Behind-the-scenes at the Cape Town Formula E – The 1st in Africa

Fundamental facts
The track
Pit walk
Qualifiers
Cape Town Formula E pits

The prestigious Formula E championship is making its debut in Africa today in the beautiful mother city of Cape Town.

Nissan South Africa was so kind to invite TopAuto to attend the race, and we have some awesome behind-the-scenes details to share before the main event kicks off just a few minutes after 16h00.

Fundamental facts

Formula E itself is still in its infancy as the championship started nine years ago, despite this, it’s the one race with the most amount of car manufacturers in participation, said Tommaso Volpe, managing director of the Nissan e-Prix team.

There are six constructors taking part and nine brands, the reason for this discrepancy being that manufacturers such as Nissan supply other teams like McLaren with the race cars themselves, with McLaren then being responsible for everything else from team management to marketing.

All the vehicles on track are identical in terms of body design, power output, and battery size – the winning edge is therefore gained in efficiency.

The cars weigh around 840kg and are equipped with two electric motors and maximum output capped at 300kW during normal racing or 350kW when hitting the Attack Zone found on the outer lane of select corners, and they are capable of eclipsing 322km/h.

Each one gets a 41kWh battery module provided by Williams engineering to ensure compliance, and no charging is to be done either during qualifying or main race. When the cars are being juiced up, they make use of a 180kW plug and standard CCS connector which replenishes 100% in as little as 30 minutes, said a Nissan engineer.

These third-generation racers will be running until 2026, at which point the technologies would have advanced far enough to necessitate a new iteration.

The info gained in developing the Formula E contenders accelerates EV development with the technologies trickling down to production vehicles over time. Most notably, the e-Prix cars are used as a test bed to improve chassis control systems, energy-management software, and motor, inverter, and gearbox design, said Volpe.

The track

The Cape Town circuit is one of the fastest in the Formula E calendar and forms a loop around the DHL stadium, with the route navigating the tight streets of the surrounding areas of Green Point and Sea Point.

The track measures 2.94km and features a total of 12 turns as well as a number of long straights.

Grandstand seating is located at four key intervals and construction and road closures are in place, meaning local motorists will do well to plan alternate routes that avoid the area for the next few days.

Pit walk

Right before the qualifiers, Nissan spoiled the media with a fascinating pit walk to see the engineers and drivers get into the zone and complete the last of their fine tuning before attacking the track.

Inside the pits, each team has two individual and identical bays for their prized possessions with over 10 engineers allocated to each vehicle constantly adjusting the mechanics as well as the software to be prepared for whichever track they are racing at, wherever that may be in the world.

In the shakedown and first practice session, which took place on the 24th of February, the drivers walked the circuit to get an eye for its curves while simultaneously the engineers were scanning the tar surface to check whether the hundreds of simulations they ran before the race were accurate, or if any adjustments must be made.

This is incredibly important as efficiency is a vital aspect of e-Prix and not calibrating your vehicle correctly could lead to running out of battery. The conditions are accounted for to the meter as the battery-powered race cars start with only 60% of the power they really need to get through the entire race with the remaining 40% coming from brake energy recuperation.

When asked whether they would ever consider engineering an F1-rivaling sound into their cars, Volpe quipped “my engineers always say, sound is a waste of energy.” They really take this efficiency thing seriously.

We also got a short run-down on how the steering wheel works, and it needs nothing short of an engineering degree to operate.

The wheel features 10 buttons, six paddles, and five rotor dials – and to make things more complicated, they are all codenamed. This is because team communications during the race are broadcast on live TV, and they don’t want their specific settings to be streamed to the world, and even less, the competing teams.

As such, you’ll find paddles named “Lisa” and “Oscar” but what they really do is only known to Nissan insiders.

The settings adjust traction, attack mode, brake regeneration, and dozens of other parameters. During the race, the engineer decides which settings would be optimal and communicates that to the driver, who proceeds to adjust the car’s personality accordingly.

Qualifiers

The Cape Town e-Prix qualifiers took place around four hours before the race and it was eventful, to say the least.

Early on, McLaren hit a wall after hopping around a corner and had to limp through the remainder lap. Not long thereafter, Jaguar collided with a barrier and after coming to a stop perpendicular to the direction of the track, Maserati collided with the Jaguar.

Red flags came out and qualifiers were put on a halt until the cars were cleaned up.

Mahindra, on the other hand, has completely withdrawn from the race citing rear suspension issues as the reason, with ABT Cupra consequently also withdrawing as it gets its cars from the Indian automaker.

The final standings of the qualifiers now determine the starting grid for the main event, which looks as follows: