FIA EPRIX - Nothing To Do With Anything Norton

Just watched the 2015 FIA Miami eprix on FOX sports.
Hilarious, and sad.
The current F1 turbo v6’s are bad enough, but these all electric eprix cars sound like golf carts powered by the energy of tweeting canaries.
Had some former F1 pilots invovled in the race too.
How I miss the days, and sounds of V12/V10/V8 Formula 1.

F1 has lately deteriorated into just a 2 horse race,
so an electric GP is a welcome addition to the calendar.... ?
They seem to be advancing in leaps and bounds too.

But the 'pit stop', where they switched cars !!, was a surprise.
One way to charge a battery, we guess...

Seems a bit too close to a world Scalextric championship to me!!

A friend of mine races and runs the electric motorcycle series that's run in conjunction with the AHMRA races. I'm sure any of you who do the historic races are familiar with him since he was the 2008 AHMRA Heavyweight Superbike Champ. I helped him in the pits at Indy when they ran after the MotoGP. The 400-volt factory one-offs were topping out at 170 while his modified stocker ran in the 140s. This year he's running a full dustbin fairing designed by Craig Vetter. You would almost think you were seeing a Moto Guzzi V8 approaching until it whizzes by with only the tires and driveline making any sound. He told me he can sometimes hear the public address system as he tears around. Definitely not as visceral as an open megaphone, but change is inevitable. E-motors are the wave of the future. And the future is quiet.

Probably much less expensive to dispense with an internal combustion engine, and its complex control systems.
However, the racing loses an important dimension for me when the engine note is eliminated.
These e-prix cars reminded of the model slot cars that I raced as a kid. They have a similar sound on the race broadcast.
It may be the future, but it just seems to cheapen the entire techno aspect of grand prix racing.

When I was a kid the hot shot slot car racers would rewind their electric motors with half the number of armature windings to increase the power and speed of their slot cars.
It made them very fast, but also caused the motors to burn out much sooner.
I guess something like this will be the kind of GP tech of the future.

I understand the need for technical advance, change is inevitable as they say.

I watched an eprix on the BrainRotter and found it about as exciting as a dose of the 'flu. I'm sure that it's technically very sophisticated and enormously challenging and so on, but it's not for me.
cheers
wakeup

Danno said:

A friend of mine races and runs the electric motorcycle series that's run in conjunction with the AHMRA races. I'm sure any of you who do the historic races are familiar with him since he was the 2008 AHMRA Heavyweight Superbike Champ. I helped him in the pits at Indy when they ran after the MotoGP. The 400-volt factory one-offs were topping out at 170 while his modified stocker ran in the 140s. This year he's running a full dustbin fairing designed by Craig Vetter. You would almost think you were seeing a Moto Guzzi V8 approaching until it whizzes by with only the tires and driveline making any sound.

Click to expand...

Someone in that series, or something similar, has been running a Norton featherbed with leccy motor and battery pack.
Saw it mentioned at least 10 years back ?
Pics showed a full fairing, so couldn't see the gizmos inside, mores the pity.
Sounded like he was enjoying it, a pioneer in a whole new challenge...

Danno said:

Definitely not as visceral as an open megaphone, but change is inevitable. E-motors are the wave of the future. And the future is quiet.

Click to expand...

My nephews and nieces etc have variously been at Xmas with a whole range of leccy things,
including a drone or 2 just recently.
All they have known is quiet electric power - it is the way of the future, like you say...

These eGP racers in the middle of town with their quiet electricity have shown racing is still popular to a whole new audience of folks.

Rohan said:

Danno said:

A friend of mine races and runs the electric motorcycle series that's run in conjunction with the AHMRA races. I'm sure any of you who do the historic races are familiar with him since he was the 2008 AHMRA Heavyweight Superbike Champ. I helped him in the pits at Indy when they ran after the MotoGP. The 400-volt factory one-offs were topping out at 170 while his modified stocker ran in the 140s. This year he's running a full dustbin fairing designed by Craig Vetter. You would almost think you were seeing a Moto Guzzi V8 approaching until it whizzes by with only the tires and driveline making any sound.

Click to expand...

Someone in that series, or something similar, has been running a Norton featherbed with leccy motor and battery pack.
Saw it mentioned at least 10 years back ?
Pics showed a full fairing, so couldn't see the gizmos inside, mores the pity.
Sounded like he was enjoying it, a pioneer in a whole new challenge...

Click to expand...

I think there are three manufacturers involved and a couple of University engineering teams. There's actually quite a bit of computer tech involved. It's not just a battery, motor and go like hell.

Sure, hi tech and all……
Just saying the broadcast people need to dub in some noise into the broadcast to cover the rattling of the plastic/carbon fiber bodywork on the ‘cars’. As they pass the camera positions all you hear is the rattling of the bodywork on the cars. Same sounds a golf cart, or a soap box derby racer make.
Maybe they can play some Metal or Rap in the background to cover the rattle.