By John Beltz Snyder
Formula E completed its
first testing session at the Donington Park circuit, where the electric racing series' headquarters are located.
Lucas di Grassi, driving for Audi Sport Abt, was kind enough to attach a GoPro video camera to his helmet to give us a pilot's-eye view of what its like to steer Formula E's Spark-Renault SRT_01E around the track at full speed.
Formula E
rules state there is to be an FIA-limited maximum speed of 225 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour), and an estimated 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) time of 2.9 seconds. It appears the cars are capable of a little better. According to the video's description, the car can do 0-62 mph in 2.8 seconds, and reaches speeds of over 230 kph (143 mph) on this track. It's not quite Formula 1 speeds, but it's not slow either, which is clear in the video. Also, with many of the drivers being Formula 1 veterans, we can look forward to some ace driving this season.
During the five days of testing, drivers got used to the cars, worked out some of the kinks and got the chance to shave seconds off their lap times. Lucas di Grassi was the second fastest, with a lap time of 1:31.2.
Sébastien Buemi was best over all, with a lap of 1:31.083.
Check out the video
below for a lap around the circuit with di Grassi. Maybe start with the volume turned low. There's quite a bit of wind noise. It is an open cockpit, after all. If you're curious about the sound of the car, check out the video
in this article.