E-Fest 2022: Racing scheduled to return to False Creek — with a sustainable twist

Article content

The first Canadian E-Fest is taking shape and, if all goes according to plan, the three-day event next Canada Day weekend will be the biggest, certainly the fastest, speed festival this city has seen since the Molson Indy Vancouver turned its last lap 17 years ago.

Article content

Unlike the 15-year run that gasoline-fuelled, ear splitting car race enjoyed on the eastern shore of False Creek, while consistently setting attendance records for the series, the inaugural Vancouver E-Prix on July 2, 2022, will be powered by clean electricity and most likely be out-decibeled by the SkyTrain buzzing overhead parts of the False Creek track. Call it a sign of the times.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

E-Fest 2022: Racing scheduled to return to False Creek — with a sustainable twist Back to video

The all-electric race itself is one part of the overarching E-Fest, which also includes a two-day sustainability E-Volve conference, two E-Live concerts at Rogers Arena, and an E-Sports gamer racing tournament on a virtual False Creek track with a purse of $50,000.

Montreal-based E-Fest promoter OSS Group has been working for nearly three years to put together an all-electric race in Vancouver, which will mark the second Formula E event in Canada. The first one was held in Montreal in 2017 and was, apart from the doubleheader races themselves, an unmitigated disaster.

Article content

Championed by then-Mayor Denis Coderre and financed by the city, it ended up costing taxpayers more than $35 million and caused major traffic and construction issues for a month. It also ended up costing Coderre his job, as the Formula E fiasco was seized upon by mayoral opponent Valerie Plante, who ran on a platform that included cancelling the three-year contract the city had entered into with the race promoter. The promoter sued for breach of contract and the city settled out-of-court to the tune of $3 million more of taxpayer money.

Certainly a cautionary tale for any Canadian city considering hosting a Formula E event, and one Vancouver city council was all too aware of when it approved the OSS Group’s proposal with the clear understanding that no city dollars would be put into the race or the E-Fest event.

Article content

The benefits Vancouver city council saw, according to E-Fest champion and city Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung, included an estimated $80 million economic spinoff and help for the city’s hard-hit tourism and hospitality industry. In addition, she said the sustainability theme of E-Fest fits with Vancouver’s green city ethos.

“With climate change, we also need to advance the dialogue around the adoption of electric mobility and Formula E can inspire people to make those choices,” she said at the E-Fest kickoff news conference in Downtown Vancouver on Wednesday.

Also in attendance were officials from the race series and its sanctioning body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), including the Formula E co-founder and chief championship officer.

Article content

“We didn’t end up in a good place with Canada, and our story here has to end well,” admitted Alberto Longo of the Montreal one-off event. “It’s so important to be back (in Canada) for us.

“People who come to the race are going to have a lot of fun, there is going to be a great show and lots of overtaking,” he added. “E in Formula E stands for both electric and entertainment.”

On that note, here’s a deeper dive into some facts and figures about Vancouver’s inaugural E-Prix:

The track

Using much of the same False Creek track layout that the Vancouver Indy utilized seemed only logical when determining where the Vancouver Formula E circuit would be located, but don’t tell that to E-Prix track designer Phillip Smirnov.

Asked how many layouts and locations he worked on before settling on the False Creek location, the OSS Group partner said, “40 in Vancouver and probably 20 in Burnaby.”

Article content

“When you’re talking about a track design, there is a lot of infrastructure that needs to go with it — grandstands, pit lanes, TV compound,” said Smirnov, who had a hand in the design of the Montreal Formula E circuit and served as operations coordinator for the Montreal Grand Prix for five years.

The False Creek location is ideal, he said, given the multi-faceted aspect of the E-Fest, including concerts at Rogers Arena.

Smirnov led FIA officials on a walk Tuesday of the 2.21-kilometre, 15 turn circuit, and said they were blown away by the views and the overhead SkyTrain. Among that group was the man who oversees all the Formula E track layouts and logistics for the FIA.

“I have a soft spot for bringing water near to a racetrack,” said Agus Delicado Zomeno. “And second, I love the track because it gives you everything you want: a couple of hairpins, an arena-type area and, because of the width of the streets and the condition of the tarmac, it allows for the tire compounds and battery systems to be fully utilized.”

Article content

The counter-clockwise False Creek layout is one of the shorter tracks on the 2021-22 Formula E schedule, but both men expect lots of hotly contested wheel-to-wheel action and many overtakes.

“I’m quite happy that we found a way to manipulate the circuit to fit without impacting too many residents,” Smirnov added.

The one residential area that will see some closures during on-track sessions is the City Gate neighbourhood, and in its honour the main straight along Quebec Street is named City Gate Straight.

For a number of reasons, Formula E offers some of the best wheel-to-wheel racing from start to finish of any race series.

