The future? Discuss

[Robinho]

BBC News - Formula E electric car racing series is launched by FIA (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19402383)

i'm really interested in what this will turn into, it could be really poor, but I think this has potential to be something fascinating, albeit without the traditional noise of a racing car

[Bagwan]

I've read elsewhere , that it will be a spec car , at least for the first year , and that the races will be a half-hour affair , fitting both with short battery life , and a one-hour TV package .

While I think the idea of an electric championship is a good one , if all that is true it all seems a bit too packaged to me .

[Malbec]

I've read elsewhere , that it will be a spec car.

If so that would be a real shame as there would be no innovation.

There's an electric race at the Isle of Man TT and there's been obvious improvements in the entries year on year. The first year few bikes even completed the course but over the past couple of years the pace has gone up massively.

I'm sure there would be a good few manufacturers happy to take on an electric car championship, Tesla, Nissan and Renault for starters as there'd be obvious positive publicity for their roadcars. Tacking it onto the F1 race weekend would be a great idea.

[Firstgear]

It was only a matter of time before this started. To be relevant, you have to keep up with technology. Heck, I heard even Nascar leaped forward into the '80's recently by changing over to fuel injection. The day will come when electric (or some other green technology) racing will surpass what we have now for popularity & relevance.
One thing that sounds strange in the article though is that they plan to swap out cars at pit stops instead of changing tyres or recharging batteries. Recharging or swapping out batteries at pit stops would seem to me to be more natural and more relevant.

[Knock-on]

I am very proud of my Daughter who is in a team that has built, maintained and raced an electric car in the Welcome to the Greenpower Education Trust | Greenpower (http://www.greenpower.co.uk/) project. They have done Silverstone, Goodwood and a host of other circuits.

To maintain British excellence in Motorsport we need to support and encourage these initiatives.

[Mark]

It does indeed sound like an excellent idea; but as others have said there does need to be innovation, but this is only the start after all.

I think there needs to be two types of racing series - A Formula 1 style all about speed championship, and an Endurance series, we could eventually see all electric cars competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

[Knock-on]

Sounds logical. Motorsport will evolve away from hydrocarbons over the years and we will move with it.

[Bagwan]

If so that would be a real shame as there would be no innovation.

There's an electric race at the Isle of Man TT and there's been obvious improvements in the entries year on year. The first year few bikes even completed the course but over the past couple of years the pace has gone up massively.

I'm sure there would be a good few manufacturers happy to take on an electric car championship, Tesla, Nissan and Renault for starters as there'd be obvious positive publicity for their roadcars. Tacking it onto the F1 race weekend would be a great idea.

See Joe Saward's column on this a few days ago .
It mentions the spec car , and that the races are expected to be only twenty minutes long .

I love the idea of a series , but if this is it , I can't imagine it working .

[wedge]

I can't see it lasting long.

No scope, no innovation.

Where will it fit in the motorsport ladder? Who want to drive in this category?

I don't think such technology belongs in single seaters. Even Gordon Murray agrees with Bernie's sentiments. They're power boosts at best and at worst a silly gimmick to tick the green credentials box ie. pit lane mode.

Problem as we all know is how to solve range extension of hybrid vehicles and therefore the technology has better use in endurance racing - as also advocated by Gordon Murray.


I'm sure there would be a good few manufacturers happy to take on an electric car championship, Tesla, Nissan and Renault for starters as there'd be obvious positive publicity for their roadcars. Tacking it onto the F1 race weekend would be a great idea.

MjV_LgYnb50

[Whyzars]

I can't see it lasting long.

Me neither. Aside from folks who want to see the human race fed to whales and marketeers who want the punters to reach deeper into their pockets who is actually pushing for electric cars? I see them as overpriced and impractical into the foreseeable future. The Chevy Volt looks to be the first modern implementation that might have legs but its still prohibitively expensive.

Spectacular torquey motors with a committed drag racer following but there really isn't anyone screaming for electric cars or electric car circuit racing.

With shale oil and gas cracked fuel I expect that there will be internal combustion motorsport for the next thousand years or until something faster and even louder comes along. Technology moves forwards so when something that improves on internal combustion comes along it will gradually pull the audience along with it.

Electric motors may be a future transport option for all of us but I truly expect that my high octane V8 will be blub, blub, blubbing down my driveway for a good many years yet.

P.S. I absolutely love the sound of a high revving V8 and I just can't see mankind inventing anything that primal ever again. Ever... :)

[Malbec]

and an Endurance series, we could eventually see all electric cars competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

Le Mans already has a special slot for a technologically interesting car that doesn't fit into any of the existing categories. Thats how the Deltawing got in this year and I think next year's car is electric or has some kind of special hybrid system.

[Malbec]

Me neither. Aside from folks who want to see the human race fed to whales and marketeers who want the punters to reach deeper into their pockets who is actually pushing for electric cars? I see them as overpriced and impractical into the foreseeable future. The Chevy Volt looks to be the first modern implementation that might have legs but its still prohibitively expensive.

Spectacular torquey motors with a committed drag racer following but there really isn't anyone screaming for electric cars or electric car circuit racing.

With shale oil and gas cracked fuel I expect that there will be internal combustion motorsport for the next thousand years or until something faster and even louder comes along. Technology moves forwards so when something that improves on internal combustion comes along it will gradually pull the audience along with it.

Electric motors may be a future transport option for all of us but I truly expect that my high octane V8 will be blub, blub, blubbing down my driveway for a good many years yet.

P.S. I absolutely love the sound of a high revving V8 and I just can't see mankind inventing anything that primal ever again. Ever... :)

I agree that petrol has a longer future than we previously thought, however cracking and shale gas are only economically feasible because oil prices are so high and therefore they will remain high in the future.

Therefore I do think there will be a wider selection of propulsion systems on the market in the future, whether electric, hybrid or something else.

I've followed the Isle of Man TT electric bike races year on year and I think its been fascinating. There have been some strong personal rivalries and clashes between different technologies while the progress shown by the bikes has been amazing, ie apart from the relative lack of noise its just like any other form of motorsport. Writing electric motorsport off without even bothering to give it a try is simply silly.

[wedge]

They can use electric cars as long as they don't sound like the one in the video. You can't beat standing at the end of Hangar Straight at Silverstone and hearing the roar of an F1 car going past. Its part of the experience and if they used electric cars they would have to recreate this to be taken seriously IMO.

Personally I get used to it, sort off.

I was at Silverstone last week for WEC 6 hours.

The V8 Toyota Hybrid was aurally in league of its own compared to diesel Audis but you just have to appreciate the cars for what it is, the technology applied to compete to win and for that reason sound recreation is a complete joke.

As long as a race car is driven on the limits and physically noticeable that is a more concern to me than what it should sound like. I had more joy seeing the likes of Wurz and Nakajima wrestling their Toyota hybrid through high speed corners than the sound it made.

[TheFamousEccles]

I think it is a great innitiative, and I would be very interested to see how it develops. To paraphrase someone much wiser than me - the longest journey always starts with a first step. I do think that this statement from the cited article -

"We're not talking about appealing to the grey market with these cars. We're looking at the 15 year old today who will be tomorrow's car buyer".

- is the telling point. Most of us are rusted on internal combustion motor enthusiasts, and the idea of a car that doesnt sound like this is unappealing. They obviously have a long way to go, but all power (pun unintended) to them.

[AndyL]

Having an electric racing spec series seems a complete waste of time. The technology is in its infancy and needs technical competition to push it on.

[wedge]

Might be wrong on this one.

It seems media outlets sensationalised/jumped on the electricity bandwagon.

Formula E more like Can Am milk floats.


In terms of the cars themselves you can either purchase cars from Formula E Holdings like their Formulec FE01 Prototype above or design and field your own car based on the Technical Regulations introduced by the FIA.

The FIA's Technical Regulations for this series in regard to aerodynamics are free with the exception of certain parameters like a skid block, dimensional width, height and length, along with the usual restraints in regard to safety cells and crash tests to safe guard the drivers. (Open or closed Cockpits are permitted but I won't go into this here as I have another article planned later in the month on this subject)
The technical regulations also go as far as allowing incremental adjustable bodywork. This is another instance of Formula One's success being transplanted into another series with DRS helping to bring a return to overtaking in F1. The FIA have not however restricted adjustable bodywork to just the Rear Wing like in F1 and so teams could provide bodywork flick ups that produce downforce for cornering and retract for drag reduction along with Front and Rear Wing adjustability.

These open regulations will allow for many exciting innovations that we have seen banned in F1 to return to FormulaE with the likes of ground effect venturi tunnels (No skirts like the full blown ground effect cars), flexible bodywork, F Ducts, full length bargeboards, wheel centre covers, enlarged diffusers, decked diffusers etc. The regulations do go as far as stopping the use of a fan though before someone attempts to build another Brabham BT46B. Interestingly although the cars will very much look like open wheelers in terms of chassis design designers are permitted to run with wheel arches. There will be no in season aerodynamic development.

In terms of power delivery the power outage is unlimited and power can be transmitted to either 2 or 4 wheels, traction control is also permitted.

The car including it's driver (less it's battery/capacitor's components ) has a minimum weight of 540kg's with the battery/capacitor components having a maximum weight of 300kg's. The minimum weight in combination is 780kg's.

SomersF1: Formula E (http://somersf1.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/formula-e-future-of-motorsport.html)

[F1boat]

For me it sounds interesting :) I'll be curious to see it if and when it appears.

[schmenke]

"...The batteries in the new cars are expected to run down relatively quickly. So when a driver comes into the pits, he won't just change his tyres.
He'll change the whole car - swapping it for a new, and fully charged machine. ..."

Um... does this not entirely defeat the purpose? :erm:

[fandango]

Racing stuff is cool. We do it with shopping trolleys, for jaysus' sake. This new series won't have the noise of F1, but that doesn't make it crap. It just means it won't sound as good as F1. What counts is whether the racing is any good.

What I find hard to understand is why they don't have a broader formula, to reflect the indecision that exists about "alternative" fuels. They should leave it to clever people in teams to innovate, and let this new formula take its own shape. Maybe the future is in hydrogen. Solar powered cars probably wouldn't do so well in a wet race, though...