Formula E, officially the FIA Formula E Championship, is a class of auto racing, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Formula E is intended to be the highest class of competition for one-make, single-seater, electrically-powered racing cars.
In order to manage the costs of operating a Formula E team, each constructor will be mandated to make their car available to two other teams for a maximum capped price, which is currently set at 350,000.
Overview
There will be 10 teams, 20 drivers, and 40 cars
Each team will include 2 drivers and 4 cars
e-Prix will be held in 10 cities across the world
Racing circuits will be held in cities, and will be approximately 2.5 km to 3 km long
Cars will accelerate from 0 km/h to 100 km/h in 3 seconds, with a maximum speed of 220 km/h
Noise decibel levels will be approximately 80 dB (SPL) (ordinary car: 70 dB; bus: 90 dB; old Formula One car on track (V10) 130 dB
Event
Early morning: free practice session, followed by qualifying
Late morning: qualifying 1 lap time each driver with both cars A and B
Afternoon: a 2-hour break to recharge the cars
Evening: the race, with 2 stints and 1 pit stop
Pit stop will involve a change of car: when the battery runs out a driver will make a planned pit stop and switch into a new fully charged car
Races are planned to be 45 minutes in length.
Cars
For the first season, all teams have been supplied an electric racing car built by Spark Racing Technology, called the Spark-Renault SRT 01E. The chassis has been designed by Dallara, with an electric motor developed by McLaren (and is the same as that used in its P1 supercar), a battery system created by Williams F1 and a Hewland five-speed gearbox. Michelin will be the official tyre supplier. So far, 42 electric cars have been ordered by the FIA.
For the second season, teams are allowed to develop their own cars.
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So after just watching the first race i was fairly impressed with the quality of the racing. My initial observations would be..
- Plenty of former Formula 1 drivers competing the series inc Takuma Sato, Charles Pic, Lucas di Grassi, Nelson Piquet Jr, Jerome d'Ambrosio, Sébastien Buemi, Karun Chandhok, Franck Montagny, Bruno Senna, Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld and Jaime Alguersuari which should result in lots of good wheel to wheel action.
- Getting used to watching motorsports without any combustion engine exhaust noise will get some getting used to.
- Battery management, instead of tyres is a also a bit different. Obviously fuel management exists in F1 as well but this felt very different.
- changing cars in the pit stop looked funny. having capped minimum pit time makes them a less important than F1
- Some of the racing was really exciting with some good over taking. lower speeds and need to preserve battery means lower aero downforce than f1 so slip streaming had less effect which was a little bit disappointing as was a bit more difficult pass. as it is, they have some kind of push to pass but some kind of kers or drs would definitely make it more exciting for spectators.
- WHAT AND END TO THE RACE!! Last corner, Heidfeld went to take Prost up the inside, Prost swerved into him taking them both out and breaking the front and rear wishbones on Heidfeld's car which went skidding across the track out of control, launched off the sausage curd on the inside of the corner and launched in clear over the track where it flipped onto the crash barrier on the other side of the track where it was wrecked before landing upside down. As Prost walked off Heidfeld chased him down and looked like he was going to pop him one in (their Le Mans team mates too).
- Bring on Malaysia!
Did anyone else watch the race and what did you think??
