Your textbook to Formula E

[pgfpro]

Fast car, famous drivers, extraordinary places, innovation and revolution: this is the brand-new series on the horizon. Formula E welcomes you into its spectacular world. The new series will be launched this weekend when Beijing hosts the first ever race for fully-electric racing cars.
The championship will be decided over ten rounds. The calendar includes China, Malaysia, Uruguay, Argentina, USA, Monte Carlo, Germany and the United Kingdom. USA will host two races, one in Miami and one in Long Beach. One venue still needs to be announced. The final round will be held in London.
LINK:
Your textbook to Formula E - F1technical.net

[dirtydave]

That looks awesome!

[NeilBlanchard]

The inaugural race in Bejing is broadcast TODAY on Fox Sports. I do not have cable, so I will not be able to watch it.

[NeilBlanchard]

Spoiler alert!

The first race is finished, and in the record books:

FIA Formula E Championship – Drivers’ Standings

[Xist]

So, cooler cars than the Nissan Leaf?

[ConnClark]

I watched the race. It wasn't all that exciting until the crash at the end that took out the two leaders.

I was majorly disappointed at the pit stop in the middle of the race. Instead of addressing, developing, and solving issues to recharge or replace batteries to go the distance they just had the driver get out of one car and climb into another car. LAME!

[NeilBlanchard]

I have now seen the race, and I think they erred on the side of caution. They did not come close to running the batteries down - and if they had, then this would be all anybody talked about. So, they opted to keep the speeds down - though 140MPH is hardly slow!

I think they will change the power mapping rules as the season progresses.

A point they missed making was that each car has just a 28kWh battery, and since the drivers swap cars, they can use up to 56kWh for the race. That means the 25 laps around the 3.44km course put the race distance at 86km / 53.43 miles, and they used less than 56kWh of electricity which is equivalent to just 1.66 gallons of gasoline.

[zsnemeth]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

So, they opted to keep the speeds down though 140MPH is hardly slow!

That was Km/h, not Mp/h.

[NeilBlanchard]

No, they hit at least 190KPH on at least one of the straights. That is ~118MPH, and I think the cars can hit 140MPH in their current power maps. Maybe that was during qualifying, when they had 200kW available, rather than the 150kW for the race.

[zsnemeth]

I've seen 176Km/h once, whatever... either case, it was so underwhelming!
They slowly kill the F1, and now this. Should have invest one or two more years in development, at least. Unfortunately, this was a parody of a race: fixed car change time?! WTF? Actually, I was waiting for the E series, I shouldn't have...