I like motorsport, so I watch a lot of it. I try to go in person, where possible. I know some local drivers personally, and I have considered becoming a track “official”. That’s my starting point for this “perspective”.
Recently, I came across Formula E. The all-electric version of Formula 1, basically…
It’s a bit shit, partly because the cars and drivers are like off-brand Formula 1, but mainly because the rules are fucking absurd, and they have chosen absurd temporary tracks, in shitty locations, in old industrial parts of big cities around the world, instead of using existing track infrastructure… So it just… Looks like shit the whole time. Seoul was novel because they used the old Olympic Park, but in general it was just… Shit.
Today I watched Extreme E, which is the rally equivalent (electric), and it is just… A complete fucking joke. Comically absurd.
All teams must have one man and one woman. Each of those does one lap of the course in the car, with a 40-second stationary changeover in between (yes, really). Each of the races is held “in a remote location” WITH NO SPECTATORS. It is purely made for TV. No pit. Everything (external to the car) is done indoors, in tents. Teams aren’t allowed to travel by air, so the series bought their own cargo ship, which they then proceed to use to carry all the equipment to these “vulnerable” locations (which is why no spectators, they claim), which they then destroy with race cars…
Half of each episode is devoted to greenwashing initiatives, climate change shit, and “white man bad”. At one point they were literally planting trees in the desert sand (!!), for virtue signaling purposes…
The whole thing is sponsored by the Saudi government (who else?), with the most convoluted rules I have ever seen in a car race, and yep, the first round held in the Saudi desert…
It’s a joke. A mockery of the sport. And yet all that fucking Saudi blood money means it is is widely promoted, and essentially immune to criticism…
Like, fuck, surely banning spectators tells you what a joke the whole thing is (even Dakar does not do that, and it literally uses some of the same course, now)…
Who would have thought that they could even ruin car racing, in current year (thanks, Hollywood, Jenson Button and fucking Lewis Hamilton once again!! They’re some of the main “sponsors” of this shit) smh…
They ban spectators because if they were allowed but the seats were empty it would look bad.
It just sounds bad, high pitched whines and dyson vacuums, not enjoyable on that basis alone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2HX5wsQVEA It's gay
I've never watched it, just read about it on Wikipedia. Sticking a bunch of electric SUVs on the St Helena and sailing around for an intercontinental race series is a fun idea, but then you've got all the other stuff.
I've wanted to watch Formula E, but it just seemed boring a few minutes in.
The shipping container sounds like a great idea, everything is in it to make a production. It sounds like the producers wanted to try a traveling show, came up with an ingenious idea, and then the hired crew and investors destroyed it.
Why doesn't .win have a driving group anyway? I like finding fun roads, and seeing what I can do with them. It would be fun to chat about that.
There's like a few hundred of us here, and out of that how many like cars? And how close are we to each other geographically?
Not only that, but if we start meeting in person we lose anonymity and possibly get marked by Feds just for posting here.
Yeah, the concept is cool. It’s just a very, very odd… Execution. To the point where the coverage is just… Unwatchable.
Motorsport really sucks without the crowd of spectators, lol…
Which is why Extreme E worked during lockdowns, but just looks like a joke, now…
Re the .win Driving group, I would be really keen for that, if anyone makes one! 👍
We have some dope roads down here in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly island roads and Alpine switchbacks!
Though also the longest stretch of straight road on Earth, surprisingly (the Nullarbor highway), so really… There's just about every “road type” you could want, down here. It’s just… Slightly balanced by the fact that we (Aus and NZ) are complete nanny states, which affects what you can do on those roads, at any time, ahaha…
Forza Horizon made me hate Extreme E.
Hot Wheels FTW.
That season absolutely sucked. I almost went back to Fortnite.
Did you see the breaking news about Extreme E? They will have to have ethnic minority mechanics.
Sounds like it'll be fun for the sort of car race fan who only watches for the accidents, anyway.
I did not, but that is… the most unsurprising thing I have seen today, ahaha…
“Virtue signaling: the series”
It’s funny, because that rule basically makes it literally just like Hollywood, no..?
Cringe…
I was going to say before: when Mullins slagged off karting, like it was “beneath her” (she literally said “I grew up in a rally car. I’ve only been karting maybe twice in my life. It’s a waste of time and I don’t need it.”), in her “series driver interviews”, I knew the whole thing was a complete joke…
Let’s call it what it is, then: rich kids “race” EVs, often badly, in dumb locations, while pretending to care about the environment, and taking that sweet, sweet Saudi oil money…
It could be a cool concept. It’s just… Not. For the reasons we’ve all said, lol.
