224 replies to this topic

[maximilian]

I wish they had proper tyres! Why do they have these hard, grooved low profile biscuit tins?

 

The tyres are also street relevant, as they are much closer to what would run on actual non-racecars.  So Michelin actually gets some pretty good data out of these that may directly benefit their street car tyres.  Makes a lot more sense than custom-built racing tyres that are otherwise irrelevant in the real world.  I dare say that we could perhaps take these tyres and strap them on to our own cars as they are??  They also run in wet conditions, so no need for wet weather tyre sets.  Lower cost and "sustainability" factor all around.

Edited by maximilian, 14 December 2014 - 16:12.

[Disgrace]

Senna is making a habit of totalling his first car's suspension just prior to the changeover.

[frosty125]

I thought it was a fantastic race, really enjoying this series now.

[anbeck]

Senna is making a habit of totalling his first car's suspension just prior to the changeover.

 

And the commentators make a habit out of not understanding that the car is being changed! Today, Franchitti saved the day by saying something like "yeah, but he's going to change the car", but in the last race the commentator actually continued throughout the second half of the race to be astonished that the driver could continue at this pace after hitting the wall earlier.... (unless I am very much mistaken)

 

 

I also really enjoy the racing a lot (I agree with the poster who said that FE is punching above its weight), and I hope the FIA uses this series to test some other progressive ideas, not only on the technical, but also on the sporting regulations and PR (short 'week-end', tyres, winter schedule, etc...). When they announced it, many laughed at the idea of an all-weather tyre. But it's much less ridiculous than F1's grooved tyre decade, if it really works. I hope we get a race with mixed weather conditions to see how the tyres will play out!

 

I am still not so sure about the manufacturer involvement. They've not been 100% clear yet on how exactly this will look (although e.dams and ABT seem to bring 'natural' partners... maybe also Andretti and Aguri). I personally would love to see big 'fossil' manufacturers (especially non-luxury car makers such as Renault, Volkswagen, etc...) battle electric car manufacturers such as Tesla, against companies like Panasonic and Bosch, and maybe some small start-ups that will be the future Cosworth/Illmor/Judd of the electric era (that is, names I probably don't know yet). But somehow I'm sceptical that it might not turn out in the exact way I am imagining it.... Let's see what they will announce.

 

But from all the series that popped up over the past 20 years (the premise of both A1GP and Superleage Formula must have appeared absurd to anybody who followed motorsports...), I like this the most by far. It doesn't seem contrived and artificial. Yes, they are not the fastest race cars in the world, but they will probably make huge leaps over the next 5-10 years. And until then, we get a good glimpse at the implications of non-fossil race cars (the simple fact that the weight of the car does hardly change throughout the stint is quite interesting from a setup and strategy perspective!).

 

And I like the teams! To see Andretti (Indy), ABT (touring cars), Aguri (well, somehow connected to F1), e.dams (single seater)  and so on fighting some new teams (even one by Trulli) is a great idea -- not only from a publicity point of view (fan potential in the US, China, Germany, Japan, France through the teams PLUS from various types of motorsport), but also to allow the formula to get very different ideas as to how to approach such a race. You saw that today Vergne had a very different approach compared to endurance champion Buemi, but I'm sure Andretti and ABT might approach the day differently as well.

 

Certainly, there will be wrong decisions made as far as the direction of the series is concerned. But as long as it's getting better, I'll be following it.

[DinocoBlue]

I still couldn't really get into the race. The location was nice, the layout wasn't so good and the TV direction was a little haphazard.

[thegamer23]

 

Today was the first in-season test day in Punta del Este. Lots of running and the lap-times dropped dramatically since yesterday!
Sarrazin went fastest overall in the latest minutes, lowering previous Vergne's morning benchmark of 1'14''8. 

