Could Electric Cars Bring Racing Back to the Masses?
Quieter, easier to maintain, and environmentally friendly, electric cars could create the spark of a grassroots racing resurgence.
Formula E is still struggling to gain traction. Not only is the race schedule erratic, but the excitement just isn’t building fast enough for racing fans. One of the biggest complaints from enthusiasts is the lack of engine noise. For generation upon generation, the sound and smell of engines being thrashed to their limits has been a major ingredient of the atmosphere and excitement of motorsport. However, that lack of noise in racing could be the thing that changes motorsport for the better.
One of the biggest problems any track has is noise regulations. Laguna Seca, for example, is throttled by regulations to the point of absurdity. The track has been part of the local community of Monterey County for 60 years, but over the last few decades houses have been built closer and closer to the track. As a result, Laguna Seca has a 92-decibel noise limit for all but a limited amount of days of the year. That means a small window to host big racing events where a 92 dB limit goes from absurd to impossible. To give us some perspective, a normal conversation is about 60 dB, your 2-stroke lawn mower is about 90 dB, and a loud rock concert is about 120 dB.
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
That decibel limit is not unusual. It also helps explain why tracks are relatively few and far between in the U.S despite our rich history of racing. Anyone looking into opening a new track will quickly find that the only realistic option is building it far enough away from inhabited areas that there’s nobody to complain. Unfortunately, the first question a bank or investors will ask is “Will people travel that far to visit your track?”
Step forward the electric race car.
Formula E cars run at around 80 dB. Of course, we won’t be racing cutting edge Formula E cars at the local levels, but we can expect club racers to be in the same ballpark, if not quieter. Want to build an exclusively electric powered race track near a big city? The good news is that it will be quieter than any nightclub or local bar with a band playing. Or, depending where you live, quieter than the neighbors racing their lawn mowers.
Having somewhere local to race is just the first benefit electric race cars could bring to many more people. The smaller benefits are logistical things like not having to carry containers of fuel to track or race days. Of course, the price of charging will be at the mercy of the track but we should be getting more miles per dollar anyway.
When it comes to batteries and motors, it’s also worth considering that they bring more modularity to cars. Batteries and motors will still wear out but compared with changing an engine now, it’s a much simpler process. Currently, engines are the big differentiator in internal combustions cars, but an electric motor is pretty much an electric motor. We may lose the romance of big V8’s, straight sixes or high strung four-bangers, but the benefit is that maintenance gets simpler and less expensive.
What it means for the future of motorsport.
The lowered cost and time required to both maintain a car and get to the track means a lower barrier to entry to new enthusiasts. A lower barrier to entry means more people that want to go to track days or actually race can get involved. More people using the tracks gives them a better chance of being profitable enough to justify their long-term existence. The best case scenario is that we could end up seeing race tracks close enough to every large city to get people out both racing and spectating.
It’s going to take time for people to get over the loss of engine noise, and some simply won’t. The reality though is that an average Formula E car does 0-60 mph in 3 seconds. An Audi R8 LMS GT3 Race Car may sound like righteous fury from the start line, however, the Formula E car will be quicker. It’s also worth considering just how boring Formula 1 has gotten despite the insane amount of noise they make. Sound is an ingredient, but intense competition will always define good racing.
What that means for drivers.
It’s not like internal combustion car racing will go away any time soon. But for most of us, we suspect the sound will be a price worth paying to have easier access to tracks and run cars that are relatively easier to maintain and tune. After all, it’s great if a car looks and sounds great but the point of cars is ultimately to drive them. If there’s a solid growth in grass roots racing we could even see more club racer versions of production cars. In Europe, Renault is already playing with that idea by turning their small economy electric car into a track purposed hot hatch.
That would be an expensive way of going racing though. Automakers putting together discount programs and other benefits for people racing their cars would have a larger effect. With more tracks and people getting out to them, it would make sense for automakers to get more involved. It would also bring opportunities for more racing series, and for the automakers, more spec model racing. That kind of build up could add up to not just more people getting to the track, but more people getting a chance to compete and make a career out of racing.
Join the TeamSpeed forums now!
