{"id":2028,"date":"2014-09-17T09:48:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T02:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2014-09-17T09:53:07","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T02:53:07","slug":"formula-e-race-day-91314","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=2028","title":{"rendered":"Formula “E” Race Day, 9\/13\/14"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the \u201cexcitement\u201d of last night, we are moving a little slow this morning.\u00a0 <\/span>Judy leaves around 9:30 to run some errands.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve been seeing ads around town for the FORMULA E GRAND PRIX, here in Beijing.\u00a0 <\/span>Formula E cars are electric, thus the \u201cE\u201d, and this is a completely new racing circuit with 10 teams, each with 2 drivers.\u00a0 <\/span>There are 10 races scheduled throughout the world (Rome, London, Miami, etc.)\u00a0 <\/span>They race around the streets like the Formula 1 circuit, and Beijing is the \u201cDebut\u201d of the circuit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The race is today, and the cars are running around the National Stadium (Birdcage) and the Water Cube from the Beijing Olympics.\u00a0 <\/span>How can I miss this?\u00a0 <\/span>I take the train over to check if tickets are still available.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m not sure about the schedule, but something I\u2019ve seen mentioned qualifying laps scheduled for noon.<\/p>\n

When I get off the train and come up out of the station, there are a few ticket scalpers around.\u00a0 <\/span>I check out some prices and the quality of the ticket they\u2019re trying to sell.\u00a0 <\/span>Several of the tickets look genuine.\u00a0 <\/span>I eventually buy a 488rmb ticket for 400rmb, and it actually gets me in.\u00a0 <\/span>Although the signs for the grandstands are not easy to find, I finally find my seat in the grandstand.\u00a0 <\/span>Qualifying races are running, so the stands aren\u2019t too full.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMG_1731\"<\/a> \"IMG_1740\"<\/a> \"IMG_1739\"<\/a> \"IMG_1735\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The qualifying races finish at 1:00 pm, and there are autograph sessions and several VIP activities on the schedule.\u00a0 <\/span>Without a VIP pass, I\u2019m not going anywhere, so I find some shade and a bench and get ready to kill 3 hours.\u00a0 <\/span>The actual race doesn\u2019t begin until 4:00.<\/p>\n

I get bored around 2:30 and start nosing around, finding the pit area.\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t have access to the pits, but the back of the pits is only blocked by low fences, so I have a fun watching the drivers and their teams relaxing before the race under the shade of the trees.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s a beautiful day, and the shaded areas are really comfortable.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1517\"<\/a>

One of the drivers for the Amlin team<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_1746\"<\/a>

One of the China Racing Team drivers<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

VIDEO LINK FOR THE RACE START<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/s\/3qgkk4gvtwjd5d2\/14.9.13.Race%20beginning.MOV?dl=0<\/span><\/p>\n

VIDEO LINK AS THE RACE CONTINUES<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/s\/m5e4c9k8sh6475h\/14.9.13.Race%20continues.MOV?dl=0<\/span><\/p>\n

VIDEO LINK OF THE CAR SWAP<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/s\/vb8tw9y7q1jajvc\/14.9.13.Race.Car%20swap.MOV?dl=0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the race activities ramp up to the start, I head back to the grandstand, find my seat, and get ready for racing.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The format for the race is a one-hour race with each driver changing cars somewhere around the midpoint of the race.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The batteries in the cars won\u2019t last a whole hour, so the car swap in the pits is an important aspect of the race strategy.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The race is fun to watch.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The E cars have a much different sound than Formula 1, Indy, or NASCAR.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve got a decent view of Turn #1.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Most of the non-racing team members are seated around me.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The race ends with the 1<\/span>st<\/sup> and 2<\/span>nd<\/sup> place cars crashing on the final turn as they jockeyed for position.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>One of the cars flipped.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_1754\"<\/a>

The “Birdcage” as I was leaving.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_1755\"<\/a>

Check out the length of the security line for people trying to enter the Olympic Park Area. This had nothing to do with the race. It was just bag-scanning for anyone sight-seeing in the area.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the \u201cexcitement\u201d of last night, we are moving a little slow this morning.\u00a0 Judy leaves around 9:30 to run some errands.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been seeing ads around town for the FORMULA E GRAND PRIX, here in Beijing.\u00a0 Formula E cars … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2031,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions\/2031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}