Rumours amping up that Weber could bolt here after F1. Watt if he could generate some lightning overtakes?
I don't have the energy to join in. I'm just not turned on by the cars or circuits. Board by it all. They'll be almost static... doesn't exactly make my hair stand on end. Shocking I know.
Formula E could be multi-make series as Bluebird announces new car Formula E could become a multi-manufacturer series in its debut season after British outfit Bluebird announced it is building a car to be launched in time for 2014. While Formula E was expected to be a one-make series, with cars built by Dallara, Bluebird* said it has been encouraged by the FIA to keep developing its own machine. But Bluebird, famous for the machines that set many land and water speed records during the last century, said the ruling body could grant approval for a multi-manufacturer championship when it kicks off next year. While it would run its own team, it is also hoping to produce up to 16 cars for customer use 2014 and is already in discussions with two potential teams. The first car is expected to be ready in September. Interesting
you've sparked this thread off again! I must say though.. this looks awesome!!! Imagine that as a Formula E car please log in to view this image
Pistonheads have a guide to Formula E which brought a couple of things to mind: -The Spark-Renault-Dallara cars previously announced will be capable of 140mph+, and do 0-60 in ~3 seconds. -The Michelin tyres will be built to last, with the series aiming to be powertrain limited rather than anything else, in order to develop the technology. -Races will be about an hour long, with practice and quali on the same day too. -Aero is at a minimum, so grip is going to be low, particularly around the street circuits that will be used, and there won't be significant run-off areas. I've got a few thoughts on this. First three points are all good ideas as far as I can see, but I'm a little worried about low grip. Whilst it should make overtaking easier as following other cars shouldn't be as difficult as in F1, I think it risks missing out on one of the things that makes F1 so special - the cornering speeds. If these cars are quick in a straight line but then have to crawl around corners, you'll lose something that makes street circuits exciting. Hopefully, we'll have super grippy tyres that can somewhat negate this, but it might not be possible if the tyres are supposedly being built to last. Other things from the FIA and tech. regs. -Cars are supposed to be between a road car and a bus in terms of noise levels. -The race will have 3 stints (2 pit-stops). The drivers pit when the battery dies, and will have to get out, run 100m down the pit-lane, and get into their second car. -Following on from that, in quali the driver will have to do a lap with each of their cars for the race, so presumably you can't get away with having a quali car and a race car? -KERS is allowed on all wheels. -Bodywork is unlimited, and can be moveable. However, movements must be discrete not continuous. However, you can have any number of discrete steps, which seems to somewhat defeat the point? -Motors and batteries are unlimited and unregulated, but the max weight of batteries is 300kg, and the car must weigh less than 780kg. -2 or 4 wheel driver is allowed. -Traction Control is allowed, ABS isnt -Steering, Suspension and safety regs are pretty much as per F1. -Cars can have any number of gears, although with an electric motors are gears even necessary? -Wheels can be open or in wheel arches. -Cockpits can be open or covered The full tech-regs are here. I must admit, I'm really excited about this series, if costs can be kept down so we have more constructors interested, then it could be really good seeing teams go in completely different directions with car design, and the focus on powering the cars will hopefully aid research in that direction. The only thing I don't like is the 2 mandatory pit-stops. If you can design a battery good enough to 1 stop, or even 0 stop, then that should be allowed. I guess that's something that can come with time though.
The car swapping thing is a joke. It would be better if they could change the batteries in my opinion. I read on James Allen's site that they're aiming to extend the life so it's only 1 stop next year, and eventually they'll be able to do away with the second car.
I kind of agree. In the short term whilst battery life is heavily limited I would have thought some sort of quick release and replaceable pack would be better for the race and the car industry in general?
Yeah, I think the car swapping is a little silly, but I guess the 100m sprint down the pitlane will be a USP. I think battery-changing might be the future, but some of the tech regs show how far from that we are. Presumably, the teams will want as much charge on board as possible, to get the highest speeds possible. With 300 kg of batteries permissible, you'd think the cars would be pushing that limit somewhat. That's an awful lot of battery to change in a reasonable length of time However, if they'd found a way to keep it to a single car, it'd have massively reduced the costs, which would have been favourable.
Battery changing is ideal for the future but 300kg which is integral to the car isn't really movable just yet. I like the look of this series, it'll certainly be beneficial for electric cars if nothing else.
Some sort of battery pack which was part of the floor? Lack the car up and drop the battery, pull it out on a trolly and plop the new one in. Can have them split into two under each sidepod perhaps. If in doubt use some duct tape somewhere.
It doesn't have to be done in a two second pitstop. Presumably they could have it in two 150kg battery pack with a crew on each side, they'd be easily moveable with jacks or pallet trucks
Pit-stops don't need to be F1-fast, but they do need to be quick enough that the differences between teams pit-stop routine decides the result. With the amount of design freedom, there's a good chance one team could come up with a way of changing batteries that is significantly quicker than the others can do, and that would negate any performance difference on track. At least this way you'll see all pit-stops within a 20 second range tops, and they aren't going to be so slow that all action on track seems to cease whilst everyone pits. I'd also imagine that a mass that size will be part of the monocoque in order to keep weight down, making it impossible to remove easily. If so, in some ways that's a little short-sighted from the FIA, as when they move to battery changes in a few years time when the technology has developed, the cars will need completely redesigning.