Formula E does electric donut in LA

By Mark Vaughn, Crain News Service

DETROIT (April 26, 2013) — Do race cars have to roar or can they click and whirr?

That question will be addressed next year when the all-new Formula E series circles the globe with 10 races in 10 cities, two of which will be Miami and Los Angeles.

To help get the word out, Formula E is doing a demo tour that stopped in Los Angeles April 23. The festivities included speeches, commendations and a series of well-executed electric donuts on Hill Street in front of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other dignitaries.

Normally, a 400-hp open-wheel race car drifting and squealing its tires through a downtown street full of police would illicit at the very least a ticket for reckless endangerment. But when the tire smoke had cleared and the battery was switched off, the mayor and the assembled dignitaries instead applauded.

"Start your engines because the race to the future is about to start," Mr. Villaraigosa said.

No one corrected him about it being an electric motor in the car and not technically an engine (nor about his using "start" twice in one sentence) the point to the whole exercise was to welcome Formula E to E-friendly LA.

There are still hurdles.

No dates have been set for any of the 10 races, no courses laid out anywhere except to say they'll all be in city centers near public transportation, and only eight of the 10 cities have been confirmed—but organizers claim to have "notes of interest" from representatives of 50 cities wanting an electric race through their streets. Even the Formula E race car that was expertly piloted by former Formula One driver driver Lucas di Grassi was a prototype design from Ross Braun that won't represent the final version on the tracks next year. So there's still a lot of work to do, but it was fun to watch the donuts.

There were some new details gleaned at the LA event. Each car will be piloted by one driver but the batteries will only last 20 to 25 minutes. So the cars will pit, the drivers will leap out and run "a short distance" to a second car and the race will continue. The idea of battery swaps during the race was rejected for the first season as organizers work with Delphi to design 800-volt connectors that can safely connect and disconnect during swaps.

While teams can build their own cars, production of 42 Dallara Formula E cars to be built by Spark Racing Technology with McLaren-designed electric motors will begin "now."

Also, the cars will accelerate from 0-60 in three seconds, weigh 1,720 pounds and be shod with Michelin tires. They will not be silent but will instead produce "a unique, futuristic sound" that will measure 80 decibels, somewhat less than a city bus in loudness. And to provide incentive, the series-winning driver will get $2.6 million while the series-winning team will get $5.2 million.

Races will be fan-friendly. There will be plenty of space for people to watch for free, but there will also be ticketed areas and hospitality. Races will be one-day affairs held on weekends near cultural icons in cities. LA's race might go down the same street where the demo was held, on Hill Street in front of the Department of Water and Power, across the street from the Music Center and kitty corner from Disney Concert Hall. Other cities scheduled to host races are: London; Rome; Bejing; Putrajaya, Malaysia; Rio; and Buenos Aires.

Finally, and this may be the point, it's about more than just racing. Organizers see the future not only of racing but of all cars as electric.

"We will look back (on internal combustion) and it will be like when people used to smoke in restaurants, when people used to smoke on airplanes, that's unthinkable now but it was once acceptable," said Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E Holdings. "Someday we will look back at cars throwing their smoke and we will say, 'How could we have done that?'"

IndyCar racer Oriol Servia, fresh from a sixth-place finish the day before at Long Beach, was on hand and we asked him what he thought.

"I like it, I like the concept," said Mr. Servia, who has a degree in mechanical engineering. "Our car has 700 hp at 10,000 rpm, but it's progressive; this thing has 400 hp but it comes on like a light switch."

Next year, the switch will be thrown.

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This report appeared in Autoweek magazine, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.