The Lucas di Grassi Formula E Thread

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 18 Jun 2014, 12:07

W12 wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:TrulliGP confirmed, Jarno to drive.
A team called TrulliGP? Really?

An electric Trulli Train!

CaptainGetz12 · Post by **CaptainGetz12** » 20 Jun 2014, 16:48

GwilymJJames wrote:TrulliGP confirmed, Jarno to drive.

Now the question is who will Trulli choose to be his number 2 driver? Any guesses?

Post by **tommykl** » 20 Jun 2014, 17:31

CaptainGetz12 wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:TrulliGP confirmed, Jarno to drive.

Now the question is who will Trulli choose to be his number 2 driver? Any guesses?

How's he getting along with Fisichella? And what's the old fart up to these days?

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 20 Jun 2014, 17:36

A new team, and finally a track map. But two teams MIA? I'm still not sure about this series. Time will tell though.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 20 Jun 2014, 17:59

Wallio wrote:A new team, and finally a track map. But two teams MIA? I'm still not sure about this series. Time will tell though.

Did you read that press release? Drayson Racing has become Trulli GP, it hasn't replaced it. Lord Drayson made a statement saying he was looking forward to working with Trulli.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 20 Jun 2014, 18:23

Salamander wrote:
Wallio wrote:A new team, and finally a track map. But two teams MIA? I'm still not sure about this series. Time will tell though.

Did you read that press release? Drayson Racing has become Trulli GP, it hasn't replaced it. Lord Drayson made a statement saying he was looking forward to working with Trulli.

No I didn't since I find Trulli dreadfully dull lol. Ok so we only lost one team, and as has been mentioned before since its Jay Penske, no surprises there.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 22 Jun 2014, 20:11

tommykl wrote:
CaptainGetz12 wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:TrulliGP confirmed, Jarno to drive.

Now the question is who will Trulli choose to be his number 2 driver? Any guesses?

How's he getting along with Fisichella? And what's the old fart up to these days?

Fisi won the GTE category at Le Mans with Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander for AF Corse. He could get his first team-mate, Katayama, in. Would be good to see him back.

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 26 Jun 2014, 15:29

Venturi GP, who are part owned by Leonardo diCaprio, have an appropriately exciting line-up of Stéphane Sarrazin and Mr Slightly Exciting himself, "Quick" Nick Heidfeld.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 26 Jun 2014, 15:31

I now have an email confirming I'm able to attend the test at Donnington next week! Whoop whoop!

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 27 Jun 2014, 08:09

Super Aguri have been renamed as Amlin Aguri after getting sponsorship from insurance company Amlin. Katherine Legge to drive.

W12 · Post by **W12** » 27 Jun 2014, 08:15

GwilymJJames wrote:Super Aguri have been renamed as Amlin Aguri after getting sponsorship from insurance company Amlin. Katherine Legge to drive.

Why??!! There was nothing wrong with "Super Aguri". Well, at least Legge got a seat :mrgreen:

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 27 Jun 2014, 12:11

i'm still calling them super aguri.

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 27 Jun 2014, 13:27

Why does a series that was so full of promise have to degrade itself like this?!?

Jarno Trulli = travesty

Nick Heidfeld = would be a travesty if I weren't slightly bored

Amlin Aguri = super travesty

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 27 Jun 2014, 14:33

eytl wrote:Why does a series that was so full of promise have to degrade itself like this?!?

Jarno Trulli = travesty

A-ha...hmm...I understand what you're saying... but keep in mind from the word 'travesty' you can also make out 'trayvest'
by shuffling the letters around;

I for one am looking forward to watching Jarno frequently qualify his Formula E somewhere on the front two rows
and subsequently leading most of his opponents from his famous train.
I've been onboard since the 'ring '99. Want me to get you a ticket, Enoch? There's a few seats left still..

And who knows, Jarno just might be walking around in the paddock wearing a nice, red tray vest.
Maybe not at every single venue but I'm hoping Monaco at the least.

Also, Jarno will grab the pole at Monaco for sure. You read it here first.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Jun 2014, 17:47

For me, as most regulars can guess, Katherine Legge participating in this series is anything but a travesty (or even a tray vest!). I now have the intention of having my photo taken with her at next week's Donnington test! Now, is that a :roll:

or a

?!?!?!

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 28 Jun 2014, 22:00

How is Jerome Custard still unsigned in a series where Stéphane Sarrazin can get a seat?

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 30 Jun 2014, 14:44

Nicolas Prost is to drive for e.dams, the team part owned by his dad Alain. Funny how things like that happen, isn't it? Sebby Bwemmy is the other e.dams driver.

E: Auto GP race winner Michela Cerruti is to be TrulliGP's other driver.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 30 Jun 2014, 20:51

TWO women drivers? I better be careful not to get too overexcited...

