Formula E in Miami

[Jims5543]

So after 2 months of doing nothing, I have a fun weekend coming up starting tomorrow. I will post here when I can.

I have been planning this since last year, I knew the Formula E race was coming to Miami, and booked a hotel near where the race is to be held in downtown Miami. Actually 3 hotel rooms as my buddy and his wife are joining us as well as my older son and and nephew are all going as well.

We plan to use mass transit and walk for everything all weekend. Which should be fun.

So check back for pics and stories. If you have not watched a Formula E race they are fun short races.  The really interesting parts are that the cars are pretty equal so the racing is very tight and for whatever reason the last two laps turn into a demolition derby. everyone seems to get red mist and lose their minds at once.

[Jims5543]

I have to say, I enjoyed the racing a lot, there was a lot of passing and while I am not a huge Scott Speed fan, I was pulling for the Andretti team to do well. Jean Eric Verne is the other driver for them and took pole for the weekend, he had some issues and fell way back one was a mistake Prost was pushing him hard and forced him to brake too late for a corner and fall way back as he had to take an escape road.

Speed on the other hand charged from a 10th place stating position to 2nd. So he had a great day.

Some pics form the weekend.

The cars sounded surreal, there is no engine noise you just hear the whining of the transmission, best I could tell 4 forward gears, top speed is 150 in qualifying trim and 130 in race trim. They turn down the power so the batteries last longer.






A formula E car up close.



BMW had a I car display, here is the i8, sexy beast.


Ahh... Downtown Miami (Brickell to be exact) I love visiting cities, not sure I could live in one. Although we LOVED walking everywhere and using the mass transit to get everywhere. We about killed our friends, same age but not in as good a shape and with good reason, she is a cancer survivor and he just had his knee scoped. She is still having lymph node problems, a fallout / casualty from the cancer war she fought.


Ahh.. Miami waterfront, this is Museum park looking our on Biscayne Bay, this was the view from the racetrack. This is also where the Ultra Music festival will be next weekend.


My son on the left and nephew on the right, Mrs.5543 answering my text message I sent here LOL!!  We had 2 rooms on the same floor and I could see their balcony from ours.


Giant yacht backing in to watch the race.



After qualifying, we walked back into downtown Miami, Yelp led us to this Gastropub and I found a hangover cure. I normally do not take pictures of food, this burger was a medicinal miracle so it gets a pic. Not sure if the burger fixed me or if the 2 IPA's I had did the trick, but I was ready to go after this.



I decided on General admission tickets, they were $15 each (presale discount) and I was not sure where I wanted to sit in a grandstand anyway. To be honest, the grandstands were out in the open, no cover, so fans were baking in 87° Miami sun. In the shade, where we ended up standing along the track, it was like it was air conditioned, there was a nice breeze blowing and we were very comfortable. So we camped here at the last turn heading to the start / finish line. We had a jumbo tron to keep an eye on the race too.
These folks got creative and climber a RR Crossing, it did not last long they got ordered down by security.



Mrs.5543 taking in the race.


Fans packed in watching.


Last turn:


As we were walking through downtown Miami we stumbled upon a piece of the Berlin wall.


The Metro Mover is a bus on elevated train tracks that is free to the people in Miami. It loops all around downtown Miami. Unfortunately it was overwhelmed when the race crowd stormed the platforms. We ended up walking most of the 1.6 mile walk back to the hotel.


Our Hotel had a pool. Ah.... Miami...

[Mudhen]

Never heard of Formula E...looks like you had an awesome time!   4.gif

[MiniDave]

Formula E is interesting - F1 cars with electric motors - they run half the race in one car, the come into the pits and change cars and do the second half!

[Jims5543]

Formula E is interesting - F1 cars with electric motors - they run half the race in one car, the come into the pits and change cars and do the second half!

Which I think is a huge misstep on the part of Formula E.  They should have a pit stop where they swap out the battery, develop tech to make this happen so it can be applied in the real world.


Outside of the stupid car change mid race, the racing is actually very fun.  The next season is about to start off again and I will probably hit up the Miami race again this year, we had a blast.

[MiniDave]

Yes it's a tough battle between managing your tires and having enough battery left at the end to either defend your position or make a run to the front.

But that's my whole problem with both this and the current F1.....it's all about conserving to the end rather than really racing full out. In F1 it's about managing your tires and not running out of gas or using too much at a time! It's ridiculous......

[Jims5543]

In FE there are not enough laps for tires to play a role, the battery on the other hand can be an issue. That said, the racing it fun in FE, 10th place to 2nd on a street circuit?  Make a mistake and you end up from 1st to 8th?   Push a guy hard and force a mistake?  Sounds like some good old school racing.

I am getting assigned seats next time so I can see the action and the jumbo tron better. I cannot wait.

Crap, I just checked to see when Miami is happening and the date has a TBD on it in March.  It might not be coming back to Miami?  Darn! Hopefully it will still be in Florida.

[Jims5543]

Oh, I 100% agree with F1 I am tired of this tire management racing and fuel management too.

I wish they would go back to some loud ass V10 engines and just go at it, maybe throw in the KERS to make it even more insane and interesting.