Formula one cars given electrical makeover for green and global Formula E races

Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Branson are behind the fresh teams, which will see will see twenty drivers, including two women, racing electronic cars

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• Ten:28, ten SEP 2014

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A fresh era of environmentally friendly racing is to take to the streets this weekend in one of the world’s most polluted cities.

Formula E – as in electrical – will see twenty drivers, including two women, race around ten city circuits around the world embarking with Beijing.

Starlets including Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Branson have thrown themselves into the fresh sport by backing teams.

Each driver will have two zero-emission high-performance, with a top speed of one hundred fifty mph, switching vehicles half way through when the very first battery starts to run out.

Jean Todt, chairman of the FIA, motorsport’s governing figure, said: “The world is switching and we have a responsibility to keep up with those switches.

“For me the electrical car is indeed the future of motoring in the cities. And that’s why we begin with hosting races in world cities.”

All teams will race identical cars, a Spark-Renault SRT_01E Formula E car which uses technology from Formula one teams McLaren and Williams.

But as car batteries are still in their infancy there will be no prompt ‘refuelling’ pitshops as in F1 races. Instead they will exchange vehicles.

Formula E founder Alejandro Agag says more than just sport is at stake. He feels that the fresh sport will speed up electronic car development which will lead to better cars for normal drivers.

He said: “It’s also significant to reminisce that while Formula E is a racing championship, it’s also a testing ground for electrical vehicle technology.

“Technology takes time to develop; just look at the evolution from ‘brick’ phones to smartphones, and desktop computers to tablets.

“In the same way, we believe electrified cars need time to evolve and we’re just at the beginning of the electrical racing era – this is very arousing.

“At present our batteries last 25-30 minutes but as technology improves – our aim will be to run the entire race with one car and one battery.”

From next year, the teams will be free to come up with their own innovations to make their cars quicker as Formula one teams do, within the parameters set out by the FIA. The hope is that this will drive improvements that will filter down to the mainstream automotive market.

While your average F1 team costs a whopping £11m a year to run with toughly forty people each race, Formula E garments only need to spend around £Trio million and are limited to a team of just eight. Testing, qualification and racing will take place on a single Saturday, not spread out over three days.

British racer Katherine Legge, one of two female competitors alongside Michela Cerruti, has competed in the IndyCar series, is excited about the fresh championship which will visit London and Las Vegas.

She said: “It is totally different. Leave behind everything you know about racing to this point – it’s going to be amazing.

“This is an arousing fresh series – different to anything I’ve ever done before.

“I’m certain the series will be a success. Twenty cars rushing through the streets of a major city should be very arousing.”

Former F1 starlets Nelson Piquet Jnr, Sebastien Buemi and Bruno Senna will also line up on the embarking grid this Saturday.

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