The Lucas di Grassi Formula E Thread

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 16 Nov 2013, 17:26

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
Backmarker wrote:The seventh team has been announced, and it's a joint venture between Audi and Abt Sportline.

But Audi are good at motorsport! This is unacceptable!

Exactly! I feel Abt will be the team to beat out of the 7 announced so far thanks to Audi support.

Henrique · Post by **Henrique** » 20 Nov 2013, 14:16

Takuma Sato is gonna test the car along with di Grassi!

http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/new-car-makes-asia-debut

pi314159 · Post by **pi314159** » 20 Nov 2013, 15:00

Henrique wrote:Takuma Sato is gonna test the car along with di Grassi!

http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/new-car-makes-asia-debut

Interestingly, the IndyCar season ends on August 30, three weeks before Formula E starts. So it would be possible for Sato to do IndyCar in 2014, and then go to Formula E.

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 20 Nov 2013, 20:28

pi314159 wrote:
Henrique wrote:Takuma Sato is gonna test the car along with di Grassi!

http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/new-car-makes-asia-debut

Interestingly, the IndyCar season ends on August 30, three weeks before Formula E starts. So it would be possible for Sato to do IndyCar in 2014, and then go to Formula E.

Driving for Super Auguri of course... PLEASE make it happen!

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 20 Nov 2013, 20:51

better be for aguri. i'd be so mad if it weren't

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 20 Nov 2013, 23:27

pi314159 wrote:
Henrique wrote:Takuma Sato is gonna test the car along with di Grassi!

http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/new-car-makes-asia-debut

Interestingly, the IndyCar season ends on August 30, three weeks before Formula E starts. So it would be possible for Sato to do IndyCar in 2014, and then go to Formula E.

That's assuming Sato gets an IndyCar drive to start with. Which he won't, because nobody wants to touch him with a ten foot pole after his abysmal post-Indy 500 run

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 20 Nov 2013, 23:50

Wizzie wrote:
pi314159 wrote:
Henrique wrote:Takuma Sato is gonna test the car along with di Grassi!

http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/new-car-makes-asia-debut

Interestingly, the IndyCar season ends on August 30, three weeks before Formula E starts. So it would be possible for Sato to do IndyCar in 2014, and then go to Formula E.

That's assuming Sato gets an IndyCar drive to start with. Which he won't, because nobody wants to touch him with a ten foot pole after his abysmal post-Milwaukee run

Fixed. Sato would've won Milwaukee hands down if someone (I think it was Ana Beatriz) hadn't brought out that last caution.

Henrique · Post by **Henrique** » 21 Nov 2013, 12:45

Here's the car's first test, with only 25% power and di Grassi at the wheel:

http://youtu.be/dqIsFbdLJ7k

That sound

watka · Post by **watka** » 21 Nov 2013, 17:58

Henrique wrote:Here's the car's first test, with only 25% power and di Grassi at the wheel:

http://youtu.be/dqIsFbdLJ7k

That sound

Would like to see one go round at full tilt as this doesn't tell us much other than that the cars sound like RC cars.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 28 Nov 2013, 10:43

Backmarker wrote:
dr-baker wrote:Just looking to see Simtek and Pacific to also enter. A shame that it would be unlikely to have a MasterCard Lola team here...

If chassis production is opened up, Lola might end up making chassis for Drayson. Probably won't be hiring Rosset or Sospiri though.

The other rumoured teams are Bluebird (of land-speed record fame), Mahindra (who make electric cars in India) and Vastha Racing (don't seem like a serious outfit, as I cannot find anything about them that suggests they're more than a name) and Team Rosberg.

Called it. Two more teams to be announced, Bluebird and Team Rosberg perhaps? I'm looking forward to the teams making driver announcements too.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 28 Nov 2013, 12:20

Backmarker wrote:
Backmarker wrote:The other rumoured teams are Bluebird (of land-speed record fame), Mahindra (who make electric cars in India) and Vastha Racing (don't seem like a serious outfit, as I cannot find anything about them that suggests they're more than a name) and Team Rosberg.

Called it. Two more teams to be announced, Bluebird and Team Rosberg perhaps? I'm looking forward to the teams making driver announcements too.

I think I read in Autosport that Team Rosberg have already said that they're interested - here's the stroy on Autosport. It from 3rd October and it said that they had already submitted an application...

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 29 Nov 2013, 09:58

The next announcement is due on Thursday.

@FIAformulaE wrote:@rfzeitlin Yes more to come...our 9th #FormulaE team will be unveiled next Thursday (5th Dec) #GoGreenRaceBlue

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 29 Nov 2013, 23:01

please be eddie jordan

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 30 Nov 2013, 18:14

nome66 wrote:please be eddie jordan

I second that

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 30 Nov 2013, 19:17

golic_2004 wrote:
nome66 wrote:please be eddie jordan

I second that

Yeah. If he gets a team in Formula E maybe I can start watching the pre and post race segments on the BBC again.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 05 Dec 2013, 11:38

Surprise!

