Paul English Formula E

Formula E promises to be an exciting new kind of motor racing which will deliver competitive events in some of the best cities in the world, all in the space of a day. And there won’t be a co2 emission in sight, well at least not from the cars.

When I heard about Formula E it immediately piqued my interest. I love motor sport in general, I’ve been a fan of Formula 1 since I can remember, have attended many BTCC races, followed the World Rally Championship, Moto GP, make an annual date to see how long I can stay awake through the night while following Le Mans.

Basically motor sport is some of the most thrilling and competitive sport around and quite frankly I find the skills needed to harness a car and make it dance on a ribbon of tarmac amazing.

Which is why Formula E has got me rather excited about a new adventure in motor sport. It’s fully electric with technology supplied by Renault, McLaren and Williams. It’s completely professional with teams from all over the world and some wonderful drivers many with Formula 1 experience.

They’re all the same car for now, but next year the teams will be allowed to create and construct their own cars. This competitive push will speed up the development of electric car technology and therefore make it a world leader in how we end up transporting ourselves.

It’s no secret at the moment that electric cars have an image of being slow and not lasting for very long. This series has plans on changing that perception and that is an exciting prospect as it'll help push how fast this technology can be developed.

I’ll go into a little more detail about the Formula in general in a future blog. When I say a future blog, I mean most likely tomorrow as the first race takes place this weekend. Well on Saturday, they’re only one day events. Everything, practice, qualifying and the race take place in one day to reduce disruption and environmental impact. This series really has been thought about a great deal in its concept and its values

A lot of new world motor sport events get swallowed up by the saturated coverage of Formula 1. Certainly in national press most other motor racing doesn’t get a look in. The BTCC attracts crowds of 40,000 but barely gets a column in most newspapers.

In the motor racing press Formula 1 will always be the lead story. However, I think Formula E can certainly make a little dent especially if it provides close racing. No doubt the events this year will be fuelled by intrigue about the concept so there will already be pressure to present an exciting show.

I do believe it can thrive though, it’s a wholly new concept and is leading the way for a sustainable future where we still travel in our automobiles but in a clean way. If they can sex up the image too, all the better. I think Formula E has great potential which is why I thought I’d write about it.

This blog will look at each event and generally I hope continue to offer comment and discussion about what’s going on in the Formula E world over its first season, I’ve a feeling it’s going to be electrifying (sorry, couldn’t resist).

all photos taken from autosport.com