FormulaEcarJoeKlamarGetty.JPG

Formula E test driver Lucas di Grassi stands atop a new fully-electric race car, the Spark-Renault SRT_01E, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas during the 2014 International CES. Formula E insists fans will love the cars' "futuristic" sound, which is much quieter than the signature deafening whine of its gasoline powered cousin, Formula One.

(Joe Klamar/Getty Images)

WEEHAWKEN — Drivers, start your motors.

With hopes of a New Jersey Formula 1 race diminishing with each passing year, the racing world's newest - and perhaps quietest - circuit may take its place along the Hudson River, according to a published report.

"Formula E," the world's first fully-electric auto racing series, is working with officials in the New York area on a street race that could take the place of the proposed Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial, according to a report on forbes.com said.

Formula E will begin its 10-race schedule in September, on 10 street tracks in cities including Los Angeles, Miami and Monte Carlo, and could add New York in future years if Formula 1's gasoline-powered, ear-splittingly loud brand of open-wheel racing continues to be a non-starter for a proposed course along the Hudson River straddling Weehawken and West New York.

F-E's single-seat, open-wheel racers resemble Formula 1 cars, but use much more fuel-efficient, quietly running electric motors, rather than the gas-guzzling ultra-high performance internal combustion engines of F1.

“We are working with New York but we are kind of waiting to see what happens with Formula One,” Formula E’s chief executive Alejandro Agag said in the Forbes report.

Would-be sponsors of the Hudson F1 race first announced in 2011 that the Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial would run its inaugural race two years later, on 3.2-miles of public roads in Weehawken and West New York, across the Hudson River from the midtown Manhattan skyline.

But a group led former YES network chief and retired endurance racer Leo Hindery Jr. has been unable to raise the estimated $100 million needed to for franchise fees and hard costs to green-light the race. Hindery's group continues to insist the race will go on, perhaps as soon as 2015.

Formula E's big advantage for cash-strapped hosts is a much lower start-up cost - about one tenth the price of an F-1 race, Agag told Forbes. F-E also has two American teams, Andretti Autosport and Dragon Racing, both established IndyCar outfits.

Whereas F1 races are organized by independent promoters who pay an annual fee, Formula E is arranging many of the races itself and did not charge the cities for doing so. Mr Agag does not ask for a hosting fee but in return requires cities to provide prime positions for the race as well as assistance with the preparations and introductions to local sponsors.

The F-E season-opener is Sept. 13 in Beijing, at the 2008 Olympic village. The Los Angeles race is Feb. 14, followed by Miami, on March 14.

RELATED COVERAGE

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