Virgin Racing becomes the 9th team to join Formula E!

Ferrarist · Post by **Ferrarist** » 05 Dec 2013, 15:33

I wonder when Mr. Branson will pull the plug on his program, because he always seems to get bored with his investments. :roll:

Is this an all-new Virgin team, or is there any connection to the team formerly known as Virgin from F1?

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 05 Dec 2013, 16:19

Shizuka wrote:Surprise!

Virgin Racing becomes the 9th team to join Formula E!

Only 1 team left to be announced for the series. We don't have any Italian teams announced yet so my bet would be a team from there.
Whilst we have 0 out of 20 drivers announced. Hype Train.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 05 Dec 2013, 16:24

Well, this just got interesting. All we need now is for the Caja Magica to suddenly sprout back into life, Luis Pérez-Sala and Adrian Campos to get on board, and HRT will rise again! Maybe they'll even go back to being called Campos!

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 05 Dec 2013, 16:33

Ferrarist wrote:Is this an all-new Virgin team, or is there any connection to the team formerly known as Virgin from F1?

There's a connection, as AlexTai, who didn't stick around long enough to be team principal of the Virgin F1 team, as he's going to be team principal of the Formula E team. Probably.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 05 Dec 2013, 18:13

will they change into Marussia two seasons in?

OsellaFA1L · Post by **OsellaFA1L** » 06 Dec 2013, 00:47

I am really hoping Coloni is team 10. Its unlikely but not impossible

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 06 Dec 2013, 03:32

i love how nobody mentioned Mahrindra, who, until recently, was known for this thing

but, hey if they have an off into a gravel trap, they won't get stuck.

and i'm still betting one US dollar(half a quid because our economy isn't up to any good) on Eddie Jordan for team 10
i also get this weird feeling that Prost might join in

RealRacingRoots · Post by **RealRacingRoots** » 06 Dec 2013, 05:07

nome66 wrote:i love how nobody mentioned Mahrindra, who, until recently, was known for this thing

but, hey if they have an off into a gravel trap, they won't get stuck.

and i'm still betting one US dollar(half a quid because our economy isn't up to any good) on Eddie Jordan for team 10
i also get this weird feeling that Prost might join in

http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/edams-becomes-fifth-team
Alain Prost & Jean-Paul Driot team up for Formula E

Slow...bro?

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 06 Dec 2013, 12:49

Drivers:

Andretti Autosport: 1- Michael Andretti; 2- Jacques Villeneuve
Dragon Racing: 1- Sebastien Bourdais; 2- Scott Speed
Drayson Racing: 1- Emanuele Pirro; 2- Anthony Davidson
Mahindra Racing: 1- Narain Karthikeyan; 2- Karun Chandhok
Super Aguri: 1- Sakon Yamamoto; 2- Yuji Ide
Audi Sport Abt: 1- Heinz-Harald Frentzen; 2- Marcus Winkelhock
eDAMS: 1- Franck Montagny; 2- Stephane Sarrazin
Virgin: 1- Lucas di Grassi; 2- Jêrome d'Ambrosio
China Racing: 1- Ho-Pin Tung; 2- Ma Qinghua
#10 team sugestions: 1- Luca Badoer; 2- Bruno Senna

With a grid like this I would ditch F1 for FE in a second. Anyway, let's see how many I manage to guess!

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 06 Dec 2013, 12:58

DanielPT wrote:Drivers:

Andretti Autosport: 1- Michael Andretti; 2- Jacques Villeneuve
Dragon Racing: 1- Sebastien Bourdais; 2- Scott Speed
Drayson Racing: 1- Emanuele Pirro; 2- Anthony Davidson
Mahindra Racing: 1- Narain Karthikeyan; 2- Karun Chandhok
Super Aguri: 1- Sakon Yamamoto; 2- Yuji Ide
Audi Sport Abt: 1- Heinz-Harald Frentzen; 2- Marcus Winkelhock
eDAMS: 1- Franck Montagny; 2- Stephane Sarrazin
Virgin: 1- Lucas di Grassi; 2- Jêrome d'Ambrosio
China Racing: 1- Ho-Pin Tung; 2- Ma Qinghua
#10 team sugestions: 1- Luca Badoer; 2- Bruno Senna

With a grid like this I would ditch F1 for FE in a second. Anyway, let's see how many I manage to guess!