The race

Formula E races differ from traditional motorsport events in that they’re timed rather than determined over a pre-described number of laps.

Article content

The reason for that 45-minute-plus-one-lap race time has to do with the battery systems that propel these cars. Just as with road-going EVs, Formula E cars have a finite range, and if they run out of power there is no quick recharge in the pits. In fact, there are no pit stops during a race, as the hard compound, low-resistance tires are designed to hold up for an entire race. Of course, if a car gets damaged or has a mechanical issue, it can pit for service and return to the track.

In Formula One and IndyCar, tire wear — called degradation — plays an integral part of race strategy, from how long to stay out on a set of tires to what tire compound to use at a given time of the race. Formula E team strategists don’t factor this into their race plans, however the state of charge of the battery is integral. On several occasions in past seasons, drivers have run out of power in the closing stages of a race and had to pull aside on the track.

Article content

This is where two aspects unique to Formula E come into play: Attack Mode and Fan Boost. Attack Mode debuted in the 2018-19 season, allowing drivers to get a boost of battery power by driving off the racing line and through what is called the Activation Zone. That boost represents an extra 35 kW of power and lasts for just a few laps. Fan Boost is a popularity contest of sorts, with the top five drivers who receive the most online votes of support receiving a five-second burst of power they can use during the second half of the race. The window for voting opens a week before a race and closes 15 minutes before the green flag flies.

The cars

The 2021-22 Formula E season will mark the final one for the second-generation race car, which replaced the Gen 1 car in Season 5.

Article content

To keep costs under control, the cars are almost identical, using Dallara chassis and assembled by Spark Racing Technology. Where teams can find a competitive edge is in the battery software management, making the Formula E series very attractive to global automakers for its real-world, electric vehicle research and development. Just as Formula One technological advancements have migrated into road cars over the years — from sequential gear boxes to synthetic oils — the lessons learned by the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Nissan and Porsche competing in Formula E will find their way into those automakers’ future electric vehicles.

The Gen 2 car is quicker, faster and more powerful than the Gen 1 car. The Gen 3 car is expected to expand the race time from the current 45 minutes.

Article content

The drivers

Before Formula E, the open-wheel world of motorsports operated on a ladder system culminating with Formula One, and to a lesser extent IndyCar. But with the debut of Formula E, drivers who had the talent but not the sponsorship money to get a seat in either of those series found a new home. And once Formula E had established itself after a couple of seasons, it began attracting former F1 drivers, creating a current driver lineup that isn’t only uber-skilled, but also super-competitive.

One of the appealing factors for drivers is the performance parity in the cars, creating what is referred to as a “driver’s series.” In F1 the top finishers are often in superior machines, but in Formula E it’s the driver who most often determines who is on the podium.

Article content

For fans, that translates into close racing from the green flag to the checkered. This past season’s Formula E Monaco race saw three lead changes on the last lap. If that occurred in F1 — where the lead cars often lap the field and can be tens-of-seconds ahead of each other — it would go down as the greatest race in Grand Prix history.

Celebrity race

One of the lasting images of the Molson Vancouver Indy is the celebrity race, particularly the one when legendary broadcaster Neal Macrae got his Dodge Neon up on two wheels.

Vancouver E-Fest is bringing back that much-loved event; however, it will be quite something if one of the 12 celebs can get an all-electric, and three-wheeled, Solo up on two wheels. The single-seat EV was designed by Vancouver-based Electra Meccanica, and its narrow width and low centre of gravity should make it an ideal car for the race.

Article content

And that homegrown content continues with the announcement of the first three drivers: North Vancouver-born actor/director Jason Priestley; Vancouver Olympian Charmaine Crooks; and Alexandre Bilodeau, who, while a Quebecer, does have honorary son status in the West Coast city as his gold medal in moguls at the 2010 Winter Olympics made him the first Canadian to win gold on Canadian soil.

All drivers will get race coaching from Vancouver E-Prix ambassador and six-time IndyCar winner James Hinchcliffe.

The schedule

The eighth season of the Formula E championship features 16 races in 12 countries, beginning with a doubleheader in Saudi Arabia and culminating seven months later with a doubleheader in South Korea. The Chinese city is still to be determined, as is the June 4 race location. Highlights will include the legendary Monaco street course, competing on the streets of Rome, London, England, and New York, and of course, the inaugural race in Vancouver on July 2.

2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Schedule

Jan. 28-29:

Diriyah, Saudi Arabia

Feb. 12:

Mexico City

Feb. 26:

Cape Town, South Africa

March 19:

China

April 9:

Rome

April 30:

Monaco, Monte Carlo

May 14:

Berlin

June 4:

TBD

July 2:

Vancouver

July 16-17:

New York

July 30-31:

London, England

Aug. 13-14:

Seoul