Formula e to electrify motor sport?

There’s one motor racing series which is embracing modern technology and attempting to push the boundaries of how we go motor racing. The competitive edge will help to drive technology forward that will drip feed down in to the automotive industry, therefore making it a relevant and pioneering series.

It has embraced social media reaching out to the tech savvy and younger generations and even made the sport interactive, while it has constantly been running demonstrations and encompassing a more even approach with the teams all working (for the time being) on a similar level. Of course this isn’t Formula 1, the sports bosses wouldn’t want to waste time finding out what fans want, this is the FIA sanctioned Formula e, the newest form of motor sport to divert fully from the combustion engine to electrical power due for the off in September.

It’s a modern 21^st century world championship that encompasses the aforementioned power systems, one day events in which practice sessions, qualifying and the race all take place in city centres emphasising its green credentials further by making it easily accessible by public transport. It’s being healthily promoted through the means of social media, there have been many video updates and test days have been promoted for the public to attend as an event to see what this new venture is all about.

As it's website says it’s core ethos is about ‘energy, environment andentertainment’ representing ‘a vision of the motor industry over the coming decades, serving as a framework for R&D around the electric vehicle, accelerating general interest in these cars and promoting sustainability.’

The power produced is 270bhp in qualifying trim down to 200bhp when racing. That doesn’t sound much at the moment but I’m sure if this series proves to be a success then the that power output will steadily increase. The sound is very futuristic, with a pretty compelling whooshing noise that sort of turns into a scream. The cars look fairly good and are infused with technology by McLaren, Williams and Renault. There’s no stupid looking noses, and added to that the series doesn’t get a double points round at the end to undermine the previous rounds of the championship.

The cars this year are all the same but from the second year of this project all 10 teams will be allowed to design and build their own cars to use that to advance the technology quicker in the competitive environment. The teams are mostly well established in the motor racing world and include names such as Audi, Andretti, Dams and Virgin while the calendar includes two races in the USA as well as events in Monaco, Germany and the UK.  

The driving standard is pretty high with a lot of ex-formula 1 drivers participating including the likes of Bruno Senna, Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli and Jaime Alguersuari. It also includes two female drivers, Katherine Legge and Michela Cerruti who have both shown their speed in other series.

It really seems to me that a lot of thought has been put into this championship and it is doing what motor racing is often for, to advance technology for the motor industry while having a lot of exciting on-track action (which admittedly remains to be seen).

There are a few causes for concern, they have allowed a rather stupid gimmick of a ‘fan boost’ where the likes of you and me can vote for our favourite driver to receive a power boost during the race. That smacks of artificial nonsense, it could well end up with the same driver getting the boost at every round, although it has made many of the drivers turn to twitter to appeal for votes which I guess helps with driver/audience interaction.

The other thing I find a little off-putting is that during the course of the one hour races the drivers will have to change cars to make it to the end as the battery life will not last long enough to complete the distance. This is something I’m sure will be dropped in the future as the technology advances and the batteries last longer, but I think the general perception is that with a few exceptions, electric cars don’t go very fast and not for very long, so to see the drivers having to hop out mid-race to get a new car kind of solidifies that point of view, especially when you realise that a GP3 car, two rungs down from Formula 1 produces over 100bhp more. I possibly would have reduced the race distance until they didn't need to do that.

But I think these will be minor quibbles and as all the races will be on street tracks, they’ll look plenty fast. The noise is a concern as has been seen in F1 this year, but this series is starting off with their unique sound, so I don’t see it being a problem. As I’ve said it sounds rather futuristic, which is their whole philosophy anyway.

It makes me wonder how Formula 1’s bosses will react to this series if it proves to be a success. They have a decent first calendar, professional outfits and good driver names, many of which should probably be in Formula 1 if it weren’t for some teams need for drivers with a budget.Their inclusion of social media is surely a must for any national or international sport these days to connect with the fans who will at the end of the day, fund the sport. There is a danger that e could make 1 look a bit like a dinosaur. In a way it’s great that the hybrid power trains F1 now uses have come into effect in terms of relevance.

It’s still going to be hard for Formula e, Formula 1 spent a long time being a sport nobody watched until it became the global behemoth it is today. Formula e lacks the cache, the names, the glamour and even in this age, the noise of a world motor sport series that F1 has. However, I think if you compared the two sports as they stand right now you’d say Formula e has a clear direction, it has an electrical charge of modernity, it feels fresh while F1 seems to be in a state of permanent conflict where no one can agree with anything and they constantly talk themselves down despite the racing being absolutely superb this year.

It of course remains to be seen how this championship will be received by the wider public or whether it’ll be a niche series that like other global motor sports gets swallowed by the general public's perception that F1 is motor racing. I don’t think this series can overtake F1 as the standard bearer of motor racing, to be fair it’s CEO Alejandro Agag has never claimed to be a direct rival to Formula 1, but I do think it can be a success. Find out what it’s like for yourself, the first round is on the 13^th September 2014 in China with the finale in London on 27^th June next year. 

all photo's taken from autosport.com