Formula E first test at Donington Park
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Is anyone thinking of going? They have test days (which are free to attend) on
3rd 4th July
9th 10th July
19th AugustI will go to 1 at least, be good to see something different, then afterwards I might appreciate the sound of F1 on the telly again!
There will be a pit walk, and a possible chance to see the drivers
So the fastest time at the moment is 1:38.2 by Abt… which is disappointingly slow, to be honest. Last year in Auto GP, Kimiya Sato drove a 1:17.7 on the GP circuit (including Melbourne loop). The current Formula E lap times can be compared to Formula Ford lap times.
Here’s what the recharger looks like:
Christian Danner’s having a go:
Here's the latest ex-F1 racer to test the @FIA formulaE car #christiandanner pic.twitter.com/TnhAVf4YgZ
— FIAFormulaE (@FIAformulaE) July 3, 2014
@andae23 It is slow, but it reminds me of TT zero. A couple of years ago, electric bikes were added to the list of races at the Isle of Man TT. The first year, people were laughing because the bikes were so slow. But since the first race in 2010 up to now, the speeds have increased quite a lot. A race winning average speed of 96.820 MPH in 2010 – 117.366 MPH in 2014. That’s significant I’d say. Yes, both TT zero and Formula E are completely different, but I’d expect that the lap times will definately improve.
The silence as the cars approach and pass in that video is almost eerie…
@andae23 I think a lot of teams are unlikely to be using full power at the moment as well. In a lot of the promotional videos Formula E have released after tests the drivers have been quick to note they still aren’t running at full power.They certainly don’t make hardly any sound on those clips! i’m heading a long next week as thought they might turn it up to 11 after the first test at least (well maybe to 7-8, perhaps only 11 in August).
Are they going to be playing music whilst they race?
Another point on the lap times. I wonder if this has been done for any reason on than stopping people comparing their lap times with any other category?
If the lap times from @FIAformulaE look a little uninspiring today, it's worth taking this into account! pic.twitter.com/vEPb35a4Oa
— Jack Nicholls (@Jack_Nicholls) July 3, 2014
I should think they’ve done that to test how the cars and drivers handle that type of chicane. Because from the street circuit maps that have been released so far, it’s clear there are going to be a lot of them.
The cars certainly do look… slow. I guess that’s not helped by the wide open space Donington has. On a narrow street circuit they’re going to appear to be running faster. Of course technology will only get better, and speeds will become higher I’m sure.
I don’t know what you are expecting from a bunch of electric cars, but I think they are awesome. Why? If you are into cars you won’t go watch a category like this because of the sound. It is obvious they are going to sound like giant Traxxas cars. What is really exciting me is the level of racing these things can produce. The mix of young and old blood. We have Quick Nick and Jarno Trulli. Hell, we have Prost and Senna! (2nd gen XD). All great drivers. And the car, as silent and silly-sounding as it may be, looks pretty powerful. That start was unique, and they seem to produce all the freaking torque instantly!
I will be attending the Punta del Este race for sure. And I will certainly follow the rest of the season closely. I think this series has huge potential, and doesn’t deserve to be ditched just because they sound like ghosts screaming ;-)
I think I became the greatest FE fan on this site, LOL.
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