VIDEO: Ho-Pin Tung tests the Spark-Renault STR_01E

After more than 3,000 km of trials, testing for the Renault-Spark SRT_01E race car that will be used for the 2014/2015 FIA Formula E Championship has been completed, with the first delivery of cars set to arrive at the new Formula E Donington Park headquarters on May 15.

Among those who have tested the fully-electric single-seater is ex-A1GP and GP2 Series driver Ho-Pin Tung, who took the car out at the Circuit Monteblanco in Spain last week. The 31-year-old Chinese driver, who currently races in the Asian Le Mans Series and the Asian Carrera Cup, completed three race simulations and was surprised by the performance of the car.

“It’s very different from what I expected and I think the main reason being that I didn’t really know what to expect! Obviously everything is different from every other Formula car you’re used to. It’s got a very different type of tyre, which is a significant difference,” he said.

“There’s going to be super-close racing because you can brake really late,” he added. “Having seen the Beijing track layout, it looks like there’s going to be lots of overtaking opportunities, and with the Fan Boost system you will have to be really strategic with the way that you use it.”

“Obviously, you can save on some laps and then use extra energy on the other laps, so an energy saving strategy is going to be very important during the race, and I think you’ll see a lot of drivers looking for and creating chances and making an opportunistic move on the inside into a corner.”

The inaugural Formula E season will kick off in Beijing on September 13, followed by Putrajaya a month later, on October 18. Both venues have had their circuit layouts revealed.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • The front down force of the car is really small compare to formula cars.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • handmatic on May 02, 2014 at 4:07 pm

    This championship is very suitable for Proton to join.

    The car got no doors so no power window motor installed.

    Power window rosak normally consumed lots of electricity. no power window means more power boost to the wheels!

    Go Proton, go!!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 16
  • A new kind of safety measure will have to be evolved with electric power. The current driving suit for example is designed to minimize fire danger from petrol, but with batteries, it may not be suitable anymore. Those batteries packed an incredible amount of energy with extremely close tolerance. In a crash, those energy may be out of control and pose a new kind hazard. Even standard car battery, when shorted, have enough energy to melt metal.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 2
 

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