E-LECTRIC E-MOTIONS

A motor sport week end with a difference and in New York? That alone justified my strategic plan: a quick trip for the first day of Formula One practice at Silverstone followed by an overnight flight across the Atlantic, not to miss the very first motor race to be held in the streets of the big Apple. I remember the day we rolled a Jaguar F.1 down Broadway to Times Square with Eddie Irvine in 2000. It was a demonstration run, heavily promoted by Ford, a very short stint full of logistic nightmares. That solitary and primitive trial was followed a few years later by Ecclestone’s attempt to bring his monster cars to New Jersey. The formulas made the news, but not the streets. Racing any car in the avenues of the most iconic city in the world is not a simple job. For this I raise my cap to the promoters of Formula E for having succeeded where others failed. The E-prix itself cannot be compared to any of the races on the F.1 calendar coz we are simply talking about chalk and cheese and I spare you with the details. Formula One is Formula One and there is no chance for this new and battery powered motor racing series to take over and to become the pinnacle of the sport. However the E-championship has its merits, the most valuable being the chance to race where others are simply not allowed. For this world-wide petrol-heads have a bigger choice now and that might literally be just around the corner from home….