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Massa

Formula E

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Hear, hear, it is not in competition with F1, just something new.

I hope!

I read a book about the Coca Cola Company and its history. The author mentions at the end of the book that somehow he stumbled upon the famous "secret recipe" for Coke. It included the actual ingredients and quantities. He was tempted to publish it without informing the company, but then decided to tell one of the managers what he had. He said "I have the secret recipe for Coke, what would stop me from printing it allowing anybody to make an exact copy or, even better, keep it to myself and make my own brand of Coke". The manager said something like "We couldn't care less if you published it. We have been around for more than a hundred years, Coca-Cola employees were given militar ranks in WWII so they could bring the bottles to the frontlines, our logo is the most recognizable logo on earth, the only one present in every country. You can make your own brand, and it can taste the same and even be a lot cheaper than our beverage. But what we built through story, that you can't copy".

Formula One is not the most entertaining motorsport in the world, it is not the pinnacle, it is not the fastest and it is not the most technologically innovative. But it has history, it has prestige, it has Monaco and Monza and Ferrari and Williams and McLaren, and it has Fangio, and Moss, and Villeneuve and Senna, it has Schumi and Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel, the Wall of Champions and the 130R.

Formula E, if it gets everything right (and I hope it does), will be great, plenty of former F1 drivers (none of them too shabby, mind you), female drivers, great cities, street circuits for more exposure, technically advanced cars, funny racing mechanics (jumping from car to car? hell yeah!), intriguing interactive tools (I am skeptic about fanboost like anybody else, but who knows?). From next year or 2016, can't recall, there will be more freedom in design. But even if all that works great, it won't be F1. Perhaps in 30, 40 years but not now.

Ok, my first problem is I don't know which driver I should be a fan of. Trulli? Senna? Alguersuari? one of the ladies? Only thing I'm sure: not Heidfeld. Is boring and his facial hair is all wrong.

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Let's leave the F1 stuff to one side, we can agree to differ!

You need to decide your five favourite drivers so that you can vote for them, but you need the app to do that, otherwise you only get one.

It is all about entertainment and I can see some features that will add to that.

Like you, the fanboost thing is a little bit out there for now.

Are the cars all that technically advanced, though? I have not read up much, but I can see nothing very innovative.

http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/guide/car.aspx?page=1334

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By my comments on F1 do not infer for a second that I don't like it! I love it with a passion, since as long as I can remember. I merely think that people tends to put too many expectations on it. "The pinnacle of motorsport" is a clear example, as it is actually a rather vague concept, everybody thinks of a different component that makes it the pinnacle of motorsport (the most technologically advanced! the fastest! the best drivers!), and then feel like the apocalypse is coming because they find that it is not.

F1 has changed a thousand times even during my lifetime (I'm in my mid 40s). At times Indy was faster, I don't follow other series but I am pretty sure that there must be a couple more techonologically focused than F1, and it is impossible to compare a WRC driver with an F1 driver. so what makes it the pinnacle of motorsport? None of that. It simply is :)

As for Formula E being innovative? Well, the concept itself of making these races with electrical cars is more innovative than fossil fuel engines. And once the current spec is left behind, they expect a lot of development through competition in the future.

Fanboost is so ludicrous as a concept that I can't help but be intrigued by it. It's a huge boost (almost 100% extra power) but for 2.5 seconds total. So I don't think it will be too unbalancing. It surely adds some sort of "popularity contest" among drivers, and how will that exactly pan out will be fascinating (nude pics from the female drivers? shock2.gif Guys doing charity work? Speaking like politicians on TV?)

My bad, my expectations are too high and will probably feel let down by the actual races, but hey, I can dream! :)

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I refuse to enter a sideline debate about F1 here. Happy to talk about it in the F1 arena, here, it dilutes the topic, which is one which I am finding increasingly interesting.

I did not say that the concept of FE is not innovative, of course it is. I was talking about the cars being innovative.

I asked the question as to whether it is technically advanced. I do not think it is. An MGU, up to two, which means a motor which acts as a generator when being driven, just like a Prius. A battery, now called a Rechargeable Energy Storage System, presumably to leave the door open for a flywheel, or other technology, at some time in the future. Or maybe they just like acronyms.

Fanboost gives 33% more power for 5 seconds. We need to bear in mind it will also drain the batteries at a greater rate, so it might be a poisoned chalice. All cars will have the same amount of energy onboard, so using fan boost may leave the driver running out of it towards the end of the stint.

My real fear is that so much that is going into the show is artificial. Fanboost is the obvious one. Also, the cars will be fitted with artificial sound for use in pit lane. I wonder if it will sound like a V12 at high revs or will it be one of those reversing bleepers which are used on forklifts?

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BBC's beginner's guide to Formula E here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/motorsport/26482236

I was surprised to see that it's going to be live on ITV4 here in the UK (that's a free to view channel that everybody has), so I will definitely be watching.

I am hugely against gimmicks and I am displeased with Alain Prost's comment that "F1 is for people over 40" but I am eager to witness this new concept.

And who will you be voting for to get the power boost? My early thought is Heidfeld. Purely cos the guy is too good to be mixing it with lesser drivers!

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Here's the official brochure for the first race (or "e-prix") :P

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/a1b0c5aa#/a1b0c5aa/1

I am not sure at all that the fan boost thing is good, or some other gimmicks, but on the other hand they are trying like a gazillion different things from what is usual in F1, so just for the novelty value it will be worth it.

Plus...you have Prost (Nico) vs Senna (Bruno) vs Piquet (Nelsinho)...how cool can that be? And they have women, and a different technology, and Star Wars-like sound, and they race in my city! And street circuits always make for great views, and...

It's a marketing gimmick if I ever seen one, but at least they are trying hard! I think it will be a good complement for F1 more "serious" approach.

