Formula E championship

[MrPT]

Did anybody watch the opening race in Beijing? Highlights are still available on ITV Player and YouTube.

I fell asleep a couple of times - during the highlights (!) - but then luckily woke up before the last lap.

Not sure what to make of it, really. The sound of the cars is genuinely dull, for one thing, but I guess the current F1 scene isn't too great either. Maybe it's the computer game menu music that they play through the whole thing that makes it seem super bland?! The F1-esque formula is far too clinical to provide any excitement without the extreme speed, noise, money etc. Maybe an all electric touring car formula would have been better? At least then it would be an entertaining scrap from start to finish.

I'm going to stick with it for another round and then maybe get tickets for the London event.... but overall, not convinced.

[buzyg]

I started to watch it but it was so boring I switched it off and went surfing.

Saw the crash on the news. Prost needs to go back into his retirement home,

[DumfriesDik]

Did anybody watch the opening race in Beijing? Highlights are still available on ITV Player and YouTube.

I fell asleep a couple of times - during the highlights (!) - but then luckily woke up before the last lap.

Not sure what to make of it, really. The sound of the cars is genuinely dull, for one thing, but I guess the current F1 scene isn't too great either. Maybe it's the computer game menu music that they play through the whole thing that makes it seem super bland?! The F1-esque formula is far too clinical to provide any excitement without the extreme speed, noise, money etc. Maybe an all electric touring car formula would have been better? At least then it would be an entertaining scrap from start to finish.

I'm going to stick with it for another round and then maybe get tickets for the London event.... but overall, not convinced.

+1 here as well! I struggled with it but woke to see the last lap - could not believe my eyes!

Hopefully as we get to know the movers and shakers it will get better.

[Daaaavvveee]

That crash at the end could of ended a lot worse!

I was waiting for him to run over and hit the other driver!

[StevenH72]

Just starting to watch the coverge now (have been out of the country)

Already, I'm frustrated at the presenter (not sure of her name), after showing qualifying:

"it's been a long time seen a Prost has been on pole, something like Japan....back in '63 or something...."

Does she actually know anything about motorsport? Wouldn't have been hard to have at least watched the Senna (seeing as relatives of Senna and Prost are racing) documentary and find out how wrong she was.

That said, big fan of Nicki Shield Will comment on racing when I get there!

[thepits]

Prost needs to go back into his retirement home

Wrong Prost

[wattsie]

For years when I was a kid I used to race RC cars (stock cars, pans, buggy, trucks 1:8, 1:10, 1:12 etc etc) and hearing them all set off from the grid sounded exactly the same!

Brought it all back! haha! So it doesn't seem to matter how big the car is or how fast it is, underneath they are all just big RC cars!

All in all, I was more impressed than I though I would be, so thats got to be a good thing!

Wattsie

[ranski]

Its nice to have some variety, however as long as there's F1 then this series will never take off. Instead be shown on irrelevant TV channels with washed-up, average drivers

[StevenH72]

I enjoyed the race. Obviously right now it's nowhere near F1 and the racing felt a little sterile, but it's in the very early stages of development. It's a great way for manufacturers to go racing and develop their electric technology. Give it a few years with more investment and more interest and I think it could be a great series.

Beijing looked like a pretty average track, but I love the idea of all the circuits being street circuits.

It had to start somewhere and I think it showed some great potential.

[thepits]

It's a great way for manufacturers to go racing and develop their electric technology. .

Maybe I'm a cynic [OK I am] but electric power IMHO is not necessarily the future.

Batteries are built miles away and then shipped, and when they are spent have to go into land-fills - for years & years.

Batteries run on electricity, so need recharging. How? From the grid, and the majority of generating stations run on fossil fuel.

So where is the ECO on this?

It costs more to produce an Electric car.
It costs more to dispose of an Electric car.

Hydrogen - that's the futures answer in the meanwhile stick with petrol [but not the fuel of the devil - ***sel ]

[DumfriesDik]

Maybe I'm a cynic [OK I am] but electric power IMHO is not necessarily the future.

Batteries are built miles away and then shipped, and when they are spent have to go into land-fills - for years & years.

Batteries run on electricity, so need recharging. How? From the grid, and the majority of generating stations run on fossil fuel.

So where is the ECO on this?

It costs more to produce an Electric car.
It costs more to dispose of an Electric car.

Hydrogen - that's the futures answer in the meanwhile stick with petrol [but not the fuel of the devil - ***sel ]

I am no eco warrior, nor do I have a full set of facts. But you have to remember that petrol also requires huge infrastructure to get it into your petrol tank and once you use it, you have emissions. It can not be cheap or easy to get oil out of the North Sea, people give their lives for it.

Just a thought