Just started to wonder how underwhelming it would be if they adopted the IndyCar phrase, "Start your engines!" at the start of each race, with the only audible difference being a slight, gentle, background humming...

MorbidelliObese · Post by **MorbidelliObese** » 01 Jul 2014, 10:51

Was kind of looking forward to this but this whole "fan boost" thing has kind of ruined it for me (almost like they're trying to out-F1 F1) so I'll probably give it a miss initially, although if they drop that and we start to get more technical competition (surely the point of such a series?) in subsequent seasons then it should be able to gain my interest.

Post by **Londoner** » 01 Jul 2014, 15:42

I just cast my vote for that Fan Boost jazz. Seeing as young Cerutti is by far the least experienced driver out there (Auto GP is nowhere near the level of GP2), I think she needs all the help she can get.

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 02 Jul 2014, 10:37

Aside from the "fan boost", I'm actually starting to like this series. Maybe I have a soft spot for alternative technology (it's my dream to build and resign renewable cars, if I can't get a job in Formula 1).

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 02 Jul 2014, 13:27

East Londoner wrote:I just cast my vote for that Fan Boost jazz. Seeing as young Cerutti is by far the least experienced driver out there (Auto GP is nowhere near the level of GP2), I think she needs all the help she can get.

I have decided to back Jarno Trulli. I want Trulli GP to lock out the fan boosts

.

I actually like the fanboost idea, it makes the series stand out and gives a little bit of fan interaction. I can see how it isn't every-bodies taste, but too many people want the series to be Formula 1.5. When I see it as a new breakaway idea that should have it's own free ideas not bound by any other racing series.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 02 Jul 2014, 13:29

Hey Shadaza, loving the new profile pic!

Is anybody going to the tests at Donnington the next two days?

Post by **Miguel98** » 02 Jul 2014, 15:28

And António Félix da Costa is confirmed to driver for Amlin Aguri.

Henrique · Post by **Henrique** » 02 Jul 2014, 19:19

Portuguese driver on Amlin Aguri? I'm ecstatic!

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 03 Jul 2014, 09:37

d'Ambrosio and Antonio Garcia are testing for China Racing today. Scott Speed and Gil de Ferran are both testing the second Andretti car. Oriol Servia is allegedly testing for Dragon today, alonside confirmed driver Mike Conway. I say "allegedly" since Live timing doesn't actually list them.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 03 Jul 2014, 18:45

http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2014 ... -test.aspx

Seb Buemi set the fastest time for the first test, but the high field spread means this is probably little more than a shakedown. Poor Cerutti didn't run at all due to technical problems!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 03 Jul 2014, 21:00

Shadaza wrote:http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2014/july/sebastien-buemi-fastest-at-first-formula-e-test.aspx

Seb Buemi set the fastest time for the first test, but the high field spread means this is probably little more than a shakedown. Poor Cerutti didn't run at all due to technical problems!

Poor Michela Cerruti DID go out and do some laps mid-afternoon after engine problems, but her transponder wasn't working. At the weekend, I'll upload the photos I took today and will take tomorrow (haven't had my photo taken with any of the drivers... yet!).

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 04 Jul 2014, 01:18

How did the cars sound dr-baker?

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 04 Jul 2014, 01:52

Is there any comparable speed to any series in these cars?

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 04 Jul 2014, 09:09

Aerospeed wrote:Is there any comparable speed to any series in these cars?

From their website it appears there was an extra chicane added to the track, possibly so that we CAN'T compare laptimes to other series, but the fastest lap was a 1:35.475s.

The first of five public tests saw all 10 teams and drivers use the full Donington Park GP circuit, modified to include an additional chicane at the exit to the Old Hairpin.

From this site : http://www.donington-park.co.uk/about-donington/lap-records/ we can see that the time for a Formula Ford car on the GP circuit is 1:33.223s, so somewhere around that range I would guess.

Not sure if they were running at full capacity, but if so, it's pretty unimpressive.

I'm sure drbaker will let us know how impressive it seems in reality when he reports back.

Post by **Miguel98** » 04 Jul 2014, 11:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqMKOa0Gbcw#t=20

That sound... Looks like I'm hearing remote control cars.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 04 Jul 2014, 21:39

Miguel98 wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqMKOa0Gbcw#t=20

That sound... Looks like I'm hearing remote control cars.

Yes, it is kinda how it sounds, or like a really big Scalextric car. Considering Scalextric means Scaled Electric...

More seriously, the commentator stated that the cars produced 80 dB. The jumbo jets taking off from the next-door airport were making more noise. Put it this way, I placed myself at the exit to the Melbourne loop hairpin this morning. I was able to:
1. hear the FE cars lock up and hear the tyres on the rumble strips on top of the engine noise. A deaf person could give a decent account of how the cars were behaving based on the noises produced.
2. On top of that, I could hear the tannoy clearly.
3. On top of that, I could also listen to FP1 from Silverstone on BBCR5Live clearly on my small portable radio.

