Formula e Adventure

On the grid with Lucas Di Grassi. [Eddie Le Pine Photo]

By Eddie LePine

I was up very early on Thursday morning for the 6:30am flight from Orlando to Los Angeles. I arrived at about 10am west coast time and had the whole day to get down to Long Beach, pick up my credentials and check out the FIA Formula e scene.

Many of my colleagues thought I was nuts to fly all the way to the west coast to see Formula e, but for me it was something I really wanted to check out. Racing is racing, whether with gas or diesel powered engines or with electric motors and I was anxious to see how the FIA ran Formula e. I was not to be disappointed.

Plus, there were a lot of great drivers that I knew from sports car racing on hand and I wanted to see them in action in this very different form of motorsport. There are some really top names racing in this series, including: Lucas di Grassi, Stephane Sarrazin, Nick Heidfield, Loic Duval, Sebastien Buemi, Nicolas Prost and Bruno Senna. Also, where can you go and see racing today and get a chance to talk to racing legend Alain Prost?

Audi factory driver and race winner Lucas di Grassi explained to me how different driving these cars are from his normal ride, the Audi R18 e-tron Quattro Hybrid. “It’s really easy to overdrive these cars. It is a big contrast from the Audi. Less power, less brakes and street tires, but still very fast.”

Those comments about managing the car would serve Lucas well, as he ran a perfect race and won for ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport. Stephane Sarrazin was second driving for Venturi, while ABT Audi teammate Daniel Abt was third.

These cars are quick and accelerate like rockets with their instant on electric motors. The mechanical whine and lack of exhaust note takes a bit of getting used to, but the racing itself is close and quite good.

The race was almost secondary to the festival atmosphere at the track. Long Beach has a long history of running street races and they do it very well. I was impressed by how things were organized and was also impressed by the size of the crowd.

Let me tell you, Formula e did not disappoint. The FIA has done an outstanding job of making the whole experience very fan friendly, with tons of activities going on all the time in the Long Beach racing complex, from concerts to interactive racing video games. Perhaps track promoters and series organizers from other venues could learn a thing or two from the FIA Formula e series. Racing is an event, not just a race around a circuit.

The one thing that was most impressive to me was the number of young fans in attendance. They are the future of motorsport, and I saw more young fans in attendance at Long Beach for the Formula e than I have seen at a racing event in some time.

All in all, my first experience with FIA Formula e was quite positive. The only negative for me was the $58 parking ticket I got in LA. This may very well be the wave of the future in racing. From Long Beach the FIA Formula e circus heads to Paris, Berlin and Moscow before finishing up their season in London in July.

When they return to the US next year, you should check it out.

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