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Formula E Diriyah E-Prix 2022: My electrifying experience

6th February 2022, 20:31 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

Each time the race cars whooshed past us, any feelings I previously had about not hearing an IC engine revving were quickly washed away.

BHPian BloggerMathai recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Diriyah E-Prix, held during 28 - 29 January 2022

Let me preface this post by saying that I was one of “those guys” who would say that racing isn’t real racing unless it’s a screaming V10 or V8 flying past you at max revs. After actually witnessing a Formula E race first hand and that too from the front row of the grandstand, I humbly stand corrected.

The last few years I’d been missing this event due to travel around the holiday season and also obviously Covid but this year all the planets aligned somehow and I would be a fool not to go. The 2022 season of the Formula E calendar kicked off with the inaugural races; Round 1 and Round 2 at Diriyah and understandably there was a lot of media coverage the preceding weeks leading up to the event. This is my short post on the first race of the 2022 season held on January 28th 2022.

The Venue

The Formula E stage in Saudi Arabia is held in the historical city of Ad Diriyah, which used to be the capital before it moved to Riyadh. You can read a brief history of the city on the website of the Diriyah Development Authority.

I believe there are some tourist attractions in the Heritage village similar to Sadu Village which I posted about on TeamBHP including traditional mud houses, a museum and a restored mosque. Should add it to my list of things to see while I’m in Saudi Arabia.

Getting there

The organizers suggested taking advantage of the free shuttle buses to and from the venue. I suspect that the intention is to streamline traffic in and out of the city, which I’m thankful for. The ride was stress-free and very comfortable.

I parked my car in the allotted parking lot in King Saud University and headed to the booths where we received color-coded wrist tags which indicated what ticket we had paid for and our access privileges. There were at least 2 dozen buses or more transporting visitors and we quickly hopped into one and were on our way.

Allianz E Village

The first area you access once you get off the bus is Allianz E Village. It was set up like a fair ground with lots of booths, selfie centers, kids play areas and other attractions. We took a walk around the place and most of it was targeted at the younger demographic, i.e., play areas with cardboard helmet making sessions, go-kart runs and small games. We gravitated towards a Formula E Racing Sim booth that featured the same track that we were actually at.

Stage being prepared for the concert

The line to get in was fairly small and we happily joined the line. Once they take down your name and details, the usher leads you towards a vacant seat.

I quickly found out that getting into a prone position where your feet are almost at chest level wasn’t a joke. The lady helping me out saw this and offered to adjust the pedals and steering so that I wasn't crunched up like a shrimp! Even then, the experience was quite different from my previous ones on other racing simulators.

In addition to the aforementioned race position, the central support struts for the overhead bar felt like you had an A-pillar directly in your line of sight. I wonder how long it takes race drivers to get used to this view. I don’t even have a car freshener hanging from my IRVM, that’s how much I don’t like obstructions.

First lap was a disaster but I managed faster times in the 2nd and 3rd laps

I got 3 laps around the track and the result was abysmal, to say the least. There were prizes from the sponsors for those who got the best lap times and I didn’t even wait around because I knew my times were at the bottom of the barrel.

Up close with a Formula E car

There was a car parked outside the Saudia exhibit and I went in for a closer look. It was amazing to see how low and wide the car was how much material was used for channeling air through the body. The rear diffusers were in exposed carbon fiber and massive! The brake discs, however, were smaller than I expected. Maybe electric Formula cars have regen as compensation?

The Track

The course runs through a residential area and we walked through inner streets to get to Grand Stands 1 and 2. I don’t think many of the houses were occupied or maybe the residents moved elsewhere for the weekend. We did see one person sitting on the terrace, sipping on coffee and working on a laptop while glancing at the stream of race goers headed to the stands. I might go to Diriyah in the off season to see what it looks like without all the FIA scaffolding and banners everywhere.

A Taycan Turbo S taking guests around the track. Other Porsches on the track were a Cayenne (Medical Car) and a Panamera GTS (Race Director).

As you might be aware by now, the race is held at night and illuminated by an array of powerful LED floodlights that run the entire length of the track. This also means light-shows are instantaneous and awesome as you may have seen in some of the videos online. I also managed to take a short clip of the track lighting during the opening ceremony. Definitely imparts a party atmosphere when combined with the music and cheering crowd. You can read more about the track [here].

Warm Up

We got to the stands a couple of hours early and secured front row seats in Grand Stand 2 and the view was just around the corner entering into the Attack Mode Lane. The warm up lap was a good opportunity for me to take pictures without much blur because once the race started it was tough to track focus on a fast-moving car with my 11-year-old camera.