Formula E

We did it! The first big goal of 100 supporters has been surpassed. I'm amazed that it only took just over a week; we're definitely on target so far but of course there is a long way to go and we can't afford to become complacent despite the year's worth of extra time we now have. So please continue to share the project around and support it; as ever I really appreciate it and have been overwhelmed with the extremely positive response so far.

Anyway as requested and promised here is Jaguar's Global Ambassador, Gorrilaz band member and fictional Japanese comic book figure, Noodle.

Noodle is a Japanese Guitar prodigy and a martial arts expert who has played in Gorrilaz since she was 10 years old. Lately Noodle has also agreed to become a promotional figure for Jaguar, citing that she wants to inspire more women to get into engineering and promote sustainability in the automotive industry by proving that women can do anything men can do. I've tried to make the figure resemble her as closely as possible (The hair was an issue) and I've also included her black helmet, which is supposed to have eyes and a mouth and is used to conceal her identity; she can displace regular drivers Adam Carroll or Mitch Evans if need be.

In other news, Chinese Techeetah driver Ma Qing Hua has been replaced by Mexican former F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez, and this is now reflected in the set design, adding the national flag colours behind both drivers and including Gutierrez's distinctive green coloured helmet.For the next updates I'm currently working on NEXTEV's NIO EP9 Hypercar, the BMW i8 safety car, and then I will design a pit garage and my FanBoost board idea. 

But anyway, until then I have to say thanks once again for the incredible support, and lets keep going as far as we can.

Ed.

Hey everyone; as I write this the project is just 27 supporters away from reaching 100, which is incredible as it means we're already within touching distance of our first goal. 

In the description I mentioned Formula E's support series, Roborace, which already has a deal with Lego Speed Champions. However I never explained what Roborace actually is. As it happens I have a design of the Robocar which I'm happy to share with everyone, although I'm sure that Lego have their own plan already for a Roborace set it's fun to experiment and speculate as to how this unique looking car might be built.

(Profile view)

Roborace is a series for electric cars, piloted not by drivers but by computer algorithms; effectively an AI car smart enough to drive itself. Roborace will take place on the same circuits used by Formula E in big city centres a few hours prior to the start of the Formula E race. The series is going through a testing phase at the moment but the organisers say that the aim is to ideally start the series within 2 years. We apparently are going to see more of this car during the summer but the Roborace team have been very coy about their plans.

(Front view)(Rear view)

The Robocar, the car which all 10 of the teams in the series will use, is the first driverless electric racing car in the world and was created by concept designer and automotive futurist Daniel Simon, who is best known for his work designing vehicles for blockbusters such as Tron: Legacy, Prometheus, Oblivion, and Captain America: The First Avenger.

(Plan view)
(Comparison to a Formula E showcar)

So, I hoped you liked my Roborace design, and please remember to support and share my project if you've not done so yet. Once we get to 100 I will have a special treat for fans of Jaguar and a certain virtual band member who acts as their global ambassador...

Thanks for your continued support and feedback,

Ed.

It's been only two days but I've been really surprised and delighted by how much progress the project has made already; we are halfway towards reaching our first goal of 100 supporters, which will give us a much-needed time extension. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped share this project to get the message out there; I'm doing everything I can to get the word out myself and it's really a great feeling to see people responding so positively and trying to help me out, even if it's just through feedback.

Now I haven't yet got anything too major to show you all in terms of developments to the idea, although I am currently mid-way through designing a Roborace prototype just for fun (Once we get near to 100 I will share it in the next update) before I move on to starting work on the Team pit Garage and FanBoost board ideas. However I do know that although this is a Formula E project a lot of my supporters are big F1 fans so I thought I'd share some special F1 car designs I've made.

You might recognise these cars from the film Rush (15+, so not really for kids) which came out in 2013. I originally created both of these cars for a Lego Stopmotion recreation of one of the film's trailers, which was fun to make and got a fair few hits on YouTube, and since then I spent some time developing the models so they could be even more accurate. These cars are:

Left) McLaren M23, as driven by James Hunt during the 1976 Formula 1 season. This car went through various iterations during the 1970's, however this is the version that was made the most famous by charasmatic British driver James Hunt, who won 6 races and clawed back a 35 point gap to win the 1976 F1 Drivers championship by a single point after a dramatic final round in Fuji, Japan. Very sadly James later lost his life in 1993, but the car is shown here being driven by his son Freddie to mark the 40th anniversary of his father's success.

Right) Ferrari 312T, as driven by Niki Lauda during the 1975 and 1976 Formula 1 seasons. Another car that went through various different versions during the decade, this one is the version that was driven throughout 1975 and for the first three races of 1976 by Austrian Niki Lauda. In this car Lauda won 5 races and the drivers world championship in 1975, before winning a further 2 more races in it at the start of 1976. In the 312T2 version of this car Lauda had a fiery crash at the Nurburgring which left him badly burned and hospitalised, but 42 days later he made an incredible recovery and competed in the Italian Grand Prix, finishing 4th despite being in intense pain, and taking the championship fight down to the very last race in Fuji, Japan, where Lauda chose to forfeit in dangerous monsoon rain. Lauda is still involved in Motorsport today; currently he is the non-executive chairman of the current defending champions in Formula One, the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these two bonus designs, (who knows, maybe they will pop up in a new ideas set of mine in the future) and if you haven't done so already please support my Lego Formula E set idea, and share it to your friends and family via social media and word of mouth. I really appreciate all the support given to me so far; it really means the world to me.

Here's to the next 50 supporters,

Ed.