Motoring

Is Formula E a peek into the future?

With increasing speeds, tons of innovation and exciting urban racetracks, Formula E is giving motorsports fans a look at what the future of racing will be like.

Written by Bayo Olukotun

6 min readPublished on 14.08.2017 · 12:09 UTC

Motion is the name of the game in Formula E, and its momentum continues to push towards continually promising horizons. Where the electric open-wheel racing series will go is anyone's guess, but there are plenty of major companies gambling that Formula E is worth further investment. From established automobile manufacturers to electric car companies and major tech firms, Formula E is the present and future.

As the cars and technology continue to develop, the competition will only grow more fierce, and the speeds increase. Considering that the internal combustion engine has had 150 years to evolve into what we see today, electrically driven machines are in their infancy. We're less than a decade into a concerted electric vehicle market, and only four seasons into Formula E racing, meaning there's enormous room for improvement and refinement in all of the tech that goes into EV's function.

During Round 9 and 10 of the 2017 Formula E, held in Brooklyn, New York, we wandered around to check out the action and see what all of the excitement was about.

Rain or Shine

One of the advantages of electric motors is that there's no need to worry about atmospheric changes. Granted there will always be a need to adjustment power curves when racing, but rain or shine, Formula E proceeds as normal. Thanks to the fact that the series always runs Michelin street tires, they function just fine in wet conditions, including 15cm deep puddles, as Robin Frijn demonstrates in his Andretti Autoracing vehicle.

Behind the wheel

Ever wonder what it's like to get behind the wheel of an electric racing machine? Here's a peek. If you're looking for cruise and volume controls, look elsewhere. Just like in F1, Formula E drivers and crew must monitor energy consumption very closely. During shorter races without pit stops, cars typically get down to five percent battery capacity by the end.

Really cool

Like any motor, a little heat is okay but excessive temperatures are not good. The standard method for cooling machines down at Formula E is by blowing air cooled by dry ice directly into the car's cooling vents. The method seems crude but futuristic at the same time, a bit Back to the Future.

The grid

Jerome D'Ambrosio cools down on the grid before racing gets underway. Like every other racer in the paddock, D'Ambrosio got his start in other series' before finding a home in Formula E. His F1 career in 2011 and 2012 led almost directly into Formula E where the Belgian driver has two wins with the Faraday Future Dragon Racing team.

Gleaming into the future

Faraday Future is a start-up American e-automobile manufacturer backed by a Chinese investment firm. With a production vehicle on the verge of launching, Faraday is able to take lessons learned on the race track and apply them directly into production car development.

The adventurist

Sir Richard Branson is no newcomer to emerging technologies. In fact, you might say it's kind of his thing. From sustainable energy provision to aerospace and more, Virgin Group has been at the forefront of innovation since it's inception. So, it should come as no surprise that the multifaceted company would be involved with Formula E or that Branson himself would want come check out what all the fuss is about.

If there's a real life Tony Stark, then the two closest candidates would have to be Elon Musk or Sir Richard Branson. Both have an affinity towards flare and space exploration, but Branson is the only one with his own race car team. At the moment, we'll give the nod to Sir Richard, and it's not just because he's a knight – but it doesn't hurt.

Programmed to drive

While traditional combustion engines have become more complex, relying on computers for a large portion of vehicle functions, they still rely on fuel and air to keep things running. Electric cars are far more reliant on computer programming, and are largely computers themselves with moving parts. Nelson Piquet Jr. spies the reality of where racing is headed from the cockpit of his NextEV NIO machine.

We live in Brooklyn

Some die hard petrol heads see electric vehicles as the degradation of something they hold dear. But for racing fanatics, the transformation could prove to be an enormous boost in popularity for their beloved competitive disciplines. Why? The 2017 Brooklyn ePrix was the first ever motorsport held on the streets of any of the five boroughs of New York City. This came about largely because of the noise, or the lack thereof, created by Formula E cars.

Noise is one of the most common complaints about motorsports, and with that issue out of the equation all kinds of racing forms will be open to newer, desirable, and more populated markets. The New York ePrix was held at the foot of the popular hipster art and beer destination Pioneer Works in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brookyln.

Quiet start

The start of a Formula E race is more similar to the first touch of a football match than a typical motorsports event: quiet and with most of the noise coming from the announcers and audience.

Lady Liberty

Quiet motorsports racing means events can be held in more urban settings, with neighbors who don't want, or care, to be around racing being none the wiser, at least from a sound perspective. Now that's liberty.

EVentually

Audi is one of the major car manufacturers to have invested time and development into Formula E. The company's involvement in the series will undoubtedly carry over into their electric production vehicles, as a projected 2019 production was announced for the new e-tron Sportback SUV just days after the New York ePrix. Here, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport's Lucas Di Grassi shows what the Audi can do before capturing the 2017 championship in Montreal a few weeks later.

Autonomous

Self-driving vehicles are a major focal point for several major tech firms, so just like the trickle down effect from F1 (and now Formula E) into production vehicles, it would stand to reason that a lot of kinks can be worked out on the race track for autonomous cars as well.

Enter Roborace. Formula E has been developing this idea for a couple years, and earlier this season announced that a pack of these slick looking machines designed by Daniel Simon (well known for designing the Light Cycles from Tron: Legacy) will take to the track beginning in 2018. Not only is the future electric, it might be automated as well.