Roborace....?!?!

The guy (Daniel Simon) who designed this for the film Oblivion....

And this for the film Tron Legacy...

Has designed this...

for a new racing series that will support the various races held across the Formula E season. Looks great except this racing series is Roborace with all teams having the same car but with no human drivers allowed and only AI and algorithms creating the racing spectacle....  Now, unfortunately this is where my excitement (and most probably yours) .... stopped. So what is being proposed here is a battle of the nerds (no offense to those guys involved) to code their way to victory...

I am sorry but this will be about as exciting to watch as watching paint dry... Sure, it may be interesting to watch a race or two just to see how such a thing may be possible (self driving cars racing each other) but as soon as the initial novelty wears off, a Roborace event will be as stale as a 5 week old loaf of bread...

The whole essence of racing is the combination of man and machine... the only thing that makes F1 vaguely watchable these days are the drivers behind the helmets, because the mental / psychological aspect of the battle that takes place between driver and driver is what fans relate to and keeps people interested; How driver's deal with set backs and obstacles throughout a race and a season and their reactions to them is what creates the racing drama.

No drivers = no personalities battling it out to be champion. Sure the coders behind the scenes will be experiencing a few competitive urges whilst they code through the night to stop their car driving itself off the road but this will be mostly out of sight.

For me, the greatest thing about Roborace has been to discover the awesome visual and design work of Daniel Simon Design and realising he has been behind the design and creation of some of the vehicles I have dreamed of actually getting behind the wheel of, like the Light Runner from Tron Legacy and the dragonfly-like flying vehicle from Tom Cruise's film Oblivion. What an awesome job he has, working with the likes of Bugatti and Disney crossing the worlds of motor-sport and film to bring to life his ideas. Dream job anyone...?!

Adrian Newey AM RB Hypercar = Pure Genius

Adrian Newey has been the not so secret talisman of success for F1 teams for the last 20 years and his departure from full time duties at the Red Bull F1 team was always going to be a downer for them, regardless of what team management say. The idea for Adrian to step back from day-to-day duties at the team was to allow him time to work on other projects with racing sail yachts most often mentioned. Thankfully for the world he did this as he has produced what can only be described as a mind-blowingly beautiful and complex new shape of a hypercar in the form of the Aston Martin AM RB 001.

Just when you think that no one can surely produce a more beautiful car than such creations as the McLaren P1, La Ferrari or the Pagani Zonda F, along comes Adrian Newey to make all these so called hyper cars look like 2 tonne gorillas. The level of detail in the various shapes that comprise this car is just mind boggling. It is no surprise to hear that Adrian would analyise parts of the car, section-by-section describing in detail how the airflow would behaves and react to the contours of the car.

In summary, an absolutely awesome car that has raised the bar to new heights that other car manufacturers will now struggle to follow but I will enjoy seeing them try...!

Formula E Adopts Futuristic New Front Wing

I continue to beleive that Formula E is one of the most exciting racing series around at the moment given its focus on purely electric driven vehicles (unlike F1's current hybrid philosophy) and given the still relatively level playing field with respect to car performance across the field (albeit differentials in performance were clearly present in season 2).

One of the key elements that still remains the same is each car's aerodynamic package which helps to immediately avoid F1's largest problem at present - the large dependence of a car's aerodynamice package on its performance and the insane costs incurred by teams by running wind tunnels and super-computers to carry out CFD. This is one element, that if FE remain to keep in place, would allow it to potentially rival F1 in the future in terms of providing a real racing spectacle.

This has not stopped the evolution of the look and feel of the standrad aero' package but the latest changes have not been made to improve performance but to improve the aesthetics of the cars. For this I once again applaud FE and believe it reveals the genius of the series. By developing a more futuristic front wing they have begun a journey into making their race cars look more futuristc than other single seater race cars out there and they can use this element of the 'Formula' as a key differentiator going forward. 

As you can see from the pictures, the new front wing looks amazing and even resembles some of the concepts we saw from Ferrari and Red Bull  for their visions of the ultimate racers. Unfortunately for these two F1 teams, it looks like FE will get their cars closer to the look and feel of their futuristic racers long before F1 ever does.

