Posted on 07/16/2017 5:01:57 PM PDT by COBOL2Java
Formula E took over part of the waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook on Sunday, the second of two race days for the Qualcomm New York City ePrix.
The Formula One-style, open-wheel cars reach speeds of 140 mph but only about 80 decibels, compared with 130 decibels for the cars with combustion engines. Instead of screaming down the straightaways the way F1 cars do, FE cars buzz like giant, steal hummingbirds. And they run clean and green.
Sam Bird from the DS Virgin Racing team won Sunday’s 49-lap race over the narrow 1.2-mile, 10-turn track from the pole to sweep the weekend races for team owner Richard Branson, the billionaire adventurer.
The 3-year-old FE series is sanctioned by the International Federation of Automobiles, the governing body for Formula One, making the New York City ePrix the first race run by a major motorsports organization in the five boroughs. The street course was squeezed into an industrial area that has become more residential in recent years. Red Hook is known for its microbreweries, food trucks and an Ikea where New Yorkers can buy cheap furniture for their expensive apartments. With the track right next to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, the Statute of Liberty had a great view of the starting grid.
Twenty drivers started the race with enough battery power to make it through about 25 laps. They switch cars during the race and the key is energy conservation. Drivers are careful not to lean too hard on the accelerator and can recharge the battery when braking.
(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...
I was chatting with a crew at the ferry terminal and he had his car on a trailer and was asking about it. I was amazed at the spec’s he gave me including the fact that the battery system ran about $10K. He gave me his card and said he’d love to give me a ride in it.
‘Clean and green’ bs-bigger ‘carbon footprint ‘ and environmental footprint than conventional gas piston engines...
Ha, that post resulted in an involuntary snicker over here. I love it!! :)
.
Grueling.
As a 13 yr old at my first (and only Indy) I was witness to the quiet turbine car, and how Parnelli Jones was running away from the rest of the field. The race wasn’t even half over, and then came the rain ( they finished it the next day). But we had to get back to Moline, IL, since the guy that paid my dad to fly him and a friend to the race, had to be back at work on Monday. I was SO disappointed.
I long for the days of 40 NASCAR cars with unrestricted big block Hemi’S and 427’s coming off turn 2 and down the back stretch at Daytona.
If you never have heard that you jus ain’t lived.
Humming and whirring just won’t get it.
I actually like electric vehicles. Not because they are ‘green, but because they are quiet; because they have nearly instantaneous torque, and since I live off grid with my own solar system, ‘refueling’ them doesn’t cost me a cent that hasn’t already been spent.
I’ve built three electric bicycles that are tons of fun; I can sneak up on deer and people real good on them. The most recent is more like a motorcycle: can reach 19HP (gas equivalent about 35HP) peaks, does 53 mph top end on the flat...(and I’m ~ 270 pounds... thats a lot of wind resistance). Range under normal use is about 30 miles with no pedaling (And I’m in a very hilly area). Can be babied into about 50 miles range with judicious throttle and a little pedaling on the hills.
Also have a little battery powered trike - cart, kind of a small pickup-truck that I use for hauling myself, tools and materials around ‘the gulch’. Bought it, but thinking of rebuilding it for more power and range.
CTTC 17, Climb to the Clouds, up the Mount Washington Auto Road.
I was at the half way point with My Unimog doing communications for it.
If you've ever been up that road, you know the situation.
Travis Pastrana broke his own record from a couple of years ago.... 5 minutes, 44.7 seconds.
In 3 years the race should be even more interesting, as Travis has challenged all drivers throughout the world to try to beat him.
There were drivers from 5 countries this year, if I'm not incorrect.
Nope, never been around there. I’ve done all of the Colorado “pass roads’ that are open to vehicles in only gasoline vehicles so far... one of these days I may try some of the shorter ones on my newest E- bike, or the longer ones if I can get someone to have a truck waiting for me when I run out of ‘juice’
Have acquaintances that have taken EV’s up on the Pikes Peak Hill Climb race. And some that do motocross on electric motorcycles, and finish pretty well.
From Ace Of Spades today:
Consider the Journal’s revelations about Tesla sales in Hong Kong. After the government there, effective April 1, eliminated a tax break for those purchasing electric vehicles, the number of Tesla cars registered fell to zero. That’s right. Zero.
Well shit. But that’s the Far East. Everyone knows they don’t care about the environment like, say, Denmark.
Nor is this unusual. When the government in Denmark in 2015 reduced generous tax breaks for electric car buyers, sales of such vehicles dropped the next year by 70 percent, the Journal reported.
Double shit.
“Tesla welcomes government policies that support our mission and make it easier for more people to buy electric vehicles,” the company told the Journal in a statement. “However, our business does not rely on it.”
Riiight...
IIRC, Audi got pushed out of Le Mans racing by the TDI "scandal" (and the fact that its corporate sister, Porsche, was ascendant). Seems like I heard that Audi's racing program was heading in the "Formula E" direction.
Seems like "Formula EPA" is more appropriate.
When was that?
I'd love to have one for my in-town running about, but they are too expensive. I would have that for runnin about locally, then a bigger IC Engine car for longer ranges.
They didn’t flop.
They were regulated out of the running by USAC.
"In Seattle they have electric car drag racing; they accelerate faster than fuel dragsters and a higher end speed."I seriously doubt it. Acceleration of top fuelers is limited by tire technology, not by the propulsion unit. They have so much horsepower (>10,000) that they have to slip the clutch coming out of the hole, else the whole run would go up in tire smoke. And on the far end of the track they deliberately short out cylinders as they near the finish line at reduce wheelspin AT 300 MPH. Show me an electric car that can outrun that and I'll kiss your toches on the town square at noon on Sunday.
Given a compact electric power source of many hundred’s of kW to replace the battery, then how would you feel about that electric power-train?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_cRqcbXAs4
Ha ha
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