believe) which is just ****ing stupid.
Oh, I have no interest in Audi, nor have I ever owned/desired one. My point is with the whole "electric" thing- you know...this thread.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE78Og1MdSw[/ame] Here they are at full speed. I really wonder how they're going to get anyone to view this.
The sound, or lack of it, is going to keep people away. Imagine electric top fuel? Everyone goes for the noise.
+1 Everytime I see a journo commenting that Formula E is ''the future of motorsport'' they lose a lot of credit in my eyes. When governing bodies try and force this upon teams etc I see a significant rise in petrol powered motorsports viewing numbers and 'classic' motorsport (even cars from just 10 years ago) championships on the rise, with proper professional drivers. I can't see electric motorsport being widely embraced by the people and thus sponsorship will go down significantly.
So I am at Donny right now in the sun on the hill, E cars going around. My impressions are, the cars are to dam slow . And no noise at all to talk about. A couple of near misses in the pit lane due to no one hearing them. The drivers today include Nick Heidfeld,Caroon Chandrok, Bruno Senna and Seb Buemi. Sorry about my miss spelt names. I really can't see it catching on with the F1 guys, it needs more speed by far. Somethin has to grab you about it, the commentator keeps trying to convince us about the range of these cars. That may well be, but distance figures don't make me want to cheer for it
Interesting comments, thanks. No doubt they will get quicker but noise from an electric motor certainly will not get louder. Unless they "manufacture" the noise somehow. That would be ridiculous, though.
Yea when I say faster I am referring to the straights. To be fair the corner very well and seem good on the twistys. It was interesting to watch and as the day went on, I quite enjoyed it. I did meet every driver in the pit lane, whey were available to the fans. Interesting that they are running the more modern wheel and tyres to. We were told they are as fast as formulae 3 so far. For UK viewers the practice session will be on itv 4 on Sunday afternoon. That's what they told us anyway. There was about 700 people there on the day. Also camera crews eveywere, they seem determined to make a proper go at this.
