A pages/blog/formula-e.md

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+---
+template:
+slug: formula-e
+title: I can't take Formula E seriously
+subtitle: Toy cars racing in parking lots
+date: 2021-08-16
+---
+
+For those unaware, [Formula E](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_E),
+or rather, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship[^1] is the only
+fully electric open-wheel racing sanctioned by the FIA. The first season
+was in 2014 - 2015. 7 years later, it's just as bad as before.
+
+[^1]: Which just ended, as of August 2021. It was also the first World
+    Championship; the ones before weren't.
+
+Formula E was supposed to be this new, revolutionary motorsport set to
+eventually replace Formula 1 -- or at the very least, compete alongside.
+It was supposed to be where teams could experiment; build better, more
+eco-friendly tech that can eventually find its way into road cars.
+Except...the FIA made it a spec series.
+
+This means all cars are basically identical -- conforming to a
+predefined spec. While there's nothing wrong with spec series racing --
+Formula 2, IndyCar, etc. are still incredibly exciting -- it's just not
+something you want in something like Formula E, where technical
+development is key. Further, the whole emphasis on "road relevancy" is
+kind of a meme when there's no engineering freedom given to
+constructors.
+
+No bother, at least the racing should be fun, right? They travel to cool
+cities and race on streets! Yeah...not really. Thing is, FE cars are
+slow. And to compensate this, they made tracks really narrow, with
+stupidly high barriers. There's no point in going to cool cities when
+you can't really see much of it. All tracks look the same: utterly
+soulless.
+
+And it doesn't end there. Formula E is gimmicky as hell. Like F1's
+DRS[^2], FE's got "Attack mode". Essentially, drivers recieve extra
+power by driving through a part of the track that's off the racing line.
+This is like, some NFS tier shit. But OK, I'll give it a pass -- it's
+cringe, but it does allow for some good overtaking.
+
+[^2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_reduction_system
+
+"Fanboost", however...Hoo boy. Basically, fans get to vote for their
+favourite drivers via social media, and the five drivers that win the
+vote each recieve extra power during the race. Yup. You read that right.
+They made a World Championship racing series a social media popularity
+contest.
+
+![formula e broadcast](https://x.icyphox.sh/VOodw.png)
+
+My last gripe is with the broadcast. It's so bad! They really should
+lose the gamer graphics. The driver list on the left is not color coded
+making it really hard to read. You have no idea who's who if you're new.
+And try and make the circuits look a little more interesting! I honestly
+couldn't tell you the difference between, say, the London and Berlin
+circuits.
+
+All things said, I will still watch Formula E -- at least, the
+highlights. Watching bumper cars is somewhat fun when there's no F1
+going on.
+

M readme → readme

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 site
 ----
 
-Found at https://icyphox.sh; built using vite[0].
+Found at https://icyphox.sh; built using vite[0]. The blog has an RSS
+feed at https://icyphox.sh/blog/feed.xml.
 
 
 LICENSE
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 CREDITS
 
-NerdyPepper[1] for the original motif design.
+nerdypepper[1] for the original motif design.
 
 
 [0]: https://git.icyphox.sh/vite