Formula Renault Single Seater Experience

I have wanted to have a go in a single seater for a good few years now and was originally booked in by my partner for Silverstone's single seater experience. However, after this was withdrawn from Red Letter Days I had to find an alternative and remembering my younger brother's experience at another major British track, I tried to focus on the quality of the single seater as opposed to the track itself and came across the Formula Renault experience.

The look of the  is pretty good and as a entry level to series to motor racing for those going on to F3 and beyond it seemed like a good opportunity to try out my first experience of a single seater race car.

The experience itself was like all track days, relatively short (see the video here) but it was enough to get an idea of some of the differences and challenges to driving such cars. The extremely narrow cockpit, very close pedals and laid back driving position all not letting you forget that you are not driving your daily run around. Unfortunately, despite a 6 speed sequential gearbox, I was limited to a single gear and the track itself was no Silverstone (and extremely short!) but it was interesting with the amount of wandering due to bump steer quite a surprise. I didn't get anywhere near the limit of the car ad probably would have reached mine before that point but it was an interesting experience that has definitely left me wanting more... : )

Formula E Virtual Championship!!!

I only caught wind of this over the last few days but it appears Formula E are pulling off another master stroke at winning over new audiences by launching a virtual championship. The competition requires the ownership of an XBox One and I am guessing a compatible racing wheel (can't be setting competitive lap times on a controller). Unfortunately, I am an owner of neither and will not be able to justify the expense to the other half even if there is a share of a 15 thousand Euro purse up for grabs... : ( I would definitely be purchasing both right away if I had my way...

The format appears to be four rounds and utilises the Forza 6 game as the basis of the championship to which the Formula E cars were recently added. More details can be found in the following links:

Formula E website

The Verge

One lucky lady...

I came across this Youtube video several weeks ago and enjoyed the unique insight into how the super rich get their driving fix! What an amazing car the FXX K is and what an experience to be able to take one to the track on one of Ferrari's specially arranged trackdays and Spa no less! Oh how the other half live. To say I am envious would be an undertstatement.

To top it all, this car belongs to a certain Christine Sloss, who I had absolutely no idea who she was when I first watched this video but very quickly found out. Oh to be married to a Google executive - those guys are obviously making some serious money.

Good for Christine though as she looks to be the real deal, apparently lapping very respectable lap times at Fiorano when she first went to try out her yellow FXX K (which is in addition to the trackday only Ferrari 599 XX she already had in her possession). 

 

The yellow was at first a little shocking but after a while looks pretty cool and looks to be a trait of the Sloss family car collection which includes a La Ferrari in the same colour too.

As I have said before, when you see a lady all decked out in overalls you know she is dressed as such because she is investing in a hobby she is obviously taking seriously as opposed to a guy who buys the overalls to try and look the part (whilst not necessarily being the part). I have a lot of respect for Ms Sloss as she clearly is the real deal...! What a lucky lady to have the opportunity to enjoy her hobby at such a level as this.

Everyman Driving Experience

Last Saturday, I headed to the Top Gear Test Track at Dunsfold Aerodrome to drive a Porsche 911 (997), Aston Martin DB9 and Nissan GTR. As I drove each car, the experience, just by pure luck of the order in which I drove the cars and a growing confidence in driving the track, got better and better.

The Porsche had a great sound when it was being pushed hard in the lower gears but thanks to the auto gearbox you never knew when the car would decide to actually change down and start using  them - quite frustrating and ultimately made the car that I was most looking forward to drive a disappointment. The handling of the car was otherwise brilliant.

The Aston had a semi-auto, flappy paddle gearbox which was more fun but the on-board computer took about a second before engaging the actual gear I was requesting. The accelerator at low speeds was ultra sensitive too to the point of being slightly unsafe. I did hit 140 mph down the straight though which was fun and probably the fastest I have ever driven a car in my life...!

The Nissan, being the most modern car driven on the day, ended up being the best of all three and proved to be quite a joy to drive. So much so that I actually forked out the extra dosh to purchase my on-board footage which can be found here.