70 replies to this topic

[eab]

Guess I'd need to read up the rules and regulations before I'd start following it. The cars look funny with those F22-style rudders though 

I've liked the look from the first moment I laid my eyes on it, and am glad you see the jet resemblance too.

 

About the rules, let me save you some time: First one crossing the finish line, (barring E-penalties,) wins. 

Edited by eab, 02 August 2023 - 16:45.

[juicy sushi]

Maybe if  FE could let constructors develop their own cars would also be good. Give them freedom to bring new solutions. That would get us diferent cars, more drama and maybe some stupid dominations sometimes.  Like F1. 

But no one wants to spend $130m a season to do that.  The average fan can't tell the visual difference between the cars and don't want to watch parades.  The teams get a spec tub, battery, and front motor.  They build their own rear motor, rear suspension, and do all the software.  Given their budgets of $25 million per team, that's a hell of a lot of work for a series racing across 5 continents.  

 

Motorsports is not wish fulfillment.  It's a business, with real fiscal realities.  FE is a global series trying to balance innovation with sustainability, both in the ecological and financial sense.  

[PayasYouRace]

It was a pretty good one

 

 

OK wasn't expecting it to be such a pack race. Cars look tiny on a road course though.

[juicy sushi]

OK wasn't expecting it to be such a pack race. Cars look tiny on a road course though.

The race distance, and comparatively fast nature of Portland meant that they didn't have enough regeneration opportunities to treat it as a flat-out sprint, so they had to do the pack race until a driver felt they were good on energy, and then they could push until the end.  It's one of the quirks of these new Gen3 cars in Formula E.  They can go much faster, but do not start a race with enough energy to finish the race.  So they start the race trying to aggressively harvest energy through regen and under-use until they get to the point where it no longer is a concern.  What that point is depends on the quality of the energy management software and the driver's talent at driving efficiently.  Which means that everyone starts in a massive pack all doing the same thing, with particular drivers rising and falling through the race as others get more aggressive in trading energy use for track position, or reach their targets earlier.

 

The cars are definitely smaller than other major open-wheel series, which isn't as apparent until you are at a track where you can see the difference.

[YamahaV10]

Just as it happens a lot, Vettel probably got bored. We are a restless species. These drivers probably dream of retirement and sitting on the beach when they are in the daily slog of racing. But then they retire and have a couple years of it and feel empty. It is difficult. Max Verstappen has been under the gun since he can remember. I totally understand why he keeps thinking about retirement. 

[goldenboy]

Good news.

[baddog]

It would make a lot of sense given his oft-stated desire to support non-petroleum alternatives. Would be at least interesting to see how it went.

[HP]

It would make a lot of sense given his oft-stated desire to support non-petroleum alternatives. Would be at least interesting to see how it went.

I have my doubts. In recent times he did show off racing with bio-engineered fuel.

 

As time goes on we all should have noticed, that electric cars have a lot of issues to be covered until they can be considered to have a long lasting positive effect on the environment. Some of the issues are the same as with the 'traditional' cars. Those issues I would argue probably never can be solved. And ironically E-cars have introduce new hazards, as any fire brigade can tell you. Simply because E-cars still burn even if you choked air completely from the flames. They need other much less environmental friendly materials to kill electrical fires. Especially cheap electric cars combust pretty easy. Lets not forget a completely full charged E-car has all the energy it requires inside the car, making fires much more dangerous than gasoline for anyone inside a car. If you thought what happened to Romain Grosjean was really scary then lets hope nothing similar happens to an E-car in a similar accident. The fireworks would be much, much worse is all I am saying.

 

If you don't know what I am talking about, look at the electric car industries outside of the Western World, specifically the track record on spontaneous fires. Or in some parts of the Western world have electrical brown outs now, because the electric consumption has sky rocketed. And E-cars are part of the issue. Electric grids are inadequate or simply have aged too much. What so called innovation does, is just shift problem to another issue. And if we want to know the hard truth, it seems driving any car less around is the only environmental sustainable way forward. So even for Sebastian Vettel, and other champs, the best would be not to drive a car when they don't need to. Harsh truth for all of us.

 

In a sense we need to remember that owning (buying) a car is a luxury. Interestingly without the emergence of E-cars, many younger people would not have bought any car at all, thus making our environment better. So the best what Sebastian Vettel or anyone could do is to find a better way for all of us to travel. I don't think that is possible due to physics 101. To move something, energy is needed. The only way to save energy is to make cars lighter. In racing that is done to make cars faster. For the rest of us, are we willing to sacrifice all the comfortable things, even safety?