(Oh, and I would vote Trulli, if I could be arsed to vote anyone in the first place)

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Funny that in Nelsinho's description/background it makes no reference at all that he was an f1 driver!

Sonny, some things are best left unsaid...

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Formula e starts this weekend, can't wait to see how it all pans out.

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It was Fun to watch. Something new. I like the changing of cars in mid laps.

Also - all cars are equal, Road type tires, Road race different design and most of all - No DRS, only real overtaking !

Really good to watch.

The crash in the last lap ( Heidfeld - Prost) was part of racing. Reminds me of Senna vs Prost.

Congratulations Formula E !

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Indeed. I just watcehd it. Considering that it was a first race, new rules, new circuit, new technology...I was kind of expecting a mix of boring conservative driving and lots of technical gremlins. The technical gremlins were there, but less than expected. The race was great, lots of action- I didn't like the circuit layout, but the scenery was spectacular and the walls being so close made it challenging enough.

Thinks I didn't mind: Sound, it was slightly unnerving at first, but soon got used to it, not as space wars like as I hoped for, though. Lack of speed, it still looked dangerous (just watch Heidlfeld's accident) and challenging. Fanboost, never noticed it. Short race: duration was just about right!

Thinks to improve: not sure if the continuous background music was from the local network or that was the original broadcast, if the latter, that was awful. It's not a videogame, the stupid music playing all the time was annoying as fukc. Reliability, obviously. Track layouts (as I've seen some more of them will be like this one: straight, chicane, straight 90 degree corner straight...). Some more info would be good, too (or maybe I am still a little lost).

Nothing really damning, as you can see. There are lots of potential, and it is a perfect complement to F1.

Go, Trulli, go!

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Just saw the footage of the accident. Prost all over, like father like son, he bloody swerved at him, can't get more obvious than that. To early to be turning in.

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Yeah a few here did and they thought it was quite good. I've seen the youtube clip of the last corner accident and the last corner before the finish line looks rediculous, how tight is that?

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I must admit I was pretty bored watching it, although there were a few good overtakes - particularly from Montagny. He's a character!

The fanboost did literally nothing to add to the show - they didn't even have a graphic or announcement to tell us viewers when any of the 3 drivers with fanboost actually used it. I agree with Quiet One that the music was irritating and needless.

The cars looked quite slow but perhaps that's just the illusion of TV. Prost drove such a good race it was a shame he made such a stupid move at the end.

I'll probably watch the next race but I gotta be honest it wasn't exciting me that much.

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The Prost move was odd in that when I saw the replay head-on, it seemed bone-headed. But when you saw a replay from inside his car, it actually seemed like he was taking a proper line into the corner and didnt see Quick - Nick being there.

I too heard that idiotic constant music here in the US Quiet One, not sure if it was added in by the feed or was playing at the track. The bigger thing I wanna look into is why Electric cars have gears, I thought they usually were 1- gear , all torque available from the word "go". Although, gears do make it more exciting I think , more chances for issues \ poor gear selection into corners and such.

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I must admit I was pretty bored watching it, although there were a few good overtakes - particularly from Montagny. He's a character!

The fanboost did literally nothing to add to the show - they didn't even have a graphic or announcement to tell us viewers when any of the 3 drivers with fanboost actually used it. I agree with Quiet One that the music was irritating and needless.

The cars looked quite slow but perhaps that's just the illusion of TV. Prost drove such a good race it was a shame he made such a stupid move at the end.

I'll probably watch the next race but I gotta be honest it wasn't exciting me that much.

What channel was it on, Jem? I couldn't remember.

By the way, with what other people were saying about the music, I believe that's 'part of the show' according to what I read and is played at the track and presumably fed through to us.

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I still like Formula E regardless of speed and sound (not like the turbos of F1 are fun to hear.

It's the first year of the first ever season so there are tons more improvements to come. I'm sure in the next couple of season there will be big improvement on speed and others fun stuff.

At the very least, they don't have stup1d L@me DRS ! Overtaking was PURE !

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Still have not watched it, work, the cruse of the drinking class.

It is on Speed, a pay channel here.

The Fanboost sounds like a fiasco, if no-one watching knows it is being used, I do not see the point.

Fair call above, complaints about the lack of sound are not logical, they actually sound better than a current F1 car in my opinion.

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They show in normal channel live in Tokyo. It was fun to watch - better than I expected.

Sound is unique and the most exciting was the overtaking / Slip streaming - was pure ! No Artificial-Overtaking / Cheated-DRS !

I also thought that the 'Change of Cars' in the pits instead of the normal pit that we have seen all our life - was GREAT Fun !

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Yeah I didn't get to see it, but when I watched the highlights, it looked quite good. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it looked tbh.

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If the cars seem slow it is because they are. 270 bhp in qualifying, 202 bhp in the race.

A Formula Ford car has 20% better power to weight ratio. An F1 car has almost 6 times the power to weight.

Top speed, 220 kph, F1 car, 360 kph.

A V10 F1 car generated 140 dBA, above the pain threshold. An FE car generates 80 dBA, so the F1 car is 40 times louder. Forty. It is a logarithmic scale, by the way.

It is alleged that the current F1 cars generate 134 dBA. That is a third of the sound pressure level of a V8 or V10. I doubt that, I know what 125 dBA sounds like and it hurts. Distance is a factor, but I would say an F1 car generates around 90 dBA at the moment. In order to get serious sound levels, they need to exceed 120 dBA in my opinion, so I am saying the cars need to be twenty times as loud.

Just a view, FE is quiet, obviously, and F1 needs a lot more sound to get even close to the bygone era of cars.

I am trying to get interested, but I like my race cars loud, fast and politically incorrect.

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