 

 

Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, 1:14.649s

Sebastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault, +0.157s

Nelson Piquet Jr, China Racing, +0.184s

Nick Heidfeld, Venturi, +0.192s

Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti, +0.326s

Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT, +0.350s

Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault, +0.407s

Sam Bird, Virgin Racing, +0.720s

Antonio Felix da Costa, Amlin Aguri, +0.777s

Karun Chandhok, Mahindra Racing, +0.829s

Antonio Garcia, China Racing, +0.913s

Jerome d’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, +0.922s

Jaime Alguersuari, Virgin Racing, +1.025s

Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +1.051s

Jarno Trulli, Trulli, +1.654s

Oriol Servia, Dragon Racing, +1.743s

Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT, +2.935s

Michela Cerruti, Trulli, +2.987s

Matthew Brabham, Andretti, +4.123s

Salvador Duran, Amlin Aguri, +4.816s

Esteban Guerrieri, China Racing, +5.913s

 

Amazing pictures from yesterday

http://current-e.com...ay-in-pictures/

 

Special view from Venturi

 

Chandock's hilarous guide

 (1'23''xx lap time, so many seconds off the pace)

 

Nice fan view

Edited by thegamer23, 14 December 2014 - 20:17.

[ANF]

I finally got to see the race. Good fun, and by far the best of the three tracks they have raced on.

[DanardiF1]

And the commentators make a habit out of not understanding that the car is being changed! Today, Franchitti saved the day by saying something like "yeah, but he's going to change the car", but in the last race the commentator actually continued throughout the second half of the race to be astonished that the driver could continue at this pace after hitting the wall earlier.... (unless I am very much mistaken)

 

 

I also really enjoy the racing a lot (I agree with the poster who said that FE is punching above its weight), and I hope the FIA uses this series to test some other progressive ideas, not only on the technical, but also on the sporting regulations and PR (short 'week-end', tyres, winter schedule, etc...). When they announced it, many laughed at the idea of an all-weather tyre. But it's much less ridiculous than F1's grooved tyre decade, if it really works. I hope we get a race with mixed weather conditions to see how the tyres will play out!

 

I am still not so sure about the manufacturer involvement. They've not been 100% clear yet on how exactly this will look (although e.dams and ABT seem to bring 'natural' partners... maybe also Andretti and Aguri). I personally would love to see big 'fossil' manufacturers (especially non-luxury car makers such as Renault, Volkswagen, etc...) battle electric car manufacturers such as Tesla, against companies like Panasonic and Bosch, and maybe some small start-ups that will be the future Cosworth/Illmor/Judd of the electric era (that is, names I probably don't know yet). But somehow I'm sceptical that it might not turn out in the exact way I am imagining it.... Let's see what they will announce.

 

But from all the series that popped up over the past 20 years (the premise of both A1GP and Superleage Formula must have appeared absurd to anybody who followed motorsports...), I like this the most by far. It doesn't seem contrived and artificial. Yes, they are not the fastest race cars in the world, but they will probably make huge leaps over the next 5-10 years. And until then, we get a good glimpse at the implications of non-fossil race cars (the simple fact that the weight of the car does hardly change throughout the stint is quite interesting from a setup and strategy perspective!).

 

And I like the teams! To see Andretti (Indy), ABT (touring cars), Aguri (well, somehow connected to F1), e.dams (single seater)  and so on fighting some new teams (even one by Trulli) is a great idea -- not only from a publicity point of view (fan potential in the US, China, Germany, Japan, France through the teams PLUS from various types of motorsport), but also to allow the formula to get very different ideas as to how to approach such a race. You saw that today Vergne had a very different approach compared to endurance champion Buemi, but I'm sure Andretti and ABT might approach the day differently as well.

 

Certainly, there will be wrong decisions made as far as the direction of the series is concerned. But as long as it's getting better, I'll be following it.

 

My main interest in this series is to see where it can go... if the FIA can keep the regulations relatively open a variety of solutions will appear in the next few years, and whilst we might see seasons where one manufacturer finds a big advantage and romps away, it will be because of technological progress and not just bending the rules in their favour.

 

The racing is pretty good as it stands right now though, which must at least be confirmation of proof of concept for Alejandro Agag... I think he's put together a really professional, unashamedly open-minded and progressive racing series... I'm certainly a fan after watching these first three races, Uruguay being the best so far with a really good circuit for these cars.

[midgrid]

 

Esteban Guerrieri, China Racing, +5.913s

 

Now there's a driver who would be another good addition to the series (the time isn't representative).

[BRG]

..by far the best of the three tracks they have raced on.

Yes, there was a nice sea view.  Otherwise, one of the worst 'race tracks' I have ever seen.

[wllsfjrch]

I am enjoying Formula E so far. It's a great concept, and I'm hoping to get to one of the races next year.

 

Was it just me though, or was the TV director awful during the race? Especially at the end. We could see Vergne was getting stuck in to Buemi a couple of laps from the end. They drove out of shot, and the director decided to ignore that and show the rest of the field come past the camera for several seconds. Eh, there's a pretty good chance there's going to be a change of leader, and you're focusing on 10th place for some reason?! And the last couple of laps was pretty much: show a few seconds of race... show Alain Prost in the garage (and some blonde messing with her phone)... a few more seconds of race... more Alain Prost... a bit more of the race... hmmm, I wonder what Alain Prost thought of those last ten seconds of racing... etc. Yes, human element and all that but it drives me absolutely crazy when they cut away from big moments in a race to show the reaction in the garage. F1 used to be as bad, but in recent years (I think anyway) they've copped onto the fact that replays of the team's reaction are better than cutting away from an overtake in progress, because viewers want to see what's happening on the track! Formula E needs to wake up to this as well.

 

Oh, and get rid of Fan Boost. What would be so terrible about having everyone on a level playing field, instead of potentially skewing race results by virtue of a popularity contest, in which the same drivers are likely to get boosts for most of the season? Because social media needs to poke its nose into everything these days; that's the only reason I can think of.

 

Other than those two small complaints, it's pretty awesome so far. Good to see all these guys that F1 chewed up and spat out getting to race for wins.

[Rurouni]

What I don't like is seeing the sausage kerbs back. Why? If they want to prevent cars from cutting the corners that badly, might as well put a wall there.

[SKL]

Maybe it's the US feed but the audio is horrible.  You hear the gear whine and can barely hear Dario and the other guy, or the pitgirl for that matter. The only audio worth anything was Varsha doing the occasional voice over before and after ads.  Wish Varsha just did the whole thing.

 

I'm so starved for racing this time of year I'm actually watching this...

[surbjits]

Charging his batteries...

/coat

Well played ;)

[TF110]

Pascal Vasselon says Toyota is keeping an eye on Formula E. Sure doesnt hurt that they already have two of their WEC drivers in the series, Buemi and Sarrazin. This may be one of the manufacturer talk the series is proclaiming.

Edited by TF110, 15 December 2014 - 06:59.

[thegamer23]

Pascal Vasselon says Toyota is keeping an eye on Formula E. Sure doesnt hurt that they already have two of their WEC drivers in the series, Buemi and Sarrazin. This may be one of the manufacturer talk the series is proclaiming.

Very interesting. Would like to see Davidson and Nakajima back in open wheel racing.

[FerrariV12]

Just caught up with the race last night, felt bad for Vergne after a great debut but it's good that fan boost didn't alter the results too much again, hope it stays that way!

[ezequiel]

Now there's a driver who would be another good addition to the series (the time isn't representative).

 

Guerrieri getting a shot in testing was a surprise. In Argentina it was expected to have Juan Manuel López testing and working to find a drive for the Buenos Aires round. I really hope it's Guerrieri who gets a proper chance. He's officially in negotiations to do so.

[Michael Oliver]

I wish they had proper tyres! Why do they have these hard, grooved low profile biscuit tins?

Also, they have two cars. If one develops a fault and they can get back to the pits, then they should be allowed to use the other car while the first one's being fixed?

I'm delighted that there's an electric series, especially as it happens during the F1 off-season. The cars are slow, but they'll get faster.

I just want them to use proper tyres, or understand why they don't. I also don't know why they are restricted on Max power at a time. I know they don't want cars running out of battery...

 

They use those tyres because they are more relevant in terms of development for road car tyre manufacturers - much more so than the big fat slicks found on F1 cars . Personally I don't see the problem with them. I also don't have a problem with the speed of the cars, I think the TV coverage (crap direction apart) makes up for that with some good angles on the exit of chicanes etc. And if the cars do get faster, great. It can only make the series even better...

[ardbeg]

Actionpacked, tight racing that was interesting from flag to flag. Maybe the cars are not very fast, but it looks fast. The relatively low grip tires make the cars move around, lock up and helps the impression of speed. Of course, the circuits helps as well and that is a thing that has always baffled me with F1 - they put in money in one end to make the cars faster and then they put in money in the other end to make them slower. The modern tracks are so wide that the car look like an ant on it and on top of that they have runoffs big enough to land a 747 which dwarfs the cars even more. F1 does not look faster than Fe.

 

There are some annoying things though, like the pit stop minimum time and "using too much energy" but they are there for a reason and eventually they will sort it out so we don't have to see the field completely messed up after the pit stops due to various penalties.

 

The cars look a bit fragile though, many had front suspension damage due to contact with curbs.

 

 

I'd suggest they took the "future" aspect a bit further and put sensors on the track, or rather outside the track, that senses when a car violates track limit. If a car do shortcut a chicane or do whatever outside the track at a place where it is considered an advantage to do so (that would be where they put the sensors), the a signal is sent to the car which turn on a blinking warning light and shortly thereafter cuts the power to half for a certain amount of time. Automatic and equal for all.

Then they can easily remove the idiotic sausage curbs.

Edited by ardbeg, 15 December 2014 - 15:44.

[thegamer23]

Regarding fragile suspensions, Jev said after the race that all the teams are going to change them for next race in order to prevent those kind of crashes. 

[thiscocks]

Qualifying was better, but they still weren't fast enough, at least they don't convey the 'feeling' of speed, they just go through the straight with a low volume whinning sound.

 A high power music system is installed around the track and a DJ plays music all day long, so silent are the cars. 

I think we can call it 'like of daramatism'. As they don't seem stressed, no engine high revving, they just go by, they must go faster than a regular race car to transmit any passion..

The braking zone at the end of the back straight (turns 16 - 17) was fun, specially at qualy, I was there all day.

Looked quick enough too me even on TV. They were sliding quite nicely around alot of the track too. Dont really see your point regarding the sound- Yes its odd at the start when you expect a load of noise but after a few laps you get used to it. I dont expect noise from an electric car, unless i am missing something?

[thiscocks]

The tyres are also street relevant, as they are much closer to what would run on actual non-racecars.  So Michelin actually gets some pretty good data out of these that may directly benefit their street car tyres.  Makes a lot more sense than custom-built racing tyres that are otherwise irrelevant in the real world.  I dare say that we could perhaps take these tyres and strap them on to our own cars as they are??  They also run in wet conditions, so no need for wet weather tyre sets.  Lower cost and "sustainability" factor all around.

Plus it looks like they can offer up a bit of sliding action without falling apart

[maximilian]

Plus it looks like they can offer up a bit of sliding action without falling apart

Yes, I don't think we've seen a single tyre failure so far, which is good (IIRC).  Hate to see guys drop out of contention because of punctures... be it through tyre failure or because they got sliced.

[Peat]

Slicks would kill the power/grip ratio and make them go around on rails. The tyres are crap, thus good!