FORMULA E-LATION
Lucas Di Grassi of Brazil is hoisted by his ABT Schaeffler team after his seventh-place finish in Sunday’s Formula ePrix race won him the season driver’s title. The electric auto race in city streets was exciting for fans, but a disruption for business
One lap around the track at Montreal’s ePrix Sunday morning and Steve Constantineau was hooked. His son Mathieu not so much. “Amazing, just amazing!” he enthused after a professional driver in BMW’s 2017 all electric i3 car took them for a spin. As smooth as a warm knife going through butter, said Constantineau, already a Formula One aficionado.
Less than four seconds from zero to 140 kilometres an hour, Mathieu said of the BMW’s capacity. “Not bad. But I’d rather get a Tesla,” he said.
But Tesla cars were just sitting pretty in the e-Village, an area by the race track with displays of cars and virtual-reality kiosks that had more spectators roaming about than sitting in the stands. The second day at ePrix also started with thin crowds that picked up by afternoon.
One woman at the Audi tent tried a machine with flashing lights that Formula E pilots use to sharpen their reflexes and timing. “The secret is in the peripheral vision,” an employee explained. “What gives these pilots the edge is that they focus straight ahead rather than look at something specific.”
At the next stand Julien Legault got strapped firmly into a gyroscope whose upside-down twists mimic the sensation of travelling 225 km/h, and past narrow turns. Legault started yelling with joy, “holy f...” — until he wasn’t saying anything and the machine stopped. He wobbled out clutching his stomach as his friends laughed.
“I have to walk around a minute,” he said. No risk of losing breakfast, he added, because it was only a beer.
The event held in the Gay Village in east Montreal has come under heavy criticism, but Sunday saw a crowd of e-converts, although some complained it should have been more stroller-friendly, with
ramps for parents with babies.
The city paid at least $24 million to host the race, including the cost of building and dismantling the track, fees and salaries. Some residents of the Gay Village have taken to calling it Gaytanamo because of the cement barriers and metal fences blocking access to all sides streets, from Berri St. past Papineau Ave.
But even as residents grumbled, many stood at their windows and balconies to watch the warm-ups, qualifying races and competitions.
Local restaurants said the ePrix has been a disaster for business; tables stood empty while potential clients stayed away.
The Poissonnerie La Mer, a popular fish store on René-Lévesque Blvd., corner of Papineau Ave., which found itself inside the ePrix compound, the impact was dramatic, manager Miriam Idle told the Montreal Gazette. With no shoppers, the store closed early Saturday and opened later Sunday.
Because of access problems, fish deliveries dropped. Some walkin customers were turned away by security staff who mistakenly told them the store was closed, Idle said.
One couple who always leaves their dog tied outside while they shop, were blocked by a zealous security agent. Dogs are not allowed into the ePrix area, not even for fish, Idle said, adding the couple called the police because the agent “was aggressive. I had to go and get them myself. We didn’t sell much yesterday. And it’s not like these (cement) barriers are going to disappear in one day.”
Web and graphic designer Quinten Sherriff, whose apartment overlooks the race track, said he expected to be annoyed by event when he saw the fences going up earlier this month, but now he’s changed his mind. The advantage over petrol technology of F1, he said, it’s not noisy, dusty or smelly.
“Now that it’s here, it’s cool. I’m glad we could attract this to Montreal,” he said. “We’re watching the race from my balcony. Sweet.”
“It’s nice to see the future of cars,” his friend Jane Harrison, visiting from London, U.K, added. “I’m no mechanic but their explanations brought it to my level.”