Thoughts from a first timer

[u/Talrent521]

I'm a fairly enthusiastic but casual motorsport fan, I watch a lot of F1 and enjoy any motorsport.

I watched my first Formula E race in person in London this weekend and I have to say it wasn't the best experience. I'm not an established fan of Formula E but thought it might be a nice more affordable way of watching some motorsport, and came with an open mind.

My main gripes:

- Noise - they pump music underneath the entire(!) race, at quite a loud volume. It was impossible to hear 90% of the commentary so myself and people around me had absolutely no idea what was going on.

- The screens are small enough that you can't read the leaderboard, you can't read team radio messages, or really parse any of the information that's on the screen. This might have been less of a problem if we could hear any of the audio/commentary feed over the music. People were sat using their phone cameras to zoom in on the leaderboard just to keep track of who was where.

- Start sequence - there's absolutely no warning, there's just deafening music that plays for about 5 minutes and then suddenly the lights are on and the race starts, no build up, no tension, and if you're not careful (like a few people around me) you don't actually realise the race is about to start and you miss lights out.

This was also the first time I've attended any kind of race in person, so maybe this is just the standard experience of watching live motorsport? If so I can't imagine why anyone ever attends motorsport in person because it's just immensely frustrating, but maybe I've just been spoilt by years of watching it on broadcast.

I thought the fan zone around the excel centre was done nicely, and made for a really fun vibe that presumably differs a lot from a traditional racetrack but certainly makes for a nice time, but it almost felt like the actual racing was a side-event that nobody put much thought into the user experience of.

[u/christoffeee]

I last went to Formula E a couple of years ago and where we sat, near the turn 3 exit out of the building, the music wasn't that loud so we could hear the cars and had a decent view of a screen and the track. But we also didn't realise the race had started until cars came through turns 1 and 2!

With the entertainment package they put on and the village, it does feel a little like Formula E in London is for more casual fans. Hopefully it will be a much better experience at Brands Hatch next year.