Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 18 July 2017

With engines whirring, electric car racing comes to Brooklyn

By RALPH D. RUSSO the VIPs who got to walk
AP Sports Writer the track before the race.
NEW YORK (AP) — The roar The Hudson Horns played
of the engine was replaced Stevie Wonder’s “Supersti-
by a furious whirring as the tion” as select fans strolled
future of motorsports came across the black top as if it
to Brooklyn. was a weekend street fair,
Formula E took over part minus the food carts and
of the waterfront neigh- folding tables full of home-
borhood of Red Hook on made wares for sale.
Sunday, the second of two At the Allianz Explorer
race days for the Qual- Zone, fans could check out
comm New York City ePrix. BMW’s electric automo-
The Formula One-style, biles and Jaguars’ I-Pace
open-wheel cars reach Concept, an SUV that will
speeds of 140 mph but be the company’s first en-
only about 80 decibels, try into the electric market.
compared with 130 deci- While Formula E aspires to
bels for the cars with com- be a highly competitive
bustion engines. Instead racing circuit, it is also a
of screaming down the means by which automak-
straightaways the way F1 ers can develop electric
cars do, FE cars buzz like gi- technology and show off
ant colorful hummingbirds. Sam Bird, right, drives during the Formula E all-electric New City ePrix Saturday, July 15, 2017, in what it can do.
And they run clean and the Brooklyn borough of New York. “For us, what’s really impor-
green. Associated Press tant is this represents the fu-
Sam Bird from the DS Virgin cheap furniture for their ex- uar Racing, a new team neighborhood to reach ture,” said James Barclay,
Racing team won Sunday’s pensive apartments. to the circuit this year. “The by mass transit and it’s no team director for Jaguar
49-lap race over the nar- With the track right next to energy management in place to try to park a car. Panasonic. “The car indus-
row 1.2-mile, 10-turn track the Brooklyn Cruise Termi- the race is quite unique.” Organizers ran shuttle bus- try is moving toward elec-
from the pole to sweep the nal, the Statute of Liberty New York is the second- es from the Barclays Cen- trification.
weekend races for team had a great view of the to-last of nine stops for the ter, home of the Nets and We’re going through a
owner Richard Branson, starting grid. Formula E series. Previous a major subway hub, to transition period. It’s going
the billionaire adventurer. Twenty drivers started the
The three-year-old FE se- race with enough battery
ries is sanctioned by the power to make it through
International Federation of about 25 laps. They switch
Automobiles, the govern- cars during the race and
ing body for Formula One, the key is energy conser-
making the New York City vation. Drivers are careful
ePrix the first race run by a not to lean too hard on the
major motorsports organi- accelerator and can re-
zation in the five boroughs. charge the battery when
The street course was braking.
squeezed into an indus- “With it being electric,
trial area that has become there’s no delay from
more residential in recent when you put the throttle
years. Red Hook is known down to when it gets to

Nelson Piquet Jr. of Team NextEV NIO does a practice lap ahead of the Formula E all-electric
auto race, Saturday, July 15, 2017, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. This weekend, a Brook-
lyn waterfront with a view of the Statue of Liberty will be transformed into a racetrack for the
Formula E Championship series.
Associated Press
race sites include Berlin, the race site about 3 miles to take a number of years.
Monaco, Paris and Mexico away. But what is quite clear is we
City. There were also ride-share do need to move away
Car begin to lap the Formula E all-electric auto race road In two weeks, the series stations, a bicycle valet from combustion cars for
course, Saturday, July 15, 2017, in the Brooklyn borough of New finishes in Montreal. Thou- and water taxis and ferries the future.
York. sands attended the races from Manhattan. “It’s about learning, devel-
Associated Press
in Brooklyn, packing two The event drew curious lo- oping and proving actual
metal grandstands over- cals and motorsports fans. electrical vehicle technol-
for its microbreweries, food the wheels,” said Mitch Ev- looking the track on Sun- Comedian Trevor Noah of ogy on the racetrack and
trucks and an Ikea where ans of New Zealand, who day. Not bad considering Comedy Central’s “The applying that to make our
New Yorkers can buy drives for Panasonic Jag- Red Hook is not the easiest Daily Show” was among road cars of the future.”q