All without the use of any headphones. And no children would have needed them either. The noise level, I thought, was comparable to the BTCC turbodiesel Seat Leons from a decade ago, if that helps as a reference point for anybody? I will try to upload a couple of video clips I took on my digital camera onto YouTube tomorrow (I say try, because I have never yet uploaded anything to YouTube...).

Yesterday morning, I stood at Donington's first bend, and it was past the start/finish line before I heard anything from the cars. One time, I was just looking through some of the photos I took, and I would look up and suddenly see a car that I simply had not heard approach. However, being halfway along any straight, you would usually be able to hear the cars from one corner to the next. It's a strain to hear them at any other point of the track however. It sure isn't an F1 car that you can hear from a mile off! (I think I read at the start of the year that they are 10 dB quieter this year - can't remember if it reduced from 145 to 135 or 135 to 125, but it is that kind of magnitude).

The temporary chicane today (just after the old hairpin, which itself is just after the Craner Curves) was removed at around 2:45 pm (lunch finished at 2 pm), with two cars having clipped the third pile of tyres in those 45 minutes, Jarno Trulli being the first. His excuse, said the commentator, was that the chicane had got tighter during the hour-long lunch break. And, in my opinion, all I can say to that is bullplop.

Hardly saw anything of the Dragon cars over the two days. Whenever the Dragon team got mentioned, I thought it was a reference to the Team China cars. You know, because they had an image of a dragon on the cars... I'll upload one tomorrow, once I recharged the battery on my camera! (And it required a full recharge overnight as well). Michela Cerruti managed a bit more running today. Venturi Racing seemed fairly anonymous to me - I saw them running, but I just didn't feel the urge to photograph their cars as much as the others. Maybe I was slightly bored by one of their drivers?!

And while I did not get my photo taken with either Katherine Legge or Michela Cerruti, I did manage to get photos of them. Sadly didn't manage to get one of Karun Chandok though. :cry:

Best liveries? Super Aguri (don't care, I am supporting them and their non-Red Bull-affliated driver

, and calling them by Super Aguri, not Whatever Aguri), e.dams, Virgin Racing. The worst? Dragon, Venturi, Abt.

Will post more tomorrow.

Normal32 · Post by **Normal32** » 05 Jul 2014, 22:15

I may see the Argetinian GP live.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 05 Jul 2014, 22:59

I'm looking forward to see battles between Bruno Senna and Nicolas Prost.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 05 Jul 2014, 23:05

Dj_bereta wrote:I'm looking forward to see battles between Bruno Senna and Nicolas Prost.

It's just a shame that Josh Hill isn't in motor racing anymore to have ended up as teammates to both of them!

And I'm not sure how much space I actually have left free on my Photobucket account - all I know is that it is taking a very long time to upload my photos (longer than I ancipated) and some are failing to upload for whatever technical reason. At some point, some will be here, but I cannot say when. Sorry...

ADDITION: I took 2 GB of photos and I have a max of 2.2 GB of storage in total at Photobucket. So I will probably remove some that are already up and replace them with some others of more interest or more in focus. In the meantime, here should be a link to the album.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 05 Jul 2014, 23:59

Dj_bereta wrote:I'm looking forward to see battles between Bruno Senna and Nicolas Prost.

so's everyone older than 16, mate haha

Post by **Londoner** » 11 Jul 2014, 09:25

Keith Collantine, being a miserable git about FanBoost

Again, it just seems people want Formula E to conform and be like any other series. I've grown to like FanBoost since it was announced.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 11 Jul 2014, 09:37

East Londoner wrote:Keith Collantine, being a miserable git about FanBoost

Again, it just seems people want Formula E to conform and be like any other series. I've grown to like FanBoost since it was announced.

I can't say the same - I'm more ambivalent about the concept myself - but this is precisely the wrong attitude to have about Formula E. Holding it to the same standards and expectations as Formula 1 misses the point. It's an opportunity to try new things, without these things affecting F1. I don't see why more F1 fans aren't supportive of this.

pi314159 · Post by **pi314159** » 11 Jul 2014, 15:45

East Londoner wrote:Keith Collantine, being a miserable git about FanBoost

Again, it just seems people want Formula E to conform and be like any other series. I've grown to like FanBoost since it was announced.

I'm not a fan of FanBoost either. I still have the maybe old-fashioned opinion that the performance should be decided by driving talent and, if not a spec series, technology. I don't like the idea that a driver could lose a race because he lost the popularity contest that is FanBoost. For me, it has nothing to do with conforming or not, it is simply unfair towards drivers that don't get FanBoost.

However, apart from that, I'm looking forward to Formula E. I like the idea of racing on street circuits, there are lots of talented drivers, coming from F1, WEC and IndyCar. And there's the comeback of three reject teams with Virgin, Aguri and Venturi to look forward to.