Remember how excited people got about the Audi R10 TDi racers when they debuted? They were something completely new and different. They were the pinnacle of technology, they were fast, they were quiet, and they wiped the floor with their competition. Starting this weekend, the FIA is trying to capitalize on that alternative energy racing craze that Audi pioneered all the way back in 2006. Instead of a now-accepted diesel racing car, however, they are introducing electric racing to the world stage in an open-wheel series dubbed “Formula E”. Some people have called it crazy, some are condemning it to failure before it’s even begun. In comparison with traditional racing, Formula E does have some downsides, primarily a spec chassis, a spec powertrain, and spec tires, combined with a relatively low top-speed (only about 140 miles per hour), and an inability to produce aurally pleasing exhaust notes. Is Formula E going to be the Formula 1 replacement for the Prius driver? I don’t think so. This should be an excellent racing series that provides some pretty exciting racing action, and while it won’t provide the sounds and smells you’re used to in open-wheel racing, it should be pretty indicative of the future of motorsport. We need to find a way forward if we want motorsport to continue into a non-fossil-fueled future. Maybe Formula E is the stepping stone we need to develop the technology for sustainable motor racing. Maybe it’ll fall on its face right out of the starting gate, but personally I really hope it doesn’t. After the jump, we continue our series of articles covering the various road racing series and important races all over the world. In previous installments,  we have covered The United Sports Car Championship, the 12 hours of Sebring, the Bathurst 12 hour,Indycar, the Pirelli World Challenge, the FIA World Endurance Championship, Formula 1, Global Rallycross, The 24 Hours of Le Mans, and The 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. This Season< Being the inaugural season, 2014 should prove quite interesting. We’ve got an excellent combination of new teams, new drivers, new cars, new tires, new tracks, and hopefully new fans. This series will be travelling all around the world to a number of high-profile city centers, including two planned stops in the United States (once on each coast!). The series touches down, runs one full day, then packs it all up and heads out again. You read that right, they have warm up, practice, qualifying, and the race all on the same day. They run the same schedule everywhere they go, so you can be sure that some of the races will be on at wild hours, but hopefully it’ll be interesting enough to warrant getting up in the middle of the night to watch.

The Teams and Drivers

10 teams with a history of GP2, Indycar, DTM, and JGTC experience will 20 world-class drivers, more than half of which have on-the-grid Formula 1 training. How could you ask for more? Amlin Aguri –  Katherine Legge and Antonio Felix de Costa Andretti Autosport –  Franck Montagny and another yet unnamed driver (Scott Speed ran the car at a Donnington Park test earlier this year, so it could be him, but equally it might be Marco Andretti. We’ll know this Saturday who suits up and boots up.) Audi Sport ABT –  Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt China Racing –  Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Ho Pin Tung Dragon Racing – Jerome d’Ambrosio and Oriol Servia E.Dams Racing –  Nicolas Prost and Sebastian Buemi Mahindra Racing –  Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna Trulli Formula-E Team –  Jarno Trulli and Michela Ceruti Venturi Formula-E Team –  Nick Heidfeld and Stephane Sarrazin Virgin Racing –  Jaime Alguersuari and Sam Bird

