Formula E - Am I The Only One Excited?
Discussion
I've been following the Formula E lot on Twitter and found it mildly interesting at first as I figured it would die a death during the build up but now I'm getting quite intrigued.
ITV has said it is going to air all 10 of the races (albeit on ITV4 but still - Thats where a lot of good racing is anyway) and put a highlights package on ITV1.
It might not be attracting all the top racers but there's still some 'big' names attached to it - Nick Heidfeld, Sébastien Buemi, Karun Chandhok, Ben Collins, Leonardo Di Caprio...
I watched the test footage this morning and while the sound may drive me bonkers I thought it had potential! The test day was the first outing and only ran at 25% power but still didn't look awful.
Test here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqIsFbdLJ7k#t=124
The cars are more attractive than this years F1 lot (Apart from what Team China seem to be offering).
The format seems interesting and there is a street race in London. To my mind it ticks a lot of boxes and I'm sure that something will be done to the sound as apart from the fact they don't *sound* fast I think the high pitched whistle would be intolerable to an audience.
I'm not seeing it as a rival to F1 but an addition, which can only ever be a good thing surely?
Thoughts?
ITV has said it is going to air all 10 of the races (albeit on ITV4 but still - Thats where a lot of good racing is anyway) and put a highlights package on ITV1.
It might not be attracting all the top racers but there's still some 'big' names attached to it - Nick Heidfeld, Sébastien Buemi, Karun Chandhok, Ben Collins, Leonardo Di Caprio...
I watched the test footage this morning and while the sound may drive me bonkers I thought it had potential! The test day was the first outing and only ran at 25% power but still didn't look awful.
Test here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqIsFbdLJ7k#t=124
The cars are more attractive than this years F1 lot (Apart from what Team China seem to be offering).
The format seems interesting and there is a street race in London. To my mind it ticks a lot of boxes and I'm sure that something will be done to the sound as apart from the fact they don't *sound* fast I think the high pitched whistle would be intolerable to an audience.
I'm not seeing it as a rival to F1 but an addition, which can only ever be a good thing surely?
Thoughts?
I am keen to see how it goes - the city centre venues should make for some interesting spectacle. Much more chance of me persuading the Mrs to go on a weekend city break with a spot of racing than expecting her to traipse somewhere like Silverstone. And the cars look heaps better than F1 these days (not much quieter either!).
H18 ENF said:
Centurion07 said:
They do look awesome but it sounds like a milk float on steroids. Racing needs engine sounds. LOUD engine sounds.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but why?
I was at the FIA GT event at Silverstone last year (possibly the year before), and it was my first experience of the Audi E-Tron things; I f
king hated them with a passion. Every other car in the field, in all classes sounded like a GT car should; all noisy, powerful, fast. Everytime the Audi's went past (P1 & P2 annoyingly) all you heard was the whoosh from the aero as they cut through the air. The sound of a proper racing car and what it brings to motorsport should not be underestimated.
Go on Youtube and have a look at any video containing a Mazda 787B; if you can find one comment saying it sounds crap and hybrid/electric vehicles that sound like milk floats are the future I'll eat my car.
In fact, take a look at this vid posted in the Youtube thread and tell me it's an improvement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4Dh_EAfJI
If that's progress you can stick it up your arse! (Not you personally!)
Centurion07 said:
It all adds to the overall spectacle. Sure, I know the cars are powerful, and sure, I can see they're going fast, but when both of those things are combined into a sound that you can feel to your very core as they approach from half a mile away, go past you, and then carry on for another half a mile, well, that is something special.
I was at the FIA GT event at Silverstone last year (possibly the year before), and it was my first experience of the Audi E-Tron things; I fking hated them with a passion. Every other car in the field, in all classes sounded like a GT car should; all noisy, powerful, fast. Everytime the Audi's went past (P1 & P2 annoyingly) all you heard was the whoosh from the aero as they cut through the air.
The sound of a proper racing car and what it brings to motorsport should not be underestimated.
Go on Youtube and have a look at any video containing a Mazda 787B; if you can find one comment saying it sounds crap and hybrid/electric vehicles that sound like milk floats are the future I'll eat my car.
In fact, take a look at this vid posted in the Youtube thread and tell me it's an improvement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4Dh_EAfJI
If that's progress you can stick it up your arse! (Not you personally!)
I agree with you about the contrasting noise within the same race, as you said about the GT cars, there a silent whoosh will stand out among the other very lovely noises but when it is a different race entirely why does the noise have to be comparable to other motorsports.I was at the FIA GT event at Silverstone last year (possibly the year before), and it was my first experience of the Audi E-Tron things; I f
king hated them with a passion. Every other car in the field, in all classes sounded like a GT car should; all noisy, powerful, fast. Everytime the Audi's went past (P1 & P2 annoyingly) all you heard was the whoosh from the aero as they cut through the air. The sound of a proper racing car and what it brings to motorsport should not be underestimated.
Go on Youtube and have a look at any video containing a Mazda 787B; if you can find one comment saying it sounds crap and hybrid/electric vehicles that sound like milk floats are the future I'll eat my car.
In fact, take a look at this vid posted in the Youtube thread and tell me it's an improvement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4Dh_EAfJI
If that's progress you can stick it up your arse! (Not you personally!)
If you were to take the argument to the nth degree one could say that you don't like greyhound racing compared to horse racing because the noises the dogs make are quieter?
