Jack Nicholls: “Deeply fascinating and excellent racing”

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He is known as the voice of Formula E, with no race being complete unless we hear that trademark excited voice calling the action. How has Jack Nicholls found the season, how does he prepare for a race weekend and where does he see the series in future? Our very own Katy Fairman caught up with him to find out.

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“My favourite race of the season was easily Buenos Aires. A superb fight for the lead between Bird and Buemi in the closing laps had us all on the edge of our seats, and that was after Buemi had carved his way through the field. That was motor racing at its very best, let alone Formula E.”

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“That’s a difficult one! I really enjoy Formula E race weekends, especially because you’re in the city centre, so once work is finished it’s time to have fun! I really love filming my track walk videos, because you get to go and explore brand new street circuits a lot of the time, and chat to drivers as you do so in a very relaxed way. That’s really good fun.”

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“Preparation gets less as the season progresses. At the start