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Formula-e China Race – first impressions

Formula-e Electric car racing was shown live on ITV4 in the UK, so I decided to give it ago after recently seeing publicity about it. I am a motor racing fan and have watch every F1 race since the mid 1980’s as well as many other motor sports as they come a go on TV. I have also been to see several British Touring car races at Brands Hatch and Thruxton, DTM and many races at small circuits.

After reading about the new formula-e and seeing the driver and team line up it looks interesting with some talented drivers involved.

Qualifying

Practice1 and 2  takes place in the morning of race day, with two sessions totaling 1 hr 15 mins track time. An hour after Practice 2 is qualifying. Qualifying is split into 4 groups of 10 minute sessions where 5 cars try to set the best lap time. This set-up can really mix up the grid if the track conditions change during the sessions. Obviously if it rains during a session then those cars will have no hope of getting a decent time against the dry track runners.  I think all cars should be given the chance to qualify in the same conditions. The driver that gets Pole Position will also get three championship points.

Nicolas Prost for e.Dams-renault qualified on pole,

Lucas di Grassi for Audi Sport ABT was second

Danial Abt for Audi Sport ABT was third.

It seems that the gear boxes of these cars are easily damaged as Sabastian Buemi, Jarno Trulli, Michela Cerutti, Stephane Sarrazin and Ho-Pin Tung had to take a 10 place grid penalty for changing the gearbox. Ho-Pin Tung, Jarno Trulli, Bruno Senna and Stephane Sarrazin were all unable to do any laps in qualifying due to their mechanical issues. Senna had previously got the best time in practice 2.

Fan Boost

There is a 3 hour gap between qualifying and the Race at 4:00pm local time. In that time the Fan Boost vote takes place via an online voting system. The 3 drivers with the most votes get 5 seconds of extra power for the race giving them a chance at a free overtake. For China the fans voted for Bruno Senna, Lucas di Grassi and Katherine Legge.

The Race

The track, being a street track, was tight and twisty but had a couple of corners that were particurlary tight so only 1 car could get through, making overtaking difficult. There was also a little chicane with high kerbs that was barely one car wide.

The cars do a warm-up lap before the start, though they drive round so slow to conserve battery power it’s hard to believe the tyres get much heat in them at all.

The start was as exciting and hectic as any motor race with Heidfeld making a good start from 6th to 3rd.  Bruno Senner managed to hit the high kerb on the second corner which broke the front suspension putting him out of the race. Once the cars settled down there was some overtaking taking place. I found ITV4’s coverage a bit difficult to follow in the fact I didn’t know the cars so couldn’t tell who was on screen. The positions were not shown on screen as much as I would like so never really knew how well drivers were progressing through the field. So other than catching what the commentators were saying it was a little slow to follow. To be fair to ITV4 this could be info supplied by the FIA and out of ITV4’s control.

I didn’t get the impression the cars we not on the limit as they kept away from the walls but battery life is obviously a big issue. Like F1 have to race to maintain tyres, formula-e race to conserve the energy. So i would expect that the best racing will take place just before the pit stop and in the last few laps when the drivers aim to use the power less economically.

Pretty much all the cars pitted on the same lap making the pit lane particurlary busy. With a minimum time changing cars of 50 seconds several cars had to wait before they could get on with the race so were unable to take advantage of an efficient car change. Hopefully and area that will be looked at for future races.

The second car didn’t have tyre warmers that i could see before the car change so im not sure that there is any benefit to the very slow warm up lap before the race starts.

The second half of the race had more overtaking as the drivers got into the race. Most notably Nick Heidfeld in second place chasing down Nicolas Prost who was in first. Increasing his lap time due to better battery life. Until the last corner as Heildfeld came up the inside of the last corner Prost swerved left to defend crashing in to Heidfeld. What followed was a nasty accident as Heidfelds damaged car skidded into the high kerbs of the last corner flipping the car high into the air, hitting the crash barrier before rolling to a stop. Amazingly Nick walked away but initially it looked like he had gone into the barrier where his head was. Thankfully he said he was Ok after the race. But was a dramatic end to an otherwise average race with moments of excitement.

Overall the racing was close helped by a safety car in the first few laps. I felt the track didn’t have many overtaking opportunities so hopefully the track in Malaysia will be better. I would expect the racing to get better as the drivers and teams get the hang off what they need to do, so will definitely be watching for a full season before I decide if it is an interesting formula to watch.

FIA Formula-e – high performance Electric Car Racing

Formula-e is a new FIA backed motor racing formula that is being trailed for the first time in 2014.

So do we need another racing Formula?

Well maybe, as the main concept is about high performance electric car racing. No that doesn’t mean Grandma has had a bigger battery fitted to her mobility scooter and she has got together with some of her coffee morning mates. It means there is a serious attempt by some high profile names to get an interest in electric cars and help the development of electric road cars in the same way F1 has contributed to all aspects of road cars.

People Power Speed Bonus Boost!

