| Title | The Formula E Motor Racing Championship Started this Weekend | |
| Date | Tuesday September 16 2014, @09:46AM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the do-they-still-make-that-neeeeeyung-sound? dept. | ||
The FIA's new motor racing championship, built around electric cars and city street racing, Formula E held its first race on Saturday the 13th in Beijing, and Lucas di Grassi won after a spectacular crash at the last corner.
Although I'm not a big fan of most motor sports, there is a lot of fascinating technology behind the cars. All the teams are currently in the €350,000 Spark-Renault SRT_01E model car from Spark Racing Technology which is capable of a top speed of about 140 mph (225kph) and 0-60 mph in 3s.
There's an official Youtube channel with quite a bit of background and highlights clips as well as a video from di Grassi with a drivers-eye view of the technical aspects of the power management and regeneration system
The early reception seems to be generally positive although some aspects have been criticised, particularly the "Fanboost", where an online vote awards three drivers an extra 5 second power boost during the race.
So is Formula-E racing a gimmick, is it Formula 1 greenwashing, or is there some future for this sport and will the trickle-down-technology theory of motorsport proponents mean innovations here will end up in consumer cars?
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printed from SoylentNews, The Formula E Motor Racing Championship Started this Weekend on 2024-04-25 15:45:40