FIA Formula E Championship 2014-15

[FormulaE]

Hi all,
I’ve been noticing what a reaction Formula E is generating on here and I thought I would create a Formula E account to answer any questions you have about the series. I’m in NO WAY trying to influence anyone, merely help out when people are unsure about something or give details on the format of the series.
I’m from the Formula E team (based in Hammersmith, West London), and will try and come on here as much as I can and, as you can, I'm not trying to hide behind a different username!
While I’m here, we can confirm that the new Formula E car (Spark-Renault SRT_01E) will be unveiled at 09:45am (CET) at the Frankfurt Motor Show with special guests including Jean Todt. Of course, this will be the car that all teams will race with for the first season only. Formula E is an ‘open championship’ so teams are encouraged to build/design their own from season two. It was felt that providing a car for the first season was the best thing to do to ensure it ‘got off the ground’ so to speak.
Thanks

[kurski]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Latvian? There you go - a dog with false teeth. Anyway this new blood can only be good for the sport.

Maybe their driver*could be Harald Schlegelmilch.

Carlos Beltran said that the FIA Formula E does not compete in the next two years Santa Fe street.

[bella]

Originally Posted by FormulaE

Hi all,
I’ve been noticing what a reaction Formula E is generating on here and I thought I would create a Formula E account to answer any questions you have about the series. I’m in NO WAY trying to influence anyone, merely help out when people are unsure about something or give details on the format of the series.

I’m from the Formula E team (based in Hammersmith, West London), and will try and come on here as much as I can and, as you can, I'm not trying to hide behind a different username!

While I’m here, we can confirm that the new Formula E car (Spark-Renault SRT_01E) will be unveiled at 09:45am (CET) at the Frankfurt Motor Show with special guests including Jean Todt. Of course, this will be the car that all teams will race with for the first season only. Formula E is an ‘open championship’ so teams are encouraged to build/design their own from season two. It was felt that providing a car for the first season was the best thing to do to ensure it ‘got off the ground’ so to speak.

Thanks

a non-pushy attitude will be welcome in comparison to the msv way of doing things on here, thank you i have to say, i'm very curious about the whole thing. the fairest of plays to whoever is pulling the strings to exploit the things that some find difficult to accept from their motorsport such as noise and so forth. i think it sets a good precedent for potential sponsors and marketers, that it really isn't traditional motorsport as they might know it.

incidentally, if you can add press [[at]] ten-tenths.com to your press release mailing list we'll add them to our news section

[FormulaE]

Originally Posted by bella

a non-pushy attitude will be welcome in comparison to the msv way of doing things on here, thank you i have to say, i'm very curious about the whole thing. the fairest of plays to whoever is pulling the strings to exploit the things that some find difficult to accept from their motorsport such as noise and so forth. i think it sets a good precedent for potential sponsors and marketers, that it really isn't traditional motorsport as they might know it.

incidentally, if you can add press [[at]] ten-tenths.com to your press release mailing list we'll add them to our news section

Thanks and have done that! Yeah we fully accept that Formula E is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, especially hardcore petrolheads.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by FormulaE

Hi all,
I’ve been noticing what a reaction Formula E is generating on here and I thought I would create a Formula E account to answer any questions you have about the series. I’m in NO WAY trying to influence anyone, merely help out when people are unsure about something or give details on the format of the series.
I’m from the Formula E team (based in Hammersmith, West London), and will try and come on here as much as I can and, as you can, I'm not trying to hide behind a different username!
While I’m here, we can confirm that the new Formula E car (Spark-Renault SRT_01E) will be unveiled at 09:45am (CET) at the Frankfurt Motor Show with special guests including Jean Todt. Of course, this will be the car that all teams will race with for the first season only. Formula E is an ‘open championship’ so teams are encouraged to build/design their own from season two. It was felt that providing a car for the first season was the best thing to do to ensure it ‘got off the ground’ so to speak.
Thanks

Welcome to the forum! Can you tell me if all the circuits are finished as far as the design process goes? Will they still be within that range of 2.5 to 3 km? I'd be curious to see if I could help out with the circuit design a bit -

Thanks, and welcome to the forum!

[FormulaE]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Welcome to the forum! Can you tell me if all the circuits are finished as far as the design process goes? Will they still be within that range of 2.5 to 3 km? I'd be curious to see if I could help out with the circuit design a bit -

Thanks, and welcome to the forum!

Thank you! Yes all the tracks will be around 2.5km/3km in length - this is mainly to ensure they don't take up too much space within the city and cause unnecessary disruption. Most are now finalised and being submitted to the FIA for their approval. Later this year we will reveal the full calendar (with one or two surprises!) but we won't announce the exact track location in all cases. We're planning on doing this with a roadshow to build more interest.

