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FIA Adds Rome To Formula E 2014 Inaugural Season
New submitter muon-catalyzed writes "Formula E — the new eco-friendly forumula racing just secured a major european city. Rome joins a growing eco-racing scene after Rio de Janeiro agreed to be part of it in August. Additional cities are expected in the coming weeks, this should quickly lead to a solidified race itinerary, the FIA says. Having Rome onside won't get cars to the starting line any sooner, but it may underscore Formula E's advantages in noise and pollution over gas-powered leagues — when its cars can race around the Colosseum without creating a ruckus, other cities (and spectators) might just follow suit."
Sure, just enter the race and see how you do.
if they don't go 200mph, it's not really a contender.
wouldn't be so sure about the creating a ruckus part either. however, formula 1 is so rule suppressed that the tech isn't that interesting nowadays, if they have wider variety in E it might be interesting. but going 200mph is going to create a ruckus, electric or not.
and swapping the whole car at the pits? wtf dudes, just regulate the juice pack. easiest thing to regulate, everybody gets the same packs and that's the only fuel, after that it's a free for all. now THAT I would watch.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
A quick visit to the FIA site revealed no information regarding the original source of the energy that powers these cars. Without that, any discussion of the "greenness" of this endeavour is entirely moot.
I'm getting really tired of this meme that electric cars are automatically green. They *can* produce fewer carbon emissions, but when all of the factors, (greenhouse gases emitted during manufacture and maintenance, as well as charging the batteries), are taken into account, electric cars may be no better than their internal-combustion counterparts.
Because they produce no tailpipe emissions, electric cars are probably a step in the right direction. I just wish they were promoted as such, rather than being touted as the 'OMG-that's-wonderful' answer to climate change and sustainability.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
How about a fucking bike.
So that's a bike without a saddle? I don't quite see how that particular modification makes it eco friendly, perhaps you can explain?
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If this were true, F1 cars would be alot faster and more powerful (remember the turbo era of the 1980s?). F1 is about using the most advanced engineering and technology to meet the limitations of the "Formula". the "1" is just that its the formula that allows for the fastest cars, but its still limiting by its nature. The details of that formula is not important, so F1 could go electric. Having said that, the long history of F1, its connection with the evolution of IC engines and people not liking their sports screwed with, I suspect Formula E will separate.
Racing at the very top is supposed to be about the most uncompromising cars possible.
Maybe in the 80's. These days F1 technology is very much driven by road vehicle manufacturers & environmental concerns. For example, the current 2.4L engines (which year on year have been limited to lower and lower revs) are being replaced by 1.6L turbos in 2014, mainly as a result of pressure from manufactures such a merc & renault (and audi / VW, although they eventally decided against joining). If the majority of newly built road cars become diesel powered, F1 engines will switch to diesel. Similarly, if the majority of new road cars are electric, F1 will switch. F1 will do whatever the sponsors ask, and if that includes radically changing the formula, then so be it....
Yeah, they've actually done a lot to limit how fast the cars go in the last decade or so. They got rid of all the little winglets that let the car have extra downforce, without compromising speed. They limit the engines to a certain number of RPM (18000 I beleive). They even limit how many engines you can use for a season and how many sets of tires you can use. You can no longer replace your entire engine between qualifying and race day, which changes the dynamics quite a bit. It's definitely not a "no compromises" sort of thing.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Which is probably why, as the years go by, formula 1 seems less and less interesting to me. The main reason I used to watch it is precisely because it was about the peak of car technology. I watched it to see phenomenally powerful exotic cars that I would not see in real life, coupled with men with both the talent and balls to drive these machines to their limits. Sometimes on some very exotic circuits in far away places.
I loved watching F1 and Rally in the 80's, then in the 90's, but afterwards F1 just went downhill (Now I mostly watch rally races, but I do miss the 80's group B). I don't know, but to me F1 looks like its turned into a glorified testing ground for technology to put into road cars. It just isn't that interesting anymore.
As for formula E, I don't know about others, but for me part of the reason I liked watching the F1 was precisely because of the noise. Watching what are essentially glorified milk cars whizzing around quietly just doesn't stir my soul.
Maybe there are people who will like watching this. I will give it a go if it ever begins, but I'm not holding my breath.
F1 is still at the peak of car technology even if the use of that technology is restrained. The most expensive supercars or any other race car are pedestrian in comparison.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Yep and pretty soon they'll stomp all over the ICE vehicles...not much ego and narcissism in defeat.
I'm not so sure... I mean, most people (myself included) who drive sports cars don't do it for ego, narcissism, or for some sort of penis competition. We drive our cars for the experience, the sounds, feeling and exhilaration when you put your foot down.
My sports car is fast, but not particularly so. A Tesla would beat it easily, as would most other modern sports cars. However when driving it it feels like you're going fast. I did 150mph in a modern German 4 door car, and you know what? I didn't feel like it, it was rather refined and pedestrian. The only thing that gave away the speed was where the needle was pointing on the speedo, and how fast things were moving outside.
In my car, doing 100mph feels a lot faster. Hell, I've had passengers ask me by how much I was breaking the speed limit when I wasn't breaking it at all. It is low down, it is noisy, and you feel the G forces round the corners.
For me the sound is part of the fun, I would probably never want an electric sports car. Many people seem to be lost in the speed competition. If speed by itself was fun everyone would have the time of their lives on an airplane.
If I had to have an Electric car, it would not be a sports car, it would most likely be a replacement for the autobahn cruiser I mentioned above. In that you can't really hear the engine anyway, and you're so isolated that it would not matter whether it was ICE, electric, or had a bunch of hamsters running full pelt under the bonnet.
Perhaps that is a better place for Tesla to try and push the electric car, and from what I heard that is what they intend to try next.
A well tuned sports car engine is a thing of beauty...hell, even the sound of an old 70's muscle car can bring a feeling of lust into your chest.
And I gotta say, the day they turn motorcycles electric...is the day a lot of people may give them up.
The roar and rumble of the engine between your legs is part of that feeling of freedom when you hit the open road.
I don't think an electric engine, with a mp3 player and an external speaker system will generate that same type of emotional enthusiasm....it may perform in a superior manner, but it just want "feel" the same....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........