Formula E is actually worse than Formula 1, since they are built by the same manufacturer. You can't level the same criticism at F1 these days, with a dominant team like Mercedes.
Renault's monopoly is temporary - it's to bootstrap the series. I think they should replace F1's every-constructor-makes-their-own-chassis rule with a rule to have everyone build their own powerplants / drives. That's where you want this series to provide innovation.
Video of the race from the second page: https://youtu.be/fvxRqC8UoAs?t=2m55s Engine sound is amazing. This is the first time I have heard tire screech in a race. I wonder why. :-) The problems seems to be battery capacity. They have to switch cars. Since the racing is usually done on a closed circuit they could implement inductive charging in the future( and perhaps power-ups ). Who wouldn't want to watch that?
Formula E is mostly street circuits, so there's a limit to what can be done in terms of inductive charging.
FWIW:
> The next regulation progression – scheduled for season three - will see manufacturers extend their efforts to the batteries, with the objective being the use of a single car per driver during races from the fifth season.
What I want to see is not heroic drivers like NASCAR, nor heroic billionaires investing in very similar tweaks, like Formula 1, but a diversity of creative conceptual engineering, competing in the same challenges, for lots of money. Things like DARPA sponsors: The Grand Challenge in self-driving cars, and the Robotics Challenge. The Ansari X-prize also applies. BattleBots was a decent attempt at a sport along these l…
Definitely, this is a huge opportunity for innovation if they would open it up.
I would like to see there be no rules on the cars except that they must weigh in under a certain number.
You are spot-on! At the moment, F1 has little diversity and lots of restricting regulations. Formula-E is even worse, with everyone driving the same cars. NASCAR, or Indy, is not better either. All the revolution and innovation is in WEC (World Endurance Championship), it's the one with the Le Mans round. This year, 4 strong competitors arrive in the top class and this is the series to watch http://www.carmagazine.co…
Everyone is driving the same car only for the first season. Second season they are opening up the motor and inverter for improvement and modification. In the third it sounds like the battery will be opened up as well. My guess is that they want to keep things as competitive as possible between the drivers. Slowly opening up the playing field for modifications will keep the races interesting but still foster innovatio…
The main aim with the limited number of allowed modifications is to keep the cost of entry low, such that the brand new championship actually gets entrants. It's hard to justify a large budget for an unheard of championship.
Video of the race from the second page: https://youtu.be/fvxRqC8UoAs?t=2m55s Engine sound is amazing. This is the first time I have heard tire screech in a race. I wonder why. :-) The problems seems to be battery capacity. They have to switch cars. Since the racing is usually done on a closed circuit they could implement inductive charging in the future( and perhaps power-ups ). Who wouldn't want to watch that?
Here's a video without an annoying commentator, so that you can actually hear the engine: https://youtu.be/IptBVdys-mo?t=1m2s And yes, the engine sound is amazing! It sounds so much more futuristic than Formula 1.
Color me old-fashioned, but I think this sounds horrible. The noise is annoyingly like a high-pitched screech. Grating on the ears.
Then again, F1 cars have terrible sound as well. Too high rev to have a nice sound.
edit: I find it interesting that they have a Senna and a Prost. Coincidence?
edit2: their top speeds are apparently also over 140km/h lower than F1 (225km/h vs. ~360km/h). I wonder why they decided to limit the cars to that and if it's ever getting raised?
There are limits on everything: acceleration, maximal speed and even noise. Formula E will be boring same way as Formula 1. Identical cars circling around the track.
It seems your data on F-1 are slightly out of date. Yes, the rules are the same for everyone, but each team optimizes within them differently. As for identical cars, I guess McLaren only wish they had a car like Mercedes or Ferrari (or any old car that could actually last an entire race).
There is no longer awe associated with breaking records/introducing diverse tech into motorsports anymore. I guess previous generations had it better as they could watch how somebody breaks 190, 200, 210, ... mph barrier, run engines with 900, 1000, 1100hp for the first time, run two sets of rear or front wheels etc. None of that applies now, motorsports are now regulated and consolidated. New revival attempts introduce super ugly cars (look at IndyCars in the past 10 years, or even current Formula E), all mind-blowing racing that deviates from the norm is now banned (Zanardi's "The Pass" can't happen anymore), engines can't be pushed to higher hp unless we want to allow multiple casualties per race, as Firestone Firehawk 600 shown us in 2001 we already crossed the threshold of what humans can withstand and had to backtrack... F1 is now boring (who cares that some German guy in a red car wins?) and mainly a world unto itself with very little connection to the real world as the rules are a result of decades of political fights (i.e. they aren't representing technological pinnacle of what is possible rather what powerful people allowed each other). There were glimmers of interesting things happening with drifting etc. but they never had mainstream potential. I really don't see much future in this, the existing motorsports can be probably milked for a while with a proper marketing strategy, but the future lies elsewhere.
Best quote, when asked if he thought we could end our dependence on oil:
"The stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones."
Really important to understand that this is just the first iteration of their plan. Goal is to get to single car for a full hour race within a few years. Agag says they now have many major cities approaching them about participating in the second year of Formula E, including San Francisco.
Also, the cars are louder than most people realize, at 80 decibels.
Here's a video without an annoying commentator, so that you can actually hear the engine: https://youtu.be/IptBVdys-mo?t=1m2s And yes, the engine sound is amazing! It sounds so much more futuristic than Formula 1.
Color me old-fashioned, but I think this sounds horrible. The noise is annoyingly like a high-pitched screech. Grating on the ears. Then again, F1 cars have terrible sound as well. Too high rev to have a nice sound. edit: I find it interesting that they have a Senna and a Prost. Coincidence? edit2: their top speeds are apparently also over 140km/h lower than F1 (225km/h vs. ~360km/h). I wonder why they decided to lim…
It's awesome to see this hitting the prime time, but Formula E is far from the first. The National Electric Drag Racing association (http://www.nedra.com/) has been around since 1996 and there's all kinds of good tires screeching (and golf cards popping wheelies).
Formula E's greatest strength is also its biggest weakness: the tracks they race on. The low noise levels make racing in city centers possible and brings a big crowd but the races are a bit boring.
In my opinion, the best race footage of Formula E is from their pre-race testing ("event simulation") where they ran a full field of cars at Donington Park, a traditional purpose-built race track with long sweeping curves and significant elevation changes.