Been wanting to write a video essay about EV's in racing, and I'm looking for some counter arguments. I've been watching some of my favorite series, Nitro RX and World RX get ripped apart by their own fanbase over the switch to electrification. I want to hear your opinions on why or why a series shouldn't go EV. I understand the sound is the biggest factor. While I agree I miss the sounds of a loud, roaring ICE, I don't think it explains everything. What would it take to make EV motorsport "cool" in your opinion? If a series could go electric with the only negative being the lack of sound, would you still disapprove? How to you feel about spec hybrid units?
IMO the problem is that EVs are inherently uncool. Way to sterile and clean, without any passion, which also transfers to race cars that lack passion. Sound is an important characterisitc, especially for race cars. The sound is what makes the hairs on your arms stand up. The high pitched whine of early 2000s F1, the roaring V8s of Nascar, the grumble of an idling Top Fuel Dragster, the buzzing of a WTRC car, those are characteristic. EV all sound the same, no matter the discipline. There are counless videos on YouTube with just engine startup and idling, for LS engines to race cars to historic cars, to trains and boat engines. That's how important the sound of an engine is.
I'm the wrong person for this because I've loved EV's and the idea of Hybrid power for ages... It's just an evolution of what was before... ICE are the old Nokias and EVs are the smart phones... The current Formula E cars are EPIC... No doubt about it I had far more fun watching that 1 race than I did ANY F1 race in the last decade plus... And are trying to build a brand out of this Gen 3 car being the most technical race car ever developed... As a long time Le Mans 24 hour viewer the weird sounds of the FE cars were nothing new to me when I first heard them they reminded me of the Audi LMP1 diesel engines who were silent and had that futuristic sound with the hybrid making the most sound... There's just something cool about that sound to me... It's the future, it's fast and it dominates races... Audi was never one to lack passion and anyone whose seen FE can see there's passion up and down that grid... Where the ACO and F1 commission have failed with new technologies is where FE has thrived... The spec chassis not only created great on track action but it also encouraged the big name brands to join because of the technological advances that could be made in the sport that translate directly to the road... Plus F1 had those stupid lawn mower sounding engine when they introduced hybrid... The Ferrari sounds ok now, but it's a pale comparison to what the sport once was... And that line is where I'm going to give my counter argument... NASCAR, BTCC and V8 Supercars popularity is largely down to the rivalries that are built up with a continuity of sporting regulations... As well as being the national motorsport brand... And if you lose any of those rivalries the popularity suffers as a result... Their popularity is boosted by the fans ability to know what to expect and keep coming back... From what I've read in the past about RX and EVs a lot of the problems came down to the regulations pushing away certain manufacturers, which always causes issues... WEC has seen this countless times in the last decade... And is the one I can draw the best comparison to as it wasn't the Hybrids that caused the issue it was the regulations and how attractive they were for road relevant technologies of the manufacturers involved... Even the loss of one manufacturer can hurt the popularity of a championship because of the lost rivalries... As the world goes further and further away from the good old days of H16s and V12s running around race tracks we've downsized and evolved to where the current technology is at to keep the racing speeds from going too high and in the ever evolving chase for efficency we've hit a limit with the ICE technology that doesn't encourage the manufacturers to do anything... From the Straight 4 turbos which I hated the sound of to the V10s and V8 screamers in F1 which I adored... The futuristic sounds of an EV race will eventually be accepted no different to how the current F1 sounds have managed to survive the loss of those screamers, the 80s turbos, the H16s and the V12s... Nothing is cool at first... Change is scary to most...
Just an interesting story about the 917K in the video above. Lots of years ago I was regularly racing the GTP mod of NR2003 with an american league (FSB) where one of the members had some connection to the RL team in the video - Gunnar racing. And he told me that this 917K Gunnars had bought from a motor museum gave the team some extra surprise when they repainted the car. They discovered that the car was one of Porsches socalled "Hippie Cars" or "psychedelic car".
Hi David. There's also opinions here. EV's In Sims - Discussion carried over from a main (derailed) thread. Automobilista 2 June 2022 Development Update
