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Formula E - Thoughts

T8

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29 Jun 2010
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So, the first season of Formula E has been and gone.

I was lucky enough to get VIP tickets to the penultimate round at Battersea on Saturday so had the opportunity to view the cars and get up close and personal with drivers/ teams /sponsors etc ....

To be honest I'd had very little interest in the series before I knew I was going so I had to gen up by watching the Russian round a couple of weeks before. I hadn't realised that so many ex F1 drivers were involved.

Going to Battersea knowing that six drivers still had a chance of winning the title (although realistically it was only three) meant that I was looking forward to some proper racing.

Due to the tight layout of the park and the need for the VIP area to be near the pit-lane the only way to watch the racing action was on TV but at least that meant I could follow exactly what was going on. The mid-race car change is weird and does get exciting but the lack of noise is what sticks most in my mind.

The nearest I can get to describing the sound is ...... 20 very large scalextric cars. There's something wrong when wheel guns drown out any other noise.

I had a great day watching it live but the Formula E cars themselves contributed very little to that. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the final round on TV on Sunday as the Championship really did go 'right to the wire' but beyond that ..............

A lot of people are seriously talking it up as the future of motor racing and there's some serious money involved but for a fan of motorsport I'd have to say :thumbdown:

Did anyone else follow any of it :?: If so, thoughts
 
I watched some of it from a hotel in Macau (different story) and was underwhelmed. Just looked like a RC car race, and what was that mini roundabout/ speed bump doing midway through a corner...

:dont know:
 
I think Jenson Button's statement regarding Formula E about summed it up for me.


"I think it is good that it is in cities and it attracts people who are not motorsport fans because it is easy to walk down to Battersea Park and see a car go round. It doesn't disturb anyone either because it is not very loud.

"I've watched a couple of races. The cars [and] the sound don't do anything for me, but the drivers do. The drivers are making that series."

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/59224/F1-duo-dismiss-Formula-E-claims
 
I watched one before I knew what it was, had a load of good drivers, watched the pre-race build up.

Then the flag dropped.

What a load of sh!te.

Like watching milk float racing.

Drivel
 
Watched some of it on Sunday, can't disagree with Pete. Very underwhelming. :nooo:
 
I watched it a while ago whilst channel hopping and didn't realise at 1st what it was. Very lame, very lame indeed.

If they're going to do electric car racing, why don't they just do it properly - ie. have some way of conducting 4000 volts from an overhead matrix in to the cars, that then enable them to go faster than F1?? Would be much more fun.
 
Formula E ???? Im sure I tried that in an Essex club years ago :dont know: :floor:
 
Current F1 is half way there already with hybrids...at least F E is about driving ability not your ability to spend vast amounts of cash on stuff that fans can neither see nor really comprehend.

Put F1 to sleep and leave GP2 as the pinnacle, dont let them spend a penny more on it and then FE would be the support race. I would love to see the current f1 driver grid line up in GP2 cars, would be fascinating.

Done, simple really..
 
Slow and quiet - nice! Seriously though, it's very, very early in its development. Go and have a look at some old Formula One races and they appear very gentile. Give it a few years and I think it will be a lot more interesting. Noise may always be a problem for some traditionalists however.
 
Thread resurrection ........... 2 years on.

I think it says a lot about my views in that I haven't watched one minute of this since I went to that race in Battersea 2 years ago.

Does anyone on here follow it :?:
 
Watched maybe once or twice when I flicked on it on the Telly by mistake. One word sums it up for me....PANTS. :nooo:
 
I`ve tried to watch it a few times, but it is just sad :grin:

Until I found out what the "Fanboost" malarchy was, I actually thought it allowed them to turn on a fan for a little extra puff of speed :eh!:
 
I enjoyed the race at Battersea last season, as it was a good day out, and pretty much on my doorstep - granted I did make the comment of milkfloats on steroids. Sadly the local NIMBY's got hold of that event, otherwise I would have gone again.

Get used to the noise, and the worst problem is some of the street circuits are pretty artificial, and don't lend themselves to good racing. The last race I watched was the Mexico event (on a proper circuit) and it wasn't too bad, and I can see Berlin being watchable this time as it's moved from the city centre to Tempelhof which might help..
 
I've been to a couple of races and it is a great day out.

The city circuits don't help the race be interesting, but they bring in the crowds, so it's a double edged sword.

The noise complaint is frankly stupid - is bicycle racing dull because there's no noise? Is Bolt boring? It's like the F1 "fans" saying that the newer quiet engines ruined the racing - no, they didn't. Most people at F1 races used to wear ear defenders before, so how can making the engines quieter be a bad thing? And in actual fact, when a F-e car goes past, it's a lot louder than you'd think. If the race isn't interesting, it is not because of the sound.

Electric cars are the future (now I'll get lambasted for pointing out this obvious fact) so why not race them? ;-)
 
Tobesetc said:
I've been to a couple of races and it is a great day out.

The city circuits don't help the race be interesting, but they bring in the crowds, so it's a double edged sword.

The noise complaint is frankly stupid - is bicycle racing dull because there's no noise? Is Bolt boring? It's like the F1 "fans" saying that the newer quiet engines ruined the racing - no, they didn't. Most people at F1 races used to wear ear defenders before, so how can making the engines quieter be a bad thing? And in actual fact, when a F-e car goes past, it's a lot louder than you'd think. If the race isn't interesting, it is not because of the sound.

Electric cars are the future (now I'll get lambasted for pointing out this obvious fact) so why not race them? ;-)

:yeah:

(Again)
 

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