I don't really watch motorsport, I enjoy watching Truck Trial videos once in a while, or old Group B rally madness, but it's not something I keep up with. So I looked up some Formula E footage because you made me curious, and sweet Jesus on a pogo stick, you weren't kidding, what the fuck is this?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-9yIN2ARI0
Oh trust me, this is even worse…
If you think that’s bad, look up “Extreme E” (the rally version), which is what I mainly made this post about…
It’s so much worse than even that, ahaha…
Fuck me, that looks dumb. Here, have some antidote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKMsWZadx6E
There's absolutely no way you're a big motorsports fan, but also just learned about Formula E.
The post was about Extreme E (rally raid), not Formula E (open-wheeled racing).
They are not the same thing.
But regarding that sentence specifically, I’ve known about it for a while. I just hadn’t watched it, because fuck paying for that shit… This year is the first time I have ever seen it (or IndyCar) on free-to-air over here. Hence what I said.
You mention both, by name, in your original post. The primary content of the post doesn't make the Formula E line stop existing, and I certainly didn't conflate the two in my previous comment as you're implying. To quote the relevant portions again:
I normally wouldn't care about the, "Recently, I came across," here, but it's relevant in the context of the perspective you led the post with, along with the review paragraph about Formula E itself. It wasn't, "Recently, I finally watched," but rather it implied that you recently learned about or stumbled upon it. And that doesn't match with your claimed perspective.
And I definitely wouldn't typically care about replying to a week-old post, but I don't mind squabbling about context if you care enough to reply this many days later.
I don't mind Formula E. The rules are retarded, the cars are a bit slow, but it passes the time and you usually won't hear a woman's voice, so it's something I don't actually like, but I'm indifferent to it, which makes it watchable. The other good thing about it existing is that F1 can't go electric without cannibalising it.
Extreme E is such a joke. LH is the gift that keeps on giving for our oppressors. You're not wrong about the constant climate propaganda. It's like what I always thought Formula E was like until I watched some of it.
What do you think about the news that Alpine want a female driver in 5-10 years in F1? I'm thinking it's the second coffin nail in the downfall of F1 after Lewis Hamilton's existence.
Aramco exec : "Look at all the money we're making!"
Aramco exec 2 : "Yeah but look how pissed the climate cultists are...they might try to shut us down."
Aramco exec : "Just throw some money at their propaganda. It'll fix our image with them."
Agreed on all counts, ha.
It’s funny, because the racing part of the Extreme E shit was ok… So if it was just that, without all the other bullshit on top, I actually wouldn’t care too much.
However, because it is made purely for television, we can’t even escape that. Can’t go and watch in person. Can’t switch to a different broadcaster’s coverage. Utter, utter bullshit…
Formula E I could respect more, as you say, if they just had better tracks. Like, ok, fine, have your street circuits (because the cars are slow), but for god’s sake put them somewhere actually interesting, with decent scenery, not fucking South Brooklyn and East London where you can’t even see the landmarks in the background… /rant
On the females bit - you know, I actually don’t mind that so much, wherein the drivers are decent at what they do… But that notably only applies to some of them, and not, despite the size of her ego, bloody Catie Mullins…
As long as they are good enough drivers, I don’t really care. Though the quota IS dumb, and the forty-second changeover is utterly absurd (there has to be a better way of doing that)… But yeah, maybe it’s because Molly Taylor is the only Aus in the series - I don’t really mind that aspect, ha.
Though I do agree that the female commentator was horrific. On that much we are in full agreement, lol.
The whole thing is just… Surreal, frankly. And that’s coming from someone who grew up watching Targa races in person (and Dakar on TV, before the Saudi blood money got that one, too)…
I'm surprised a series with as much money as this has to throw at it simply hasn't gone for a second car. That'd allow 'em to just start Car B as Car A comes in and also means they could hammer Car A harder...
It would ruin their eco friendly look by having two cars.
I like this. Or just… Co-drivers (like any other rally). Take it in turns as navigator (one can do it in quallies, one can do it in semis, and then swap back for the final). Or hell, if they insist that each has to do a lap, I still think it would be better to have the navigator-driver situation - then at least they only have to change seats, not run in and out of the tent, as now…
But 40 seconds is still bonkers, even now, because enduro racing manages to do this (Touring Cars, Le Mans, etc), without making them layover for 40 seconds each time…
Like in those, sure, it takes time, but at least they don’t mandate that each team must hold there for the 40 seconds, each time (regardless of how long it actually physically takes them), lololol…