Sign in / up

back to article FIA to oversee first e-car 'grand prix' series

A new racing series solely devoted to electric vehicles looks set to begin in 2011 if the plans of a British racing concern come to fruition. The series - to be called the EV Cup - was officially launched in London last week by a company called EEVRC Ltd. EV Cup First race meetings in 2011 under this flag Its initial aim …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Jimmy Floyd
    Thumb Up

    Good luck to 'em

    I use to race 100cc karts, and about 10 years ago the first electric models started to appear at circuits - pretty much solely as demonstrations.

    They never caught on, mainly because the additional weight of the batteries made cornering horrible. That said, batteries on cars are likely to make up proportionally less of the mass of the vehicle. Now that electric / hybrids are common on the roads it makes sense to go racing them.

    Don't hold your breath for a Formula 1 e-car though. You'll get Jeremy Clarkson standing as a Communist MP before you convert petrolheads to lithium-ion. For a start, they just don't make a very exciting noise...

    0 0
  2. Return To Sender
    Thumb Up

    Scalextric!

    Surely I can't be the only one thinking of the whirr of 'leccy cars as they whizz round the track :-)

    Ah, nostalgia... think I'd better go and buy a set for the kids...

    0 0
  3. Peter Ford

    24heures du Mans?

    I hope one of the French events is a 24h race at Le Mans: with present tech it would be about two hours of racing and 22 hours sat in the pits recharging!

    Gentlemen, start your engines!

    click...whirrr....hum...

    Not the same, is it?

    0 0
  4. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Boring

    The main things about racing is the speed and noise. Neither come to mind when I think of gran's electro-cart bumbling along the pavements.

    0 0
  5. Ian Ferguson

    Link

    http://www.evcup.com

    0 0
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    About the noise...

    not mentioned in this piece is the statement by the competition's organisers that they're aware of the problem and are looking into ways to generate engine noises for the cars to emit, much as manufacturers of roadgoing EVs are doing to make allowances for people who are too stupid to look before they cross roads.

    This is, of course, daft beyond belief: the whole point of EVs is being more efficient than their internal-combustion brethren, in which the noise to which we are used, which blights our environments, represents energy that has not been converted into useful motion.

    If we really must have EVs making a racket, at least let it be suitably futuristic whooshy whines. I'll take a KITT soundtrack, ta.

    0 0
  7. Remy Redert

    @Peter Ford

    I think you'll find there's no need to actually start an electric engine prior to using it. They're perfectly capable of providing full power and torque from 0 RPM.

    The only thing you'll hear at the start is the screeching of burning rubber, because make no mistake, electric motors can provide tons of torque and power (If you don't mind short races).

    0 0
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    noise is a must?

    seriously, i'm already aware that leccy cars are great, but i like to hear a car coming, the silent electric car going at 30, is more lethal than a petrol head going @ 60. at least you can hear the nutter coming a mile off. if you get my drift.

    0 0
  9. Jon Leighton

    Smell

    In the days when I could afford to go to an F1 race the smell was one of the major hits to the senses. Perhaps they should carry around an aerosol can of burnt racing oil too.

    0 0
  10. Mike Groombridge

    hmmm

    now is the joy of racing in the watching some one go fast and overtaking etc or the whole experience the sounds and smell of the engine. as a vetern of several beer and meat fueled F1 Grand prix home(Yes woo back to Silverstone this year... Sorry) and abroad i got to say i'd miss the noise of those engines .

    but you may make a nice support race for a bigger series touring cars etc hope there do one of the demos at the grand prix by interesting to compare to someing like the bmw's or porsche super cup.

    or even the genettas with the touring cars.

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.