F1 Electric

Zerkfitting

Zerkfitting

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It looks like F1 is starting an electric race car series. That would be a good way to advance the technology. But I think a hybrid would be a more practical technology to advance because that is what manufacturers are making.

http://www.dvice.com/2013-7-7/all-electric-formula-1-style-race-series-launches-2014

Winter time in the north country, batteries are less efficient - what kind of range will you get when you use an electric heater. Developing battery tech is a good idea but the application is probably only good for southern states.
 
Sounded like a pie in the sky idea to me but Robin Miller said some big names both from racing and outside of racing are very interested in this so it could go far.

Also, this is stupid:

Of course one key problem with electric cars is their short range, so each driver will switch over to a fresh fully-charged car at the midway point in the race. That should make pit stops interesting.
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Will they play Benny Hill music (Yakety Sax) during this? What if the leader breaks his ankle running to next car?
 
I thought I was open minded, but not enough for this. I shall not watch them lest they have some smoking hawt grid girls.
 
The switching cars thing bugs me.

The technology is obviously not there if they need to switch cars during the race. Motorsport has always been a test of car and driver (magazine pun). Let's wait 15 years if electric technology is at the point where drivers need to switch cars during the race.
 
Is this the same series that is going to use vote-to-pass through Twitter? I read about it back in October and it sounded like the dumbest idea ever. I'm pretty sure it was Formula E.
 
Their season is September through June, so it will be one of the only racing things to watch over the winter.
 
From a technology point of view it might be interesting to see what they come up with. But silent race cars might be weird with just squealing tires. Is the winner the last one running? I'm thinking they will about as long as a heat race.
 
Greg said:
I thought I was open minded, but not enough for this. I shall not watch them lest they have some smoking hawt grid girls.
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No doubt they will have the girls but ELECTRIC CARS ----------------- yuuukkk
 
Kyle18fan said:
No doubt they will have the girls but ELECTRIC CARS ----------------- yuuukkk
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It works like the inverse of drinking, just keep looking at the grid girls long enough, and the cars will start looking better.
 
Greg said:
It works like the inverse of drinking, just keep looking at the grid girls long enough, and the cars will start looking better.
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OK I will try to watch one and see what happens, still sounds pretty unbearable to me :rolleyes:
 
From what i read in an engineering magazine awhile back, there is a grid on the track and the cars charge at certain points along the track. Not sure which magazine i saw it in, but it actually looked pretty cool and the cars weren't bad looking either. Lets face it this is the future of racing and it won't be long before the range of the electric car is just like a gas powered one. Hell Tesla makes some cars that actually go over 300 miles on a charge and they are quite fast too.
 
It could be interesting. Don't know why they want to change cars mid-race - why not swap out battery packs?

Just a few years ago the first electric racing motorcycles were placed to race against the Harley-Davidsons. Wasn't long before those electrics were trouncing the H-Ds so now they are split off into their own class. And their races are pretty good.
 
gone said:
It could be interesting. Don't know why they want to change cars mid-race - why not swap out battery packs?
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Because they're big. The battery array for the Tesla Roadster weighed something like 1,000 pounds. An electro-F1 car probably needs an even bigger battery array. It'd be like changing an engine mid-race.
 
Yep, knew about the Tesla's battery. But I figured that racers at the F1 level would devise a quick-change system.

They used to change engines in NASCAR Winston Cup during races. Using quick-connects and planning I think they got it down to about fifteen minutes. On a purpose-built racing car I'd guess drop the battery module from the bottom, roll forward, lift up a new one, and you could use connectors that aligned to go together without people touching them.
 
KevinWI said:
Because they're big. The battery array for the Tesla Roadster weighed something like 1,000 pounds. An electro-F1 car probably needs an even bigger battery array. It'd be like changing an engine mid-race.
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Their batteries are limited to 200kg (~440lbs).
 
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