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Thread: Formula E - The New Hotness?

  1. #71
    Junior Potato
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    Quote Originally Posted by Crazed_Insanity View Post
    Anyway, I'm surprised that they don't have rear wings anymore? Just rear fins? It's also cool to be able to hear tire/rubber sounds as they turn!
    Aero balance as compared to available grip levels, I'd imagine. Plus novel ways to produce downforce. Have you seen the Peugeot 9X8 hypercar that is running Le Mans this year? No rear wing at all.

    If you think no rear wing is crazy, then you'll be blown away by late-70s/early-80s F1 cars that had no front wings.

  2. #72
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    That Peugeot is gorgeous!

    Anyway, I’m assuming no rear wing should also mean less aero disturbances and that should mean easier passing? New FE cars doesn’t look like they’re hard to pass based on the YouTube highlight I saw, but perhaps a bit hard to steer? Or perhaps drivers are just too weak?

    Hope this new series can really catch on and eventually help develop new tech for future EVs.

  3. #73
    Severed Member JoeW's Avatar
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    It might as well be a spec series. Cars seem identical. You won't see cars blasting past one another on the straight. Most passing is done on the brakes. I imagine most of the racing is done in the onboard computer that manages your power efficiency. If you use too much too early you need to back off later in the race. Or save early and push later. One guy ran out of power going across the line last race.

    I wish there was more leeway in individual designs. With all the cars being basically identical there isn't a lot of passing. But they are very close together the majority of the time. Then they have the allotted power boosts during the race...but honestly it doesn't seem to make a ton of difference. Even when under power boost you don't see guys blowing past other guys.

    I will continue to watch....would like to see either power or less grip or both. Let's see some car control so it looks like they are driving on the ragged edge.

  4. #74
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    EV market is still relatively small... and the world's biggest EV maker isn't even involved in Formula E yet... so can't really expect a whole lot of money being poured into this at the moment. Frankly I'm already pretty impressed with what they have so far.

    When the day comes for FE cars to be able to run on the same F1 tracks and the distances, that's probably when majority of cars on earth will be EVs...

    Whatever limitations we see on track now, these same limitations will apply on the road.

    Hopefully as this series stabilizes and grows, it'll truly become a R&D playground for EVs. Refueling or recharge time ought to be included as part of the race! Improving this tech will be more effective than banning ICEs if we want the mass to truly and willingly adopt EVs. If it's not better and cheaper, conversion will likely be slow...

    Anyway, based on the highlights I saw, I thought the race went pretty well. The main thing lacking seems to be some of the drivers... They don't have any star drivers, right? Star drivers still gravitate toward F-1.
    Last edited by Crazed_Insanity; January 18th, 2023 at 09:54 AM.

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