Formula gEeek

What do you do when you love motorsport, but the environmentalist side of you keeps you in a constant state of upheaval about the pollution horror show that is an entire grid of high-revving, petrol burning V10 engines? Cry quietly in a corner hugging your potted cactus while “Justify my love” plays in the background, Sunday's qualifying race muted on the TV.
Or, you know, drool over Formula E. It's the brand new spin to motorsport, and features all electric race cars and city circuits only. The engines will be provided by McLaren for the entire field of entrants.

The Formula:
* There will be 10 teams, 20 drivers, and 40 cars
* Each team will include 2 drivers and 4 cars
* e-Prix will be held in 10 cities across the world
* Racing circuits will be held in cities, and will be approximately 2.5 km to 3 km long
* Cars will accelerate from 0 km/h to 100 km/h in 3 seconds, with a maximum speed of 220 km/h
* Noise decibel levels will be approximately 80 dB(SPL)
* Max power (limited): 268 HP, 170 ft-lb torque
* Race mode (power-saving): 178 HP
* Push-to-Pass: Additional 90 HP

Formula E will feature something called a “Fan boost”, and no, it doesn't refer to a turbocharger spooling up. Fan boost is a way for popular drivers to use their fan following to their advantage in a race. The top three drivers with the largest social media fan following will be able to use the Push-to-Pass feature to overtake.
The series features a whole lot of breaks from tradition, with all-electric powerplants, female drivers, city-only circuits, and the controversial fan-boost feature. They're all part of a campaign to garner a fan following for “clean” motorsport, and in the process, break the myth of clean cars being boring cars. Its also one of the main reasons for using just city circuits, since electric cars will be marketed to city-dwellers in the busiest parts of the world. Its appropriate, then, that Formula E will kick off in Beijing, one of the most polluted cities on the planet.
It wont be entirely alien from Formula 1. The glitz and the glamour will be there, with motorsport pedigree thrown in for good measure. Leonardo Dicaprio is funding his own team, while racing greats such as Alain Prost, JarnoTrulli and Emerson Fittipaldi are backing Formula E for success. Big-shots like Audi will field a team as well, alongside Renault and Indian giant Mahindra.

As far as the idea behind the racing discipline goes, it's a solid idea. Motorsport is sometimes said to be irrelevant, especially with the onset of climate change and the harmful effects of internal combustion engines. Formula E is the greener, environmentally conscious sibling of Formula 1, and it seems to serve a genuine purpose in making electric cars sexy. Can it be a genuine alternative, making Formula 1 redundant and internal combustion a dinosaur of the past? We hope not, but it just might.