mhm993

We went to formula E last weekend.

Car racing without noise is simpy not compelling. In fact, it sux. If the manufacturers think this is the future of car racing, our sport is finished.

And this is ignoring that the facility sucked, the transportation logistics were a complete failure, and they served ovo-lacto-vegan-glutenfree-soy-crap to the hipsters.

Oh, and they breathlessly demonstrated AI controlled driverless car racing. The car drove around at 35 mph and couldnt find an apex. Who in their right mind thinks that driving enthusiasts are going to cheer for driverless racing?

I guess I'll watch bicycle racing in the future when car racing is done.

sleder

haha, well put!

DTMiller

I was able to obtain a picture of the meal:

jlanka

That'll make me fit into my race suit...

Quinlan

Your suit better be made outa hemp or you will suffer endless hairy eyeball stares from the Greenpeace people.

jscott82

There is always boat racing... Just got my tickets to see H1 hydroplanes in Detroit next month... Super exited about that...

Was surprised to see Formula-e was 1:00 primetime NBC on Sunday, but Indycar was 7pm tape delayed on one of the secondary networks...

I hope this is not indicative of the future... I've tried to watch Formula-E a couple of times on TV, buckets of lamesauce..

Now driverless cars that actually run at speed.. I would pay to see that... more as an exhibition of technology than a race, but it would be cool to see what state of the art tech can do..

rlm328

Audi claims the new A8 is capable of driving itself up to 37 mph. Maybe they ought to enter the next race.

Spinout

Was excited to see the NYC backdrop for this race as well as see if there have been any advancements since last year when I watched about 10 mins. and then moved on. I turned it on and laughed out loud they had it in a dirty industrial warehouse district with absolutely no fan facilities.

And after a year (or has it been 2?) every driver still needs to pull into the garage 1/2 way though the race to change cars because the batteries can't last the race. PASS.

ace37

On the batteries I was very surprised they didn't design the cars to use removable packs. Pull off the bottom with integrated bodywork or slide out the back with the diffuser integrated, whatever makes packaging sense. It's a new clean sheet spec car design so they could do whatever they liked to make it work. They could then try to sell the idea of changing battery packs in the middle as a refueling pit stop.

mark kibort

I have the EASY answer to the problem:

PPo

The only way to make Formula-E successful is to implement a carless driver with a driverless car... then remove all the other stuff you don't need as a result.

...and that's when the thread dissappeared "poof" and nobody saw it ever again.

sbelles

That's the way to go. Totally virtual. No environmental impact studies, no green house gasses, no noise or sight pollution. Microsoft will just send everybody the VR gear and you can buy products by just looking at them. See a nice grid girl you want to take home? No problem....

stujelly

I agree, with everyone here but they have an interesting angle to get people to the track.

Holding the races in town on closed circuits people will come check it out rather than drive an hour to VIR or go to sebring. Although I love both places and enjoy the surroundings.

THe issue is ticket sales and getting fans tot he track.

Read another article about how the britsh GP losses something like 4 or 5 million pounds during each event because of the cost to host an F1 race.

Our sport is really taking it on the chin.

How many times does FX1 or 2 indicate they are going to show a race only to have a program change to US dart throwing or something else....

I can only hope it gets better but not sure what promoters can do. Even Nascar has lost is luster....

Tennis anyone.......

mhm993

The concept of the closed course "in town" was a good one. It's execution left much to be desired. I do get that NYC is hardly a condusive place for this sort of event.

I'm utterly shocked by the committment to formula E by all of the manufacturers' teams currently and soon to be participating. There's alot of bucks and big name drivers moving into an innovation that is un-compelling. Other than it's trendy, I don't get it.

(Stujelly--did I see your pbr car at the glen earlier this year? If so, it's a reall looker!)

LuigiVampa

Formula E offends me. The way they promote it, the way they try to make it like its the next form of racing, who their target market is, everything.

Everything about Formula E sucks. I feel sorry for the drivers as some are really good.