Formula E’s most successful racer shares his ideas on racing technology

System E will shut out its season this weekend with its first go to to Seoul, South Korea. It is not simply the top of season eight and the final race for the Gen2 electric race cars but in addition marks the collection’ one hundredth race. The game has come a long way since its first ePrix in Beijing in 2014, with extra highly effective vehicles, greater batteries, and a capability to placed on an thrilling race at Monaco, one thing that System 1 hasn’t been capable of say for a number of a long time.

Lucas di Grassi was the winner of that first ePrix and has raced in each ePrix since. He is nonetheless visiting victory lane, most lately in final Sunday’s London ePrix, and this weekend could rating his 1,000th profession level within the collection. With a background in System 1 after which Audi’s mighty R18 e-tron Le Mans program, di Grassi is aware of his manner round a race automotive. So he is often a great particular person to speak to concerning the future route of the game.

Subsequent season the game will get an all-new automotive, one which’s far more highly effective—and lighter, too. However it’s not fairly as daring, know-how sensible, as the concept di Grassi lobbied for. Though that automotive has but to even race in anger, the varied minds that contribute to System E’s R&D roadmap are already thinking about Gen4. Since we had the possibility to talk with the motive force forward of this week’s Seoul ePrix, I wished to know his ideas on the place the game ought to go subsequent. As I hoped, he had loads of them.

You’ve been fairly outspoken up to now about the place you suppose the technical route of the game ought to go, notably as highway automotive EVs function tech that has gone past what System E permits. The place do you suppose Gen4 ought to go?

“That is an excellent query. For me, it’s totally clear from the start the place the know-how roadmap goes, not solely System E, however all of the FIA [the organizing body for global motorsport], of all the pieces—for me they should be far more segmented by way of which options are higher for various collection. Like, endurance racing must be specializing in car-relevant applied sciences. System 1 ought to have essentially the most excessive power-to-weight ratio drivetrains. Then system E—essentially the most environment friendly engines ever. So for me, I might phase it far more and make it possible for the producers they wish to develop and make investments, do,” he informed me.

“[The FIA] have a championship that may develop, and it could possibly use a few of that experience to crossover to totally different collection, however they do not overlap. And in the mean time, there may be loads of overlaps between endurance racing, System 1, System E. It is that the laws are usually not very clear. And I do not suppose there may be someone giving actually, actually clear instructions that that is the way in which these championships are going to evolve, and that is the know-how that really creates worth for the producer and for the followers and for the world in the long run. I believe in the mean time it isn’t a straightforward factor to do. And in the mean time, I do not imagine the job is being achieved in the best manner,” di Grassi stated.