Surely the race itself is the enjoyable part? Or at least holds many of the contributing factors.
Centurion07 said:
It all adds to the overall spectacle. Sure, I know the cars are powerful, and sure, I can see they're going fast, but when both of those things are combined into a sound that you can feel to your very core as they approach from half a mile away, go past you, and then carry on for another half a mile, well, that is something special.
I was at the FIA GT event at Silverstone last year (possibly the year before), and it was my first experience of the Audi E-Tron things; I fking hated them with a passion. Every other car in the field, in all classes sounded like a GT car should; all noisy, powerful, fast. Everytime the Audi's went past (P1 & P2 annoyingly) all you heard was the whoosh from the aero as they cut through the air.
The sound of a proper racing car and what it brings to motorsport should not be underestimated.
Go on Youtube and have a look at any video containing a Mazda 787B; if you can find one comment saying it sounds crap and hybrid/electric vehicles that sound like milk floats are the future I'll eat my car.
In fact, take a look at this vid posted in the Youtube thread and tell me it's an improvement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4Dh_EAfJI
If that's progress you can stick it up your arse! (Not you personally!)
Standing in a grandstand at the start of Le Mans is one of the greatest experiences of my life. The noise of all those different engines screaming past (apart from the diesels, fI was at the FIA GT event at Silverstone last year (possibly the year before), and it was my first experience of the Audi E-Tron things; I f
king hated them with a passion. Every other car in the field, in all classes sounded like a GT car should; all noisy, powerful, fast. Everytime the Audi's went past (P1 & P2 annoyingly) all you heard was the whoosh from the aero as they cut through the air. The sound of a proper racing car and what it brings to motorsport should not be underestimated.
Go on Youtube and have a look at any video containing a Mazda 787B; if you can find one comment saying it sounds crap and hybrid/electric vehicles that sound like milk floats are the future I'll eat my car.
In fact, take a look at this vid posted in the Youtube thread and tell me it's an improvement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4Dh_EAfJI
If that's progress you can stick it up your arse! (Not you personally!)
king hate the diesels) was an almost religious experience. Proper motor racing needs a decent sound track, it's an emotional connection. That's why they put musical sound tracks on films, it adds to the whole emotion of what you're watching.H18 ENF said:
I agree with you about the contrasting noise within the same race, as you said about the GT cars, there a silent whoosh will stand out among the other very lovely noises but when it is a different race entirely why does the noise have to be comparable to other motorsports.
If you were to take the argument to the nth degree one could say that you don't like greyhound racing compared to horse racing because the noises the dogs make are quieter?
Surely the race itself is the enjoyable part? Or at least holds many of the contributing factors.
It has to be comparable to other motorsports as other motorsports is what they're competing against. As long as there are forms of motorsport with a proper soundtrack then that is what I, as a paying punter, am going to choose to give my money to.If you were to take the argument to the nth degree one could say that you don't like greyhound racing compared to horse racing because the noises the dogs make are quieter?
Surely the race itself is the enjoyable part? Or at least holds many of the contributing factors.
The greyhounds vs horses thing is nonsense as the noise does not form part of the spectacle.
The point I'm making is that it's a slippery slope which will end up with noisy combustion engines consigned to the depths of YouTube a la the 787B.
If you're going to remove the sound element of motorsport, why not remove the speed as well? You don't need to watch cars capable of 200mph when 100mph will do. The racing is still close.
Noiseless racing cars can jog on.
Formula E will die a death like every other attempt at a single seater championship. A1GP, Super League Formula, F2 and even the old favourite F3 is struggling. The novelty of an electric series may give it a couple more years than most plus the money being pumped into it along with FIA status might help but in the end enough people aren't interested in motorsport for it ever to be a success. Add to that the division it creates amongst genuine motorsport fans as shown in this and other threads and straightaway they've lost a good chunk of their potential fan base.
It's a nice idea but it fails to understand that most people simply aren't interested in cars going around in circles regardless of what is powering them. The only successful single seater series I can think of is World Series by Renault which is just a massive marketing exercise by Renault. Perhaps a similar approach with the free ticket model might work but they'd need a manufacturer to back it.
It's a nice idea but it fails to understand that most people simply aren't interested in cars going around in circles regardless of what is powering them. The only successful single seater series I can think of is World Series by Renault which is just a massive marketing exercise by Renault. Perhaps a similar approach with the free ticket model might work but they'd need a manufacturer to back it.
I think Jurbie has it about right.
The big idea of the FIA is to show where electric cars are headed. 3 short races over a day with complex grid positions like BTCC might have made some sense. But a long race where the driver is required to change car twice simply rams home the severe limitation of electrical power. You will always need two cars!
I cannot see it lasting more than a couple of years - building temporary circuits will be expensive for promoters and at the end of the day, no one will be interested in the drivers, or the teams and only die-hards will watch it on ITV4, and so it will fail to capture the general public's imagination.
The big idea of the FIA is to show where electric cars are headed. 3 short races over a day with complex grid positions like BTCC might have made some sense. But a long race where the driver is required to change car twice simply rams home the severe limitation of electrical power. You will always need two cars!
I cannot see it lasting more than a couple of years - building temporary circuits will be expensive for promoters and at the end of the day, no one will be interested in the drivers, or the teams and only die-hards will watch it on ITV4, and so it will fail to capture the general public's imagination.
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