But if it's boring to watch, Jim, there'll be no racing anyway.

I was passed yesterday by a Tesla executive saloon - entirely silent. It was most bizarre. Reaching my destination, a Maserati was just starting up - heads turned.

Noise is part of the thrill of motorsport. I'm not arguing with your point but, in the same way as touch-rugby would be a lot safer, Formula E is going to be missing something vital to the excitement.

I like that - touch rugby is like an electric racing car, MRS you'd make Clarkson proud!

I have to support Dennis on this. The noise is a significant part of the experience, standing watching an F-16 climb on full afterburners was all about the noise and difficulty breathing. I don't think a glider climbing at the same rate would have anywhere near the same excitement.

I did read somewhere (possible a spoof article) that there was talk of recording and playing engine noise on electric cars because they cause a risk to pedestrians who don't hear them coming..

As I said, I'm not denying the thrill of the sounds that accompany our relationship with speed and power - I'm as hooked as anyone.

I'm simply surprised that we are prepared to dismiss something that could be exciting despite the lack of noise, something we learn to love for different reasons.

Is cycle racing like touch rugby because the bikes make no noise?

The problem is, if the cars make no noise, the commentators will *never* shut up.

For me, I don't think every day motoring (a boring experience of being taxed, taxed again, and then thrice taxed while being treated inconsiderately by other road users) should have anything in common with F1 (a sport with sponsors who can avoid tax, and drivers that have to behave considerately or be penalised).

Racing should be about taming the beast - be it a chariot with a brace of uncontrollable stallions, or a roaring V10.

Cycling isn't a good example Jim, that ranks alongside golf, tennis and cricket as a spectator sport!

Meanwhile...

I hadn't heard about this until I saw it reviewed on Joe Saward's blog today, but it looks worth a watch:

F1 film

Looks like it will appeal to existing fans; covers some old ground, but with a deft touch and hopefully with some dignity.

I'll keep an open but sceptical (if that's possible) mind until I see it.

Cycling as a sport is a bit different: inside a velodrome there's the noise of the crowd and it's a sprint so probably not a good analogy. In the endurance events I think there's a number of factors that are different:
- it's a team (of competitors) sport and a very tactical one. Yes, F1 can be but people don't much like it when team orders are issued.
- you can see the riders and experience their pain
- it's easier to empathise with: pretty much anybody can ride a bike
- it's free to watch: there wouldn't be such crowds if you asked them to pay £100 each.
...and so on.
Noise, also, is pretty much one of the USPs of watching F1 live. BTCC is closer racing. MotoGP is better still.
Maybe we should do an experiment next season and all watch a race with the sound turned off and either radio or text commentary. It just HAS to lose something. The question is, will there be anything about the racing that will make up for that loss?

Looks great, Jim. Thanks for pointing it out

Richard, I'm absolutely not denying that motorsport will be diminished by the absence of a visceral soundtrack; I would add that the smells of a racing engine are pretty evocative too.

My comparison with cycling was purely in response to your touch rugby comment; MotoGP has the sound, pushbikes don't, though I confess it does much less for me than car engines. I also agree that throughout its history to date, noise has been an inseparable part of the thrill of motor racing.

But maybe we will learn to love other things about it that will compensate to some extent. Presumably, the squeal of the tyres in cornering will be more audible? Crowd noise (assuming it draws crowds!) will play a role. Fundamentally, if there is hard, fast racing, I would hope that enthusiasts will find something to like.

Fair enough, Jim. I should point out that cycle racing bores me rigid...

Me too... But is it because it's quiet?!

Then you need to go to an evening of a Six day track event. I went to the Ghent 6 Saturday afternoon and evening session a few years back. By far and away the best sports event I have ever been to. Derney racing with big motorbikes and handlebar moustached drivers was a particular highlight, and the sound did add a lot. Am hoping they get a similar event going in the Olympic Velodrome.

I follow cycling but even I can see road racing as having a limited appeal. Some days it can bore me rigid and since all the drugs fiasco I have lost most of my enthusiasm for it.

Yes, I mean the full road races as televised.

@ Jim - no, not necessarily because it's quiet but it would be more exciting if that had V8s or turbo V6s....