Feel free to ask any more questions...I could talk all day but that's not the reason I joined!

[bella]

Originally Posted by FormulaE

Thanks and have done that! Yeah we fully accept that Formula E is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, especially hardcore petrolheads.

i think right now, especially with f1 looking a bit wobbly, there's a really big gap in the market for a new approach to cars going around in circles. in theory, the hardcore petrolheads should be at least swayed from the "hate it, it's EVIL" side to "might have a look" by the insanely cool technology. i really hope there's plans to go to universities and stuff like the autosport show and circuit events to get curious people involved and informed.

i'm not sure petrolheads are hostile, i think it's more fear than anything. at the moment the technology isn't available to do a decent and environmentally friendly job of hybrid cars, let alone fully electric ones, and perhaps there's concern that this hybrid stuff is being imposed upon us when it isn't really worth having yet.

hopefully this formula will go a decent way towards speeding up the development and technology, and help normalise the no-fossil fuel thing in the mind of the public as well.

[NaBUru38]

I'm concerned about two things: car performance and drivers.

If cars are too slow, it won't build a solid fanbase in the long term.

If drivers are no names, it will fail like A1GP and Superleague.

Andretti has said he wishes to enter their IndyCar drivers, so that's a great first step.

[conmit_URZ]

Fist post...here goes!

I quite like the idea of Formula E.

There has been too much criticism towards F1 (and motorsports in general) to contribute to the effort of saving the world, and all that blah blah.

Formula E has the foundations to become a great racing league. Iconic tracks, iconic companies building the cars and iconic names already involved, Andretti has been mentioned. It would also attract the eco-mentalists to motorsport, and show them what they've been missing out on!

I'm not too concerned about the noise or the names of the drivers. As long as it is competitive, provides great racing AND is available to watch easily on the TV ie freeview, then that would encourage a better audience.

Dare I say this could be a possible addition to future Olympic sports? THAT would attract BIG name drivers from Europe and America! maybe a mix of F1 and Indycar/NASCAR?

[bella]

welcome to the dark side the only question the eco-mentalists (lol, nice one) don't ever seem to answer about electric cars is where the extra fossil fuels/nuclear power plants are going to come from to power the cars they think we're all going to plug in every night...

i think you're right about the iconic venues. the idea of racing at tempelhof alone still makes me grin. that's the gimmick that needs to work - forget the big name drivers (nobody came to see sebastian bourdais in superleague...), or the big name teams.

one thing i'm not sure about is the cities involvements. are they promoting themselves as a tourist destination (planes and cars are bad for the environment) or as a place to live, or as a place to be better exploited by the locals? if it's the former then the cleverest thing the series could do is to partner up with a well respected travel agent and start advertising reasonably priced weekend trips... with co2 compensation included

[conmit_URZ]

Haha. Thanks for the welcome!

It also seems that the eco geeks forget that McLaren are officially Carbon Neutral!

Hopefully more motorsport team become Carbon Neutral...just so that we keep our fuel guzzling fossil fuelled engines!

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by kurski

Maybe their driver*could be Harald Schlegelmilch.

Carlos Beltran said that the FIA Formula E does not compete in the next two years Santa Fe street.

Most precisely, in the neighborhood of Puerto Madero, at Buenos Aires.

[FormulaE]

Hi all,

We’ve just announced one of our TV broadcast deals with a partnership with FOX Sports to show Formula E races in 88 countries on six different continents.
http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/Fox-...lti-media-deal

Not all 88 countries are listed in the story (understandably!) but a rough breakdown includes: US, Canada, Latin America/Caribbean, Netherlands, Italy, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, key Asian territories and other areas of Asia, India and Africa.

Before you ask, this does not include the UK – we will announce this deal at a later date!

[wolfhound]

I see where Fox sports have will be broadcasting the FE championship in over 80 countries. I wonder does that mean sky will be covering it in Europe where you pay lots of money to see it. Great way to get a new championship seen.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109227

[BtccLee]

I have to say I am very excited about this series. Firstly, although there won't be a "Noise" as we are used to from the cars, there will be a "Sound" that will give the series a unique identity and make it more acceptable to a wider audience. Whilst I am not saying I won't miss the sound of a traditional racer it will accentuate other noises, such as tyre squeal and the commentary.
There has also been debate about smell, although I am sure the smell of burning rubber won't be lost. As for drivers I don't think it matters so much for this series, which is more about the technology.

The cars look very cool indeed. I also have to say whilst I don't believe electric cars are necessarily ready for road use, they could certainly work in a lot of forms of Motorsport, aside from perhaps endurance championships. It is also nice to see yet another example of Motorsport pioneering road technology as well. We have it with LeMans and the FIA's world engine formula. Then Formula 1's fuel efficiency rules next year. The future is certainly looking bright for our sport and whilst I don't see Formula E as the only pioneering concept, I certainly think it will be one of the most interesting. And I see no-reason why appealing to a larger audience will affect the sport for those who already know and love it.

Good luck

[Middle_BBG]

I'm not a petrolhead, I'm a motorsport fan - looking forward to the chance at marshalling for these.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by Middle_BBG

I'm not a petrolhead, I'm a motorsport fan - looking forward to the chance at marshalling for these.

I wish I could. It's a great excuse to go explore some great cities!

I'd love to see Bangkok.

[FormulaE]

Today's Formula E News about two-time IndyCar Champion Gil de Ferran becoming an Official Racing Ambassador for the series: http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/gil-...ing-ambassador

[Mr Pink]

FormulaE: First of all, thanks for coming on here and answering questions!

I have to ask what the reasoning is behind this idea of letting people vote for a driver to get some extra juice though? I'm impressed by the way the start of this championship is beeing handled but that idea is, with all due respect, one of the worst I've heard of in motorsports ever.

I appologize if that was just an empty rumour or if I've missunderstood in any other way.

[FormulaE]

Originally Posted by Mr Pink

FormulaE: First of all, thanks for coming on here and answering questions!

I have to ask what the reasoning is behind this idea of letting people vote for a driver to get some extra juice though? I'm impressed by the way the start of this championship is beeing handled but that idea is, with all due respect, one of the worst I've heard of in motorsports ever.

I appologize if that was just an empty rumour or if I've missunderstood in any other way.

Hi there and no worries!
First of all let me explain/clarify our proposed idea for Formula E races, which of course still needs to be confirmed by the FIA. Our idea is to try and make the racing as exciting as possible as we are well aware that street races can become processional because overtaking is so difficult (imagine 10 Monaco races!).
There are various measures we are looking at and one of which is a boost system called ‘Push-to-Pass’. The idea is that each driver will have a set number of boosts that they can deploy when then wish in order to aid overtaking. This would say be an increase of around 90bhp for a 6 seconds (this is just an example, nothing confirmed yet so don’t quote me!). On top of this, the idea would be that during the race people would be able to vote for one driver to receive one extra power boost which, in theory, could influence the result of the race.
Now I know racing purists out there will be screaming out right now (and they’re perfectly entitled to do so), but we are proposing this for a number of reasons. As I said, it’s mainly to ensure we have exciting racing but also because we want to be unique and embrace new technology. The whole concept of Formula E is to be at the cutting edge of technology and we hope ideas like this will show it.
I guess there’s going to be a number of things true racers won’t like/agree with the series and we completely get that. We are not necessarily trying to convert petrolheads (although that would be nice!) more target a new type of younger motorsport fan who wants to get involved and interact, something fans can rarely do in other championships.
I guess the proof will be come race day.

[Mr Pink]

Thank you for explaining!
For me this is not about beeing a racing purist though,
I'd call myself a petrolhead and except for this idea I really like what I've heard about Formula E so far, but I think you're underestimating people here.
How are you supposed to explain that to, say, a football fan? "Yeah, it's like if you would be able to vote for your favourite team in the champions league to get an extra penaly shot in the final..".
I think you'll give away all of your credibility as a sport, which in the long run would be more valuable than an extra pass or two during a race.

Just my two cents though, no disrespect intended!

[ivanalesi]

If you do this, you might open a can of very bad worms called politics. When a driver/team knows he can influence his chances of winning by saying or not saying certain things in front of the press/organizers, he'll try and engage himself in all kinds of creative politics against his competitors. In other words you're ensuring not very pleasant childish scandals before every race.
The vast majority of people don't like the politics when they give unsporting advantage to one side. Just let them race! If you want some extra action, i.e. give 3 extra boosts to the guy with the most overtakings in the first half of the race. Think something like this, politics are the unpleasant part of racing.

P.S. Just to clarify, I'm long time electric car fan, so no need to convert me

[bella]

it's not just politics is it, it's a popularity contest. some drivers are naturally outgoing friendly people and share their lives with people online and at the circuit. they have a lot of followers and supporters. then there's the quieter more reserved ones who don't - are they going to have to run some sort of publicity campaign to make sure they stand a chance if they're in a position where they'd benefit from the boost?

it's an interesting idea definitely, but it would depend on how it is actioned.

[ivanalesi]

Yes, and of course the media will play a part. So what you do when your competitor is big friends with some of the trend setting reporters? You buy them secret presents or do them favours like in politics?

[bella]

heh, that's true. i was about to say "yeah, it'd have probably worked better *before* social media" but then realised that you're right, there'd be more in the hands of the journalists. and look what happens with news and current affairs when they have all the control

in true tenths tradition, we are nitpicking the heck out of this. we're like a cheap focus group