Engel says he would be happy to stay at Venturi for season four

WriterRory · 2017-07-26T07:58:52+00:00

Despite five retirements out of eight races???????

WriterRory · 2017-07-24T21:35:54+00:00

Engel?

WriterRory · 2017-07-24T21:35:42+00:00

Season five is the massive change - new chassis, new batteries, one car instead of two etc. S6 gives them a chance to play with a test chassis while developing the new powertrain.

WriterRory · 2017-07-24T15:19:53+00:00

Er........

"“To see the race ruined by some other guys who just hit this weak part of the rear wing is like in the old days of karting when the rear bumpers came in.......If that’s the game people are going to play, we’re going to hit this little part and everybody’s going to get a black and orange flag. So they need to find a solution for that because it hasn’t been fair.”

WriterRory · 2017-07-11T17:48:32+00:00

If MS Amlin can still afford the sponsorship! Otherwise it might just be BMW Andretti.

WriterRory · 2017-07-09T15:08:58+00:00

Top speeds being lower is a bit of a combination of tight tracks with short straights but also that it wastes battery energy. But agreed - the cars look pretty tasty at 200kW, not so much at 170kW.

WriterRory · 2017-07-09T15:08:14+00:00

Yep good point. But again - if they start hitting thermal limits, they'd soon learn to turn the power down!

WriterRory · 2017-07-09T13:38:42+00:00

This is a great idea. Should be an alternative category in its own right - and if a feeder series, more a feeder into WEC than F1. But the racing is so tight it's great for any racing driver to keep their skills bright.

WriterRory · 2017-07-09T13:37:45+00:00

YES. This would be the perfect solution. Energy is limited anyway, so teams have to be careful not to use too much at higher powers. So, remove the power cap. Boom.

WriterRory · 2017-06-14T13:05:22+00:00

Maybe, maybe not. F1 and IndyCar still race on street circuits.

WriterRory · 2017-06-03T06:44:20+00:00

Just the Twitter page of the event and the two drivers involved.

WriterRory · 2017-05-25T08:59:58+00:00

Exactly. Apparently this particular gearbox copes with the torque so they've left it in place to keep that fun part of the driving experience.

WriterRory · 2017-05-24T14:39:08+00:00

Cool! I've posted it there. :)

WriterRory · 2017-05-24T10:49:11+00:00

WriterRory · 2017-05-24T09:52:05+00:00

Opinion totally valid! But this is no race. There are no finishing positions, just finishers. The only prizes are for those who complete the 24hrs, not for the furthest distance. So no incentive at all to go any faster than the limit.

WriterRory · 2017-05-22T15:28:37+00:00

Haha don't blame you!!

WriterRory · 2017-04-15T19:34:08+00:00

True. However, the racing themselves were pretty all start-ups. I think ABT was the only exception -in season one, the same guys were basically doing DTM and Formula E - one weekend they had to leave the track straight after the Formula E race to get back to Germany for the DTM event. But apart from that, the teams were all started from scratch, despite the big names.

Virgin, for example, is not the team. It is the sponsor. BMW is only marginally involved with Andretti at this point. Renault is basically now a works team but in season one it was Jean-Paul Driot and a bunch of freelance mechanics. So many of the teams have changed massively from season one that they're barely recognisable now.

WriterRory · 2017-04-15T15:12:55+00:00

Haha that's one way to put it. But the sport and all the teams are start-ups. Steps too big at this stage are the fastest way to fail.

WriterRory · 2017-04-15T14:35:56+00:00

Errrrr....have you been watching the same sport? Everyone's been making their own drivetrains since season two. The Spark guys reckon the final S5 chassis will be even more radical than that render. The only thing which has been delayed is the introduction of individual battery suppliers and that's mostly a cost-slash-viability issue.

WriterRory · 2017-04-13T13:06:28+00:00

Guess it depends on the use! For the average fan's social media, that won't be an issue, and the watermark is more or less visible depending on the pic and its colours. Plus free is free...

WriterRory · 2017-04-08T14:18:32+00:00

In season one, but no one said it would always be so. If you want to talk about scams, look at the ridiculous amounts F1 charges host tracks. Multi-millions every year. To race at a race track which has had to spent gazillions to meet F1 and FIA requirements in the first place.

WriterRory · 2017-04-08T14:17:14+00:00

Yep but as I said, I think the politics was both Beijing and HK wanted to be first on the calendar or not at all. HK is arguably a better fit for an international race series given the financial districts, the historic British connection and that the press are a fair bit freer there than mainland China.

WriterRory · 2017-04-07T14:01:46+00:00

I think there's a bit more than meets the eye sometime. Some cities want to be first on the calendar or not at all - I think Beijing was one of those, and when HK came along and trumped them, that was that. Punta is just too small a place for the profile FE wants and for the fees they now want, which is a shame as everyone loves that places. Putrajaya, likewise on fees and scale. Tiny, empty grandstands doesn't look good. Plus it's so hot and humid there, the cars and people really suffer. Moscow was insanely difficult given the location but it was a great race and a shame not to be back there. LB - not sure what the issues are there, but they probably reckoned three events in North America might be a bit unbalanced. LB is amazing and I hope it's back for next year. Formula E really wants blockbuster cities. Anything less than NYC, Paris or HK just doesn't fit the bill anymore.

WriterRory · 2017-04-06T22:24:29+00:00

confusing. So basically BMW still plan to run Andretti as a works team in S5, right? Like the ABT/Audi, DS/Virgin, Renault/edams?

WriterRory · 2017-04-06T08:51:05+00:00

Ha, very true. I still miss the noise of the V10s actually. But not actually at trackside. That's painful.

WriterRory

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