Days out: Donington Race Track - Formula-E Testing day.
I was lucky to get tickets to see one of the last testing days of the Formula E at their UK base before the start of the season in Beijing in a few months.
I have been a fan for traditional Formula One racing about 10 years ago. I never got to go and I wasn't too bothered either as I had heard a few bad things.
Such as sitting around waiting for hours and only see something happen once every 3 minutes when they come across in-front of you. Also the noise, I am not the
As you are aware I am very proud to be an EV owner and driver and taking a sport I am interested in, advancing the technologies and making it more environmentally friendly was interesting to me. Therefore when I got the chance to go and find out more I was very excited. I was really excited to see another Renault Zoe actually registered and on the road. (up to now all we had seen were dealer demo cars) and then later in the day another one in the car park. We have gone 7 months not seeing another Zoe and then 2 in one day. Then much to my husbands delight he saw a right hand drive Tesla Model S parked right next to it.
There are lots of statistics and information I could go on about but my highlights in a nutshell. The cars are engineered the same, same tires body etc. Therefore it is down to the computer tuning and the driver skill. I like this as no one team that can afford better gadgets have an unfair advantage. The cars are still very fast, A ‘normal’ formula one car would still have the speed advantage. But they have been racing years, and this is year one for formula-E. The noise, this was a strange one between our group I think we decided between, a loud remote controlled car and a a small jet engine. It was quite a whiney noise.
One the day we all picked out favourite cars, I of course went for the shiny silver car of Virgin racing. The boys liked the matt black car that looked a cross between kit from Knight Rider and the Bat-mobile of team Trulli. I also liked having a few drivers that I knew who they were in the mix.
After a coupe of hours watching from the grandstand everyone went on lunch and we got to go for a Pit Walk, this was a chance to get close to the cars and see the technology in the bays. This is also where I go some nice closer images.
After this we had our lunch and a walk up the hill to another vantage point. Through the day there were a few cars spin off and the safety car and crane were out. I guess this is part of the plan with the testing to get the drivers used to the cars.
After we had finished we had a look around the museum, (with our tickets we got 50% off entry making this £5) I think this was a good way to pass the time, but you wouldn't miss much if you decided not to go. There was a random war section at the beginning with tanks and old bikes, then it went on to race cars. There were lots of old cars and then through to modern cars. It was good to see how the aerodynamics have changed and the styling over the years. I then got to see a number of cars from back when I was watching Formula One in about 2000. Spotting the names of my favourite drivers and feeling like a child in a sweet shop.
I know there are only a few UK testing days left, but I would recommend going if you can. from going to this I am planning on following the Formula-E races. Now I just have to pick a team. With 2 UK teams to choose from I will see. I have a sneaky feeling it will be the Shiny Cars of Virgin Racing.
What do you think.
Nicola
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