Formula E discussion thread

[Centurion]

I understand that the transport links to the area are a lot better, but if you weren't in the area already getting to London isn't the most convenient thing. If you live 20 mins from Battersea, and I live 20 mins from Silverstone, our journeys would be comparable, no?

Wicked that you live that close to Silverstone. Do you attend races often?

Having the odd race in a big city drastically increases the audience reach - especially for casual fans or those unable/unwilling to commit a whole day to an out-of-town race that needs to be accessed by car.

On the other hand I do love racing on classic circuits and would say that a mix of street and classic ones is healthy for the sport.

 

[Matski]

Wicked that you live that close to Silverstone. Do you attend races often?

A fair number of times, I keep a log of the bigger events I've been to, as follows below, there's a few at Silverstone. I used to do some work for the Racing Club based at Silverstone circuit, so I got free access to all bar F1 and MotoGP for a while, I can't remember all the little events I've been to. I've actually come to detest the place as I've gained more experience of other venues. I know it carries the weight of heritage for a lot of fans - particularly of F1 - and I do have many happy memories there, but all things considered, it's pretty much my least favourite circuit that I've visited. I've potentially scored media creds to photograph there next year, so I might get there more often. As far as the effort of getting to Silverstone goes, F1 race weekend is something else, for pretty much everything else circuit access is pretty good... for F1 it is carnage.

Anyway, here's that list.


2017
Hankook 24 Hour TCES at Silverstone
BTCC Launch Day, Donington Park

2016
BTCC Launch Day, Donington Park
Silverstone 24 Hour (Touring Car Endurance Series)

2015
BTCC, Brands Hatch (Indy)
FIA WEC & ELMS, Silverstone
BTCC, Donington Park
Britcar 24 hours at Silverstone (a.k.a. the Dunlop 24 hour)
BTCC, Thruxton
WTCC, Nürburgring Nordscleife
Nürburgring 24 Hour
BTCC, Oulton Park
Le Mans 24 Hour
BTCC, Croft
DTM, Zandvoort
Spa 24 Hour
BTCC, Snetterton
BTCC, Knockhill
FIA European Drag Finals
BTCC, Rockingham
BTCC, Silverstone
BTCC, Brands Hatch (GP)
Race of Champions, London Olympic Stadium

2014
BTCC, Brands Hatch (Indy)
Blancpain GT Series, Brands Hatch (GP)
FIA European Drag Racing, Santa Pod
BTCC, Rockingham

2013
FIA World Endurance Champhionship, Silverstone
BTCC, Donington Park
DTM, Brands Hatch
FIA European Drag Racing Championship, Santa Pod

2012
British Truck Racing Championship (BTRC), Brands Hatch

2011
WRC Wales Rally GB - first time at a Rally, it was an experience!
BTCC, Thruxton
BTCC, Silverstone
BTCC, Snetterton
WTCC, Donington Park
International/Italian V8 Superstars, Donington Park
Britcar 24 hours, Silverstone
Blancpain Endurance Series, Silverstone

2010
Britcar 24 hours, Silverstone
BTCC, Brands Hatch
BTCC, Croft
BTCC, Knockhill
BTCC, Silverstone
BTCC, Thruxton - met Mat Jackson in the Pub afterwards.. which got me in the garage at.....
BTCC, Rockingham
LMES, Silverstone
FIA GT, Silverstone
F2, Silverstone
Superleague Formula, Silverstone - not great, but saw the prettiest girl ever working in the garage for one of the teams.
Renault World Series - well, it's free....

2009
BTCC, Rockingam
BTCC, Oulton Park - This was the one that got me into BTCC and photography, well that and Tillie Thompson!
Britcar 500, Silverstone
FIA GT, Silverstone

2008
LMS Silverstone
BTCC Silverstone
Britcar 24 hours at Silverstone

2007
A1GP, Brands Hatch - Hospitality Suite... sweeet.
Britcar 24 hours, Silverstone

2006
Britcar 24 hours, Silverstone - Awesome, great access to pitlane during Friday night Qually.
F1 British Grand Prix - Biggest waste of money ever.

2005
BTCC, Silverstone - BRDC passes

 

[Matski]

Having the odd race in a big city drastically increases the audience reach - especially for casual fans or those unable/unwilling to commit a whole day to an out-of-town race that needs to be accessed by car.

I'm all about fan engagement when it comes to motorsport, but I went to the F1 demo run in the mid 00's in London and it was a horrific experience, I think Formula E's London bid is similar to that route and honestly I think it would be terrible for fans. I get that they want an iconic London backdrop, but trying to close off Trafalgar square etc. is ridiculous. I hope they figure something out, maybe something at the Olympic park at Stratford, the infrastructure there would (I assume) be ideal and the disruption would be fairly localised.

 

[Centurion]

I'm all about fan engagement when it comes to motorsport, but I went to the F1 demo run in the mid 00's in London and it was a horrific experience, I think Formula E's London bid is similar to that route and honestly I think it would be terrible for fans. I get that they want an iconic London backdrop, but trying to close off Trafalgar square etc. is r...

One big drawback of street circuits is the poor viewing experience. Unless you have a grand stand ticket you won't see much and even if you do, you are like to have a one dimensional view of the race compared with sitting at Copse at Silverstone or anywhere at Spa.

 

[Matski]

One big drawback of street circuits is the poor viewing experience. Unless you have a grand stand ticket you won't see much and even if you do, you are like to have a one dimensional view of the race compared with sitting at Copse at Silverstone or anywhere at Spa.

Trust me, sitting at Copse is a very one dimensional view of Silverstone too! I watched an F1 GP from the Copse Terrace on the outside of the track! Inside of Copse on the other hand, is a favourite spot of mine... rubbish for photography because of the fences, but the grass banking is a nice place to sit and have a beer.

A lot of the rest of Silverstone is rubble, rather than grass. It's like spectating from a slag heap.

It's a fundamental problem for any venue, giving everyone that turns up a half decent viewing experience. The bigger the event, the harder this is. Formula E isn't at that end of the spectrum yet.. F1 at Silverstone is something like 130,000 a day IIRC.. Le Mans is something like 250,000.. both are well beyond what the circuits can cope with.. move to a national series like BTCC and 50,000 is a big number, but it intrinsically means each fan has a better experience at a smaller event.

 

[Matski]

Fanboost is live... big support for Stoffel Vandoorne so far!

fanboost.fiaformulae.com/

 

[Deleted member 25]

You watching ? Is it any better than the soporific previous seasons ?

 

[Matski]

You watching ? Is it any better than the soporific previous seasons ?

Kicks off this weekend, so we'll see.

I'm sure the Gen 2 car will have an impact, but I didn't think it was that bad last season in terms of actual racing (from what I saw). I think most of what it's lacking now will be down to the the circuit layouts... could go either way.

 

[M.N.D]

How can you see the voting results @Matski?

 

[Matski]

How can you see the voting results @Matski?

If you go the web address posted it should be at the bottom of the page, not sure if you have to vote first to see it though...

Currently...

 

[M.N.D]

If you go the web address posted it should be at the bottom of the page, not sure if you have to vote first to see it though...

Currently...

Oh, I didn't scroll down to the bottom of the page. Thank you

As much as I don't like it, but I think I'll join the nonsense and vote I'm voting for Da Costa and Sims (really?!), but there are other drivers that I like to root for such as Bird and Buemi.

Anyway, I think these results are to be expected, and I'll say it for the last time, but it is unfair for the rest of the drivers to be denied extra power because they didn't drive in F1 or didn't post enough on Instagram...

Anyway, looking forward to the race on Saturday

 

[Matski]

Qualifying



Race

 

[M.N.D]

Thanks for posting @Matski I'll watch the race later as I'm busy right now and will be for the next 8 hours!!

Just watched the quali session though skipping some of it as I don't have much time but it was kind of a mess due to the rain with several red flags. The track's layout is kinda similar to Mexico's one.

Congrats to Da Costa for the pole happy for Buemi and Bird to be doing good as well.

Looking forward to watch how things turned out for the race...

 

[fortuner]

Watches the race today my first full Race it was interesting but I just can't love it like I instantly love F1.

The commentary is rubbish in my opinion..

The graphics and TV information is very poor also.

Stoffel started 5 finished last biut his car seemed poor...you get a good amount of overtaking the race needs pit stops and it's too short a race..

 

[Matski]

The commentary is rubbish in my opinion

I assume most of the world gets he same feed, the English guy is awful... Dario's a good perspective and Bob Varsha is a skilled and competent professional. Over here we also have to put up win Vernon Kaye who is a moron... so I think they've got a couple of good elements, but on the whole, the quality of the coverage isn't good enough.

the race needs pit stops and it's too short a race

Catch 22, if they go longer they'll have to go back to car swaps which is something fans and manufacturers wanted to get away from. Tyre deg is minimal so why pitstop? It's often a criticism of Formula 1 that teams will opt to do the overtaking in the pits rather than out on track.

 

[fortuner]

maybe you right but for me out stop adds excitement as I said this is my first race I have watched and human nature to compare I do find F1 is very much ahead of this not only the drivers and cars but the whole spectacle ...Formula E should get Bernie in lol he will definitely spice things up.

 

[Matski]

Formula E should get Bernie in lol he will definitely spice things up.

While I have to respect Bernie as businessman, I'd still chuck him on the bonfire of things that went wrong with modern motorsport. It's his guidance that made money the overriding factor in F1, and that has - in no small part - contributed to what the sport is today.. for better or (in my opinion) worse... but that's for the F1 thread.

As some members won't have watched the race yet I won't say too much about it, but the low-downforce and hard-tired nature of these cars does show off how nice it is to see cars moving around, especially in this close proximity to concrete walls.

I've got to say at this stage, comparisons between F1 and FE are fairly moot. F1 clearly has the upperhand in most regards but FE - given a few years to mature - could well become a credible threat.

 

[Eng.ahad]

I will come back once I watched the full race.

But I do feel the same as @fortuner about the poor graphics and the commentary, even car crashes requires better directing to spice things up

 

[Eng.ahad]

@M.N.D what do you think about the race overall ? I guess there is a huge improvement over Gen 1 cars ?

 

[Sunny]

That fanboost thing is just so wrong.