

Lightning on wheels: the insane electric racing of Formula E - Yhippa
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/14/8310515/formula-e-electric-car-racing-future

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rvdm
Love EVs and have been following Formula E since the beginning.

I want to see so much initial torque drivers have to wear G Suits!

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bigiain
The "initial torque" is not really a problem with sufficiently powerful
contemporary electric vehicles (the whole electric motor thing of "maximum
torque at zero rpm" gives you that for free). The G forces are still limited
by tire/road traction and friction coefficients - even top fuel dragsters with
_way_ too much power, rubber heating burnouts, VHT TrackBite, and perfectly
groomed launch pads – barely hit 5G sustained.

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rvdm
Thanks for the break down! I had an early EV and loved that initial kick.
Always fascinating to know the specifics behind what's going on.

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ian0
Can we not just have no-holds-barred electric car races with remote drivers or
even autonomous vehicles? You could remove most of the safety features besides
those protecting the crowd and engineers. Imagine the cornering.

If remote perhaps latency would be a problem at high speeds?

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DustinCalim
This already exists: RC cars. The only difference would be 1:1 scale instead
of 1:10.

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tapatio
The worst race I ever watched was a ebike race that happened before a MotoGP
race at Laguna Seca. Those bikes sound lame as do all electric vehicles.
There's nothing like a high HP MotoGP bike or Formula One car. Long live
combustion engines!

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nodata
Long live the steam engine too!

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Someone
That remark in combination with its parent made me imagine what formula 1 with
steam engines would look like. Steam engines can provide lots of torque at low
speed, so they should be able to accelerate reasonably fast from zero speed
when using a high-tech, low weight boiler. Top speed would not be that high,
though, due to the inefficiency of steam engines.

It also could be quite a bit on the too dangerous side due to exploding
boilers.

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angersock
You're thinking about this the wrong way...use them the way they are supposed
to be used: drive turbines with them.

Steam engines, treated as powerplants, are actually _remarkably_ efficient.

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TheLoneWolfling
Yep.

There's a reason why fossil fuel power generation is mainly steam turbine
based.

There are other problems with steam turbines, however. The efficiency band can
be relatively small, and it doesn't change power levels particularly quickly.

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beachstartup
steam generators are also used in nuclear power plants.

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Apofis
This is the first time I've heard of it and I'm actually pretty happy it's
happening. It'll help boost the popularity of racing and EV's at the same
time. Win-win all around.

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karlshea
I had heard it was happening but nothing more, and after this article I looked
around and found race footage to jump around in and get a feel for what it's
like:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJZS0QhPmhs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJZS0QhPmhs)

It seems like the race has similar energy but definitely a different sound
than F1, and the whole battery life/pit dynamics add something interesting.

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rvdm
It definitely feels like the future of racing.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Electric World Rally Championship.

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karlshea
Electric WRC would definitely be fun!