Formula-e is not intended to take on F1 after it’s recent changes to a hybrid energy recovery formula but to appeal to people who may not usually watch motor racing as well as motor racing fans. All 10 races will take place in cities around the world, not on race tracks, so audiences don’t need to travel far to watch the race. The whole event from practice to the race will take place on one day so more inviting as a day out to watch the action compared to most formulas that take place over the whole weekend. There is also an element of audience participation voting for three drivers to have access to a 5 second power boost for the race. No Mario Kart bananas allowed on track yet but maybe that will come next year.

Many ex-F1 Teams and Drivers involved in Formula-e

Formula-e is backed by some big names with teams owned by the 4 times F1 world champion Alan Prost, famous racing family the Andretti’s, ex-F1 driver Jano Trulli, Virgin owner Richard Branson and film star Leonardo DiCaprio. The driver line up contains many who have driven in F1 such as Nick Heidfield, Jarno Trulli, Takumo Sato, Bruno Senna, Nelson Piquet Jr, Jamie Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi amongst others.

As a long time motor racing fan, motor racing is not just about the cars going around the track but knowing something about the drivers and teams and what it means for them to win or just beat other drivers and teams. That’s when you get involved in the soap opera of the season and enjoy the on track action more. So in my opinion there is good  interest in the teams and drivers for existing race fans. I personally would like to see Nick Heidfield and Bruno Senna do well as well as the two British drivers Sam Bird and Katherine Legge.

formula-e-racing-car

 The Cars

The cars are made by Sparks Racing Technologies from a chassis made by Dallara who build chassis for Formula 3 and several American formulas including Indy Car.  The electric motor is supplied by McLaren F1’s technology company  McLaren Electronics. The batteries are supplied by Williams F1. The fixed ratio sequential gear box is supplied by Hewland Engineering. The systems are integrated by Renault.

The Formula-e cars can reach speeds of about 140mph (225 Km/h). The battery will last about 30 minutes before the driver has to pit to change cars, as it would be too dangerous to change batteries instead. It’s that or have a pit stop take 50 minutes while they are recharged!!! A slight contrast to a Formula One tyre change of 2.3 seconds. For safety the drivers are not allowed to take less than 50 seconds to change cars and be strapped in safely.

One of the elements of motor racing that fans enjoy is the roar of the engines. As the cars go full throttle, the sound vibrates through your body as they go thundering by. Obviously this is not the case with electric vehicles. Formula-e cars make a whining sound like a jet engine starting up at about 80 decibels which is a bit more than a road car at 70mph. So not as quiet as I first thought, with a unique sound which may not suit some race fans but would suit family’s with children going to a Formula-e race event.

Driving the Cars

It sounds like the drivers will have a lot to do on board. As the electronics recover energy under braking the cars will brake differently into corners based on the speed and type of corner, so the driver will need to adjust the brake balance as they go round the track. Get this wrong and the wheels will lock up causing the car to skid or cause them to go to deep into a corner meaning they will be slow to accelerate away. This should also mean that the drivers who get the hang of this the best will be the ones doing the overtaking in the corners.

One to watch….

Formula-e looks interesting, lets hope the on track action is good and is enjoyable to watch. I will keep an open mind and watch it for the whole season as ITV4 are showing all races live.

I will add a post after each race with a summary of the points standings and my general point of view of the race.

 

 Formula-e Race Calendar 2014/15 season

The 2014/15 Race calender contains 10 races between September 2014 to June 2015.

September 13th – China – Bejing

November 22nd – Malaysia – Putrajaya

December 13th – Uruguay – Punta Del Este

January 10th – Argentina – Buenoa Aires

February 14th – TBA

March 14th – USA – Miami

April 4th – USA – Long Beach

May 9th – Monaco – Monte Carlo

May 30th – Germany – Berlin

June 27th – England – London

 

Teams and Drivers

Team: Amlin Aguri (Japan)

Drivers: Katherine Legge (British) & Takuma Sato (Japanese)

Team: Andretti Formula E (USA)

Drivers: Frank Montagny (French) & Charles Pic (French)

Team: Audi Sport ABT (Germany)

Drivers: Lucas di Grassi (Brazilian) & Daniel Abt (German)

Team: China Racing (China)

Drivers: Nelson Piquet (Brazilian) & Ho-Pin Tung (Chinese)

Team: Dragon Racing (USA)

Drivers: Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgian) & Oriol Servia (Spanish)

Team: E.Dams-Renault (French)

Drivers: Nicolas Prost (French) & Sebastien Buemi (Swiss)

Team: Mahindra Racing (India)

Drivers: Karun Chandok (Indian) & Bruno Senna (Brazilian)

Teams: Trulli (Switzerland)

Drivers: Jarno Trulli (Italian) & Michela Cerruti (Italian)

Team: Venturi (Monaco)

Drivers: Nick Heidfeld (German) & Stephane Sarrazin (French)

Team: Virgin Racing (British)

Drivers: Jamie Alguersuarl (Spanish) & Sam Bird (English)