Maybe this (clearly 'enhanced') film is the future of electric racing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DITjqRmZ7JA

I would say I am intrigued by the Formula E series, but the lack of noise does make it a little sterile. I am prepared to hope for good things with the racing though. There's many ways they could enhance the experience, through information, graphics etc. which appeals to the geek in me. They could easily make the cars make noise, either artificially through some kind of audio system or perhaps spokey dokes in the wheels

Hey - no fair. I already suggested that!

MrB used the right terminology, that counts for a lot in nostalgia!

Lol!

I was thinking last night (and in my defence it was late and I was just dropping off to sleep!) that they could attach some kind of 'funnel' that made a noise by the air rushing through it, the faster the car the louder the noise!

Why not just say bollocks to it and put slots in the road and run electric cars..... Oh wait!!....

Formula e has a place, just like women's football.

It's not going to reduce the total carbon footprint of a race season, the cars are a tiny part, now transporting the circus about..... If electric cars are the way forward let f1 evolve, a jump to electric f1 doesn't allow things to evolve and gain best solutions and let's face it, electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, batteries are massive polluters from mining to creation to shipping. Once we have green electricity generation electric cars make sense, until then it's bollocks.

Given that Formula E is neither replacing nor challenging F1, what genuine objection do you have to a race series that will encourage development in all the areas you point out as necessary. Your post just seems like an excuse to make a cheap jibe at women's football and say bollocks twice.

I've not really looked into this formula-e series, but if there is a meeting in the UK, especially Silverstone, I'll definitely drag myself along for a look.

There was moaning about diesels in the Le Mans (and the BTCC)series as well, and they seemed to still put on a decent show.

(it appears the only calender date for the UK is "London" in June 2015)

If it's not meant to replace it what is it for? F1 will accelerate real world electric cars, there is little use for totally electric cars until we stop using fossil fuels to generate it and batteries dont do more damage to the environment.
Most of my post was out of frustration, electric cars will only mean pollution is heavier around powerstations and where battery elements are mined from. It's a band wagon, especially as f1 is being done over by stupid regulations.
Although maybe if the governance was different and they were properly allowed to innovate with some bill gates money style backers.... You could have Microsoft vs Apple vs Google on a race track!
Why was it a jibe at women's football unless you think they're both second rate sports.

I was comparing them as will whenever get proper funding and tv space so although it's quite cute they are unable to improve and reach their potential.

Jim you've made me think outside my box..... Hmmmm...

Fair points all - and thanks for clarifying the one about women's football, which I absolutely don't regard as second rate.

Battery life increasingly seems to be the holy grail for our increasingly electronically reliant lives. I do agree with you about the problems inherent in current power production and battery manufacture, but I really hope that getting some big names and big investment involved in Formula E might bring about some progress in this and other fields. Although I may sound like an evangelist for the series, I'm actually quite cynical and do fear that it will be a way for celebs and companies to show off their "green" credentials and merely earn a bit of kudos and some cash. But, I'm also prepared to give it a chance to prove me wrong; to offer exciting racing despite the challenges it faces and despite the fact that it will sound like 20 washing machines on spin cycle driving round the streets.

Back to F1, roll on electrical fires and turbo smoke!!

Whoa, seems like my post stirred up some much needed motorsport related discussion.

To be honest, I'm not dismissing Formula E at all and if it came across that way, then that definitely wasn't my intention. I am as intrigued as anybody (and a lot more than most) as to how Formula E will pan out and come across to the public, but I was shocked by how anaesthetised a Formula E car is as a spectable. This is why I made the post, to actually put the point across; just how will the general public take to this silent form of motorsport, if a dyed-in-the-wool, self-confessed motorsport geek like me finds the prospect of seeing cars glide around circuits in eerie silence unappealing?

Televised races will of course have commentary to drive the entertainment along, but I can't help thinking that anybody actually paying to attend the races is going to get bored very quickly with the lack of atmoshpere and the series will die a death after three years. I'd like to be proved wrong though.

Actually it takes away 2 elements at the event: noise and smell! Without the stink of race fuel and the screaming it removes most of the atmosphere for me. Wonder if the smell would be that of a new scalextric set?

Woohoo! Scratch'n'sniff racing!

The thing is, the diesels race with their petrol counterparts and provide a stark contrast with each other. To me, this only serves to enhance and appreciate the noise and atmosphere the latter bring. Take Le Mans for instance, the whisper of the Audis couldn't be more different than the scream of an Aston V12 or the OTT bellow of a Chrysler V8. The diesels actually add to the richness of the grid. Playing devils advocate, would a whole grid of diesels have the same appeal?