That would be the holy grail of grids. Sadly, I don't think Badoer is coming back to racing any time soon (as is Michael Andretti and Villeneuve), so we might see some new drivers come in. I'm interested if Formula E will become a feeder series to F1, possibly having the champion getting a seat in the future...

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 06 Dec 2013, 13:08

Aerospeed wrote:I'm interested if Formula E will become a feeder series to F1, possibly having the champion getting a seat in the future...

That's roughly the position that A1GP once held. Nelson Piquet won the first double header at Brands Hatch in 2005, then Nico Hulkenberg won the title for Germany...

WaffleCat · Post by **WaffleCat** » 06 Dec 2013, 13:41

dr-baker wrote:
Aerospeed wrote:I'm interested if Formula E will become a feeder series to F1, possibly having the champion getting a seat in the future...

That's roughly the position that A1GP once held. Nelson Piquet won the first double header at Brands Hatch in 2005, then Nico Hulkenberg won the title for Germany...

Yeah...though Alexandre Premat,Nicolas Lapierre,Neel Jani and Adam Carroll have something to say about that.

.

Still,Formula E has the right....formula(bazinga) to be a success.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 06 Dec 2013, 16:11

I cant believe no drivers have been announced yet. With F1 on hiatus now is the perfect time to grab some FE headlines.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 06 Dec 2013, 19:01

CoopsII wrote:I cant believe no drivers have been announced yet. With F1 on hiatus now is the perfect time to grab some FE headlines.

My guess would be that because Formula E starts in September, many drivers would rather try and get in on a series that starts in the Spring before committing to Formula E.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 06 Dec 2013, 19:16

RealRacingRoots wrote:
nome66 wrote:i love how nobody mentioned Mahrindra, who, until recently, was known for this thing

but, hey if they have an off into a gravel trap, they won't get stuck.

and i'm still betting one US dollar(half a quid because our economy isn't up to any good) on Eddie Jordan for team 10
i also get this weird feeling that Prost might join in

http://www.fiaformulae.com/news/edams-becomes-fifth-team
Alain Prost & Jean-Paul Driot team up for Formula E

Slow...bro?

little bit yeah lol
the weird feeling was my brain telling me they had already joined

Post by **mario** » 06 Dec 2013, 20:17

Ferrarist wrote:I wonder when Mr. Branson will pull the plug on his program, because he always seems to get bored with his investments.

Is this an all-new Virgin team, or is there any connection to the team formerly known as Virgin from F1?

To a certain extent, it could be pointed out that Branson's connection with Virgin Racing was ephemeral anyway - Virgin were technically a title sponsor, whereas Caterham, for example, are fully owned by Fernandes.

Shadaza wrote:
CoopsII wrote:I cant believe no drivers have been announced yet. With F1 on hiatus now is the perfect time to grab some FE headlines.

My guess would be that because Formula E starts in September, many drivers would rather try and get in on a series that starts in the Spring before committing to Formula E.

It's also worth noting that most of the races are only marked as provisional events - most, if not all of the circuits, still haven't been approved by the FIA, so at the moment there is probably enough uncertainty to put some drivers off signing up just yet.

girry · Post by **girry** » 09 Dec 2013, 16:33

Venturi Grand Prix is the final team (although I wouldn't be surprised over one or two of the outfits happening to pull out before the inaugural race...)....that means we've got four teams with ties to teams that have fielded F1 cars; e.dams (Alain Prost), Super Aguri (obvious!), Virgin Racing (not same as Manor but partly connected...) and Venturi Grand Prix (remember, the Spyker-Marussia-Caterham of 1992?)...

Can't help that despite all those goofy features a traditionalist motorsport fan like me will hate, I'm looking forward to this series.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 09 Dec 2013, 17:04

I'd heard that Venturi were interested, but I hadn't heard about Leonardo di Caprio. Perhaps he could hire Paul di Resta. Or, of course, Venturi's 1992 line-up of Gachot and Katayama. And let's hope that Venturi have learned to be a bit more sensible when selling their team. I hope they go with the 'classic' livery of the Venturi:

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 08 Jan 2014, 08:33

Bump, directly from Twitter:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112054 look who's going to drive

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 08 Jan 2014, 09:36

Sato for the title!

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 08 Jan 2014, 23:00

I'm guessing the Adrien Tambay mentioned in the article is related to Patrick Tambay?

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 09 Jan 2014, 08:19

go_Rubens wrote:I'm guessing the Adrien Tambay mentioned in the article is related to Patrick Tambay?

Son of. Good driver and nice guy.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 09 Jan 2014, 17:23

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2uA7IQDD0

Formula E car debut at CES. And well... It's just plain weird.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 09 Jan 2014, 17:38

DanielPT wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2uA7IQDD0

Formula E car debut at CES. And well... It's just plain weird.

Sounds like a gigantic R/C car. :lol: