The sign on the pit entrance was clear – ‘Today’s event is noise limited to 98dBA’.
But there would be no need to call the noise police – motorsport’s quiet revolution was in town.
For four days over two consecutive weeks, the 10 Formula E teams put
their new cars to the test and the gates were opened for the public to
come in and witness the nascent steps of the first all-electric
single-seater championship.
The weather gods played along too, and while the wind meant there was
an occasional nip in the air, there was only a brief period at the end
of day two when it was a brolly rather than sun block the crowd
required.
New faces
The only previous time the teams had run their cars on track – the
shakedown in June – most were still in plain carbonfibre black, and only
a small percentage of the drivers had officially been confirmed.
But with the series global launch taking place at the beginning of
the week ahead of the first test, a flurry of driver announcements were
made, and when the cars took their place in the Roundhouse theatre, all
bar the new Trulli team – which had taken over the Drayson entry – had
their liveries on display.
This meant it was a much more colourful sight when the cars hit the
track on the morning of Thursday July 3. Up and down the pitlane many
drivers were having their first test of an electric racing car, while
Mike Conway had the honour of completing the first-ever Formula E lap
for Dragon Racing, the US-based team having missed the private
shakedown.
In the time between the shakedown and the test, the second batch of
Spark-Renaults had arrived, and that meant half of the chassis were
conducting their very first installation runs in the public eye.
Unsurprisingly, this resulted in a few teething troubles, which saw a
number of red flags as the session was halted and the stricken cars
recovered.
“This is why we go testing,” became the mantra for the day.
There were also a couple of familiar faces in paddock as double
IndyCar champ Gil de Ferran and ex-F1 racer Christian Danner dug out
their crash helmet for a taste of the future.
De Ferran had a run out for Andretti Autosport, while DHL ambassador
Danner drove the Formula E test car. Both were visibly pushing, locking
brakes at the Melbourne Hairpin and getting the rear out as the power
kicked in.
“Racing cars cannot be driven at slow speeds,” Danner explained,
“they have to be driven at proper speeds and proper speeds means that
you lock a wheel or you get a little sideways, that's normal, that's how
it should be otherwise you don't feel the car.”
With the sessions being interrupted, there were plenty of
opportunities for a tea break. But with electrical power at a premium,
Mahindra driver – and tea lover - Karun Chandhok was told he couldn’t
plug in the kettle! Luckily there’s a great bon homie among the teams
and the Venturi boys offered the Indian a spare socket so he could make a
brew.
The teams also concentrated on understanding how using the various
power modes affected the life of the battery and the performance of the
car rather than setting outright times, but for the record Buemi set the
fastest time of the day.
However, there was still one final treat in store for the fans who
stayed around to the end as seven of the cars made their way around to
the grid for the first-ever Formula E standing start. Jaime Alguersuari
sprinted to the front of the queue to bag an unofficial pole, but it was
Chandhok who made the best start, slicing through the row ahead of him
on the run down to Redgate.
Chicanery
Testing continued to be a start/stop affair on the second day, and
although some of this was due to mechanical problems, a significant
amount of running time was lost to the after effects of contact with the
tyre chicane.
The fast flowing corners of Donington, and the billiard table-smooth
track surface, means the circuit bears little resemblance to the tight
and twisty, and almost certainly bumpy, street venues the series will
visit.
To create something slightly representative of the tracks on the
calendar, a tight tyre chicane was erected on the exit of Old Hairpin.
While it may have simulated threading the car through a first-gear
series of corners, it also took a bit of a walloping at times, and
following one last hefty contact the decision was made to remove it all
together.
Instantly the lap times tumbled by more than four seconds, and when
the session finally came to a conclusion it was ABT’s Lucas di Grassi
who was fastest.
Feel the power tailored
Just five days after the first official test finished the cars, and
fans, were back for Donington for another run-out. Following the lessons
learned the first time out, the cars ran much more reliably, but
unfortunately the increased running meant more charging and this tipped
the circuit’s power supply over the edge.
A number of electrical blackouts meant the cars were occasionally
literally powerless to leave the pits, but there’s a great spirit among
the Formula E teams and while there was frustration there was an
acceptance that it was just one of those things and they made the best
of it.
There was one unfortunate casualty of the need to take the load off
leccy supply, and the music soundtrack that had underscored the
high-pitched whirr of the cars had to be switched off. It had generally
gone down well among the fans in the grandstand, many of whom were used
to the ear-splitting noise traditional internal-combustion engine race
cars produce and were still getting used to being able to have
conversations while the cars blasted by!
Having had a pretty much trouble-free day, Buemi was once again the fastest.
Mr Blue Sky
Most people were expecting rain for the final day of testing, so the
gorgeous clear blue skies of Thursday morning were a very pleasant
surprise – although the Pit Stop shop will surely be ruing not bulk
buying some factor 30…
In the pitlane there was a small amount of commotion as a camera crew
jockeyed to get a nice shot of the car. And then from the garage
emerged some genuine British TV royalty – Angela Rippon – kitted out in a
race suit too. The One Show presenter was in Donington filming a piece
for the prime time BBC1 show. After interviewing Virgin team principal
Alex Tai, Rippon had a long chat with Trulli’s Michela Cerruti. The
piece will be aired on Friday (July 11) at 7pm – or if you’re reading
this after that, look for it on the BBC iPlayer (UK residents only).
Some overnight tweaks to the power distribution meant Donington was
no longer doing an impression of Britain during the winter of
discontent, and the cars hit the track more frequently and for longer
than on any of the three previous test days, which was welcome news as
more fans had turned than before too.
With teams and drivers now able to think about setting times rather
than solely concentrating on understanding the dynamics of the car, by
the end of the morning session di Grassi had set a new standard,
recording a 1m31.2s lap.
During the final hour most of the drivers had a crack at lowering
their times and for the third time in four test days it was Buemi who
set the standard, establishing a new unofficial Formula E lap record at
Donington of 1m31.083s.
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