Could timing of London ePrix increase its effectiveness?

The first London ePrix took place in Battersea Park today, with the aim of not only crowning the first FE champion, but attracting new fans and spectators to the growing sport. But could the timing of the race damage the effectiveness of recruiting news fans to the series?

Firstly, the Formula 1 British Grand Prix takes place one weekend after the Formula E, and with F1 being very popular in the UK, fans likely booked up for Silverstone long before the London ePrix was even officially cleared to happen. This means that all of the 'proper' motorsport fans will have likely payed a very large amount (sort it out, Bernie!) to be at the British Grand Prix. Not many fans will be able to quickly nip up/down to London having paid hundreds, if not thousands to go to Silverstone.

This probably won't affect the number of fans attending, but it might affect the type of people coming. There will be a lot of new motorsport fans at Battersea Park, which is all well and good, but it might not be positive for these fans to see Formula E in the state it is. It's not in a bad state, it's in a teething process state, which was shown by the problems faced by fans at the event, and the whole catastrophe surrounding the safety car start because of the first corner.

If you're a new fan, you're hardly likely to be impressed by lack of organisation, lack of facilities and the lack of a proper race start.

Secondly, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is taking place this weekend. It's likely that anybody who wanted to attend both the FOS and the Formula E chose to go to Goodwood. I don't blame them. There are some great names at Goodwood this weekend, and some legends of the sport you just cannot miss. Once again this leads to the problem of more new fans being disappointed and spreading amongst their friends and family that Formula E is crap.

However, unlike Silverstone, fans attending Goodwood affect the television viewers tuning in to ITV to watch the race. There will be a hell of a lot of people at Goodwood, with names like Valentino Rossi and Jenson Button appearing, and a lot of these people would have likely watched the Formula E, especially since it's on ITV1 (good call ITV). But now they won't, which again might hinder the success of Formula E.

This article might seem like I'm taking a dig at Formula E, but I'm not, I think it's a great series. And I know it's not as easy as just choosing a weekend, it has to fit in with the logistics of transport cars, garages, equipment and so on, it has to fit with the other races, it has to fit with the council's approval and lots more. But a bit of earlier thinking, and a tad more organisation and planning could've seen the image of the series in the UK improve.

*This article is the views of the author and not TheBeckettsBlog*

#fe #formulae #features