 

A guy in Germany made an experiment with a gasoline driven car. He used ~ 20% of the gas the car uses in original configuration, by removing everything in the car that is not needed. The car was pretty scary to drive if it had crashed. No comfort and no safety around it. But it was fuel efficient.. There are trade-offs, no matter the engine a car uses and not just environmentally speaking. Comfort and safety come into play as well. And car makers love to sell us unnecessary gadgets. It's for your comfort and safety, and what not. Automatic gear-boxes, which are heavier and will always use more gasoline, etc.

 

In the end all I can say is we need to open our eyes and ears and make good informed choices and live with it. And let others make their own choices and accept them too. That even goes for the racing series one prefers.

 

It's not about any race driver making environment friendly statements. That simply is a PR gig. Not much else. No matter the drivers name. Hope we all can recognize that.

Edited by HP, 06 August 2023 - 23:20.

[baddog]

I don't think your personal opinion on the environmental value of electric cars, a subject evidently dear to your heart, has anything at all to do with whether it is likely that Vettel would see Formula E as compatible with his ideas on motor racing and sustainable power.

[PayasYouRace]

Yes I think we have much better threads for those sorts of rants.

[Pingu Pi]

Is it an 'irrelevant' rant?... 

@HP thanks for that as it's an angle I'd not quite taken on board , providing a further insight in to the thinking of how EV cars are a stop gap by all accounts. There's a voice that EV cars are the 'recycle' bin of the motor industry... they're useful, consumer accessible (relatively...) and educational in the steps of sustainability but not solution. 

Depending on Vettel's perspective and thinking it could be a long the same lines - Why would he join it if he's essentially swapping a similar dilemma albeit it a few shades more virtuous? Neither F1 or FE are truly providing any long term solutions. 

 

Personally - I don't think it's conflicting to hold the above view and still participate.

[HistoryFan]

Vettel to Formula E - will never happen.

[JL14]

Vettel has set the record straight and dismissed him going to FE:

 

"I am not in negotiations to run in Formula E with ABT Cupra or with any other team," he said, as quoted by the Spanish edition of Motorsport.com.

"Words have been put in my mouth, and I would like to clarify that I am not currently considering a return to motorsport."

 

"I’ve tried to convince Sebastian to come to Formula E," said series founder Alejandro Agag. "He’s busy, I think he’s got a future job lined up, I’ve heard.

Vettel refutes claims of return to racing in Formula E (f1i.com)

 

[Ben1445]

This surprises me very little.

Still, think anyone toying with the idea of watching the series should try it out regardless. It doesn’t need retired F1 names any more than, say, IndyCar does in order to thrive.

[Lassel]

This surprises me very little.

Still, think anyone toying with the idea of watching the series should try it out regardless. It doesn’t need retired F1 names any more than, say, IndyCar does in order to thrive.

It just needs cars/tyres that can actually utilise the energy.

[Ben1445]

It just needs cars/tyres that can actually utilise the energy.

FE's GenBeta car is testing out improvements to the car ahead of Gen3 Evo, which should include aero-updates, front axle traction and grippier tyres

 

[JL14]

VETTEL CONSIDERING 2024 RACING RETURN WITH EX-F1 SUPERTEAM

 

Vettel could return via a potential seat in the 2024 World Endurance Championship and could even end up sharing a car with former F1 rivals Jenson Button and Robert Kubica.

German magazine Auto Motor und Sport reported that Vettel had talked to customer Porsche team Jota with a view to joining the line-up in the second of the UK-based team's Porsche 963s being run for an all-star line-up next season.

[LolaB0860]

He's going back to old pollution-mobiles despite his hard promotion on all things environmental?

TBH I had rather expected him to race in some electric experimental car in myriad sub classes of Nurburgring 24h

Edited by LolaB0860, 26 September 2023 - 05:50.

[Viryfan]

He's going back to old pollution-mobiles despite his hard promotion on all things environmental?

TBH I had rather expected him to race in some electric experimental car in myriad sub classes of Nurburgring 24h

Well he is promoting e-fuels.
So racing on a Total Excellium racing 100 fits the Bill.

[DW46]

The line i once heard someone use was:

“I’m comfortable with my own level of hypocrisy.” 😂

It won’t even be awkward.

<insert gif of Seb guzzling water in Sepang 13>

Serious note, always happy to watch Seb in any form of motorsport. Hope the rumours are true.

Edited by DW46, 26 September 2023 - 06:48.

[apoka]

Would be great - hope there's some truth to it. 👍