The Cars

From the outside, the car (dubbed “Spark-Renault SRT_01E” looks like a pretty conventional open-wheeler. It’s got wings fore and aft, it’s got a full ground effects setup, it’s got the pushrod suspension system you’d expect to see, it’s got four wheels, a center-mounted seat, and a fancy steering wheel. The chassis and aerodynamic design work was done primarily by Dallara in cooperation with this newly developed “Spark Racing Technologies” company, which explains why the car shares a lot of visual cues with Dallara chassis already built for use in Indycar and Formula 3. Most of the SRT_01E’s new bits are all under the skin. Instead of a raucous internal combustion high-revving gasoline engine, this open-wheel machine employs a rack of batteries produced by Williams Engineering, a 200 kw electric motor produced by McLaren Technologies, and a traditional 5-speed air-shifter gearbox produced by Hewland. The electric motor itself is quite small, actually fitting inside the bellhousing of the Hewland gearbox. Being that it is so small, the motor is only capable of producing the equivalent of about 270 horsepower in qualifying trim. The batteries, however, are a whole other story, taking up a lot of space and weighing over 700 pounds (more than 3 times the weight of an IndyCar engine). This additional weight contributes to a pretty heavy car as formula cars go, tipping the scales at a whopping 1960 pounds with driver. Everything in the car is spec’d by the FIA to both keep costs down and to keep the competition pretty even. The car has to be raced 100% as it arrives out of the box. Teams are not even allowed to change the axle grease in the drive axles, or fiddle with wheel bearings, or even change a wheel seal to a lower-drag unit. Interestingly, the two pieces of the car that are left open to development are the dampers and the wheels, probably two of the more expensive pieces to develop on a car with mandated aero and drivetrain. Regardless, this should provide some pretty close racing, giving the drivers an opportunity to shine in same-car-same-day competition. Being that these cars make use of “instant-torque” electric motors, they do manage to be quick, sprinting to sixty miles per hour in under 3 seconds. They are, however, limited on the top end to only about 140 or 150 miles per hour depending upon track and configuration. It turns out, however, that this is a pretty good thing. For the most part, the Formula E championship runs on temporary street circuits in heavily populated areas, meaning a lot of point-and-squirt style driving for these cars, which is what electric propulsion excels at. This was, admittedly, probably by design. That big rack of batteries lasts about 25 minutes at full race speeds, meaning that the racers have to stop to swap race cars, much like Moto GP riders stop to swap bikes when they need new tires. In pre-season testing, the teams were attempting to get this change done in under one minute. The team that perfects the pitstop first will likely have a massive advantage, so you’d better get practicing, boys and girls! One of the biggest things you notice about the Formula E cars is that they make use of 18″ wheels and treaded spec Michelin tires rather than the traditional slick tires. The treaded tires, Formula E execs claim, are aiming to be more durable, which is necessary due to the car’s additional weight and aggressive torque curve. Additionally, they claim that a more traditional slick tire would be “ripped to shreds” by the car, which I believe is 100% a cop-out. The truth, in my eyes, is a bit less sexy, but perhaps technologically more sound. In my eyes, this 18″ tread-ridden tire is a test bed for Michelin’s other racing and road tires. If you’re playing along, you’ll know that the World Endurance Championship cars also use an 18″ wheel and tire package, and as of this year those cars have to manage their energy output a lot more, which means that a low-rolling resistance tire with a high-lateral-grip rubber formula would be of great benefit to them. Perhaps this is the earliest iteration of that next gen LMP1 tire? One nice side-effect of those low-grip tires, however, is that it takes a lot more finesse to drive these cars than say a Formula 1 car or an LMP. The back end moves around a bit under hard acceleration, and there aren’t many driver-aids in this series, meaning that most of the modulation has to come from the driver’s right foot.

Here Are Some Videos!

In order to get you pumped up for the first race this weekend, here’s some interesting video to help introduce you to the sights and sounds of Formula E. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrF5U3Wduv4[/youtube] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-jJT2sD0N4[/youtube]

Race Schedule

The calendar, as of right now, is still “written in pencil” as they say. One date is still TBA, and a few others might move around a little, but the calendar looks pretty solid in my eyes. All races will be broadcast live on the Fox networks here in the US, with race one being this Saturday at 3:30AM Eastern. Race 2 is currently rumored to be broadcasting on Fox proper. You might recognize one of the commentary team as being Mr. 3-time Indy 500 champ, Dario Franchitti. Race 1 – Beijing ePrix, Beijing Olympic Green Cirquit, China.  September 13th Race 2 – Putrajaya ePrix, Putrajaya Street Circuit, Malaysia. November 22nd Race 3 – Punta del Este ePrix, Punta del Este Street Circuit, Uruguay. December 13th Race 4 – Buenos Aires ePrix, Puerto Madero Street Circuit, Argentina. January 10th Race 5 – TBA. February 14th Race 6 – Miami ePrix, Downtown Miami Street Circuit, Florida, United States. March 14th Race 7 – Long Beach ePrix, Long Beach Street Circuit, California, United States. April 4th Race 8 – Monte Carlo ePrix, Circuit de Monaco, Monaco. May 9th Race 9 – Berlin ePrix, Berlin Tempelhof Airport, Germany. May 30th Race 10 – London ePrix, Battersea Park, United Kingdom. June 27th [All photos provided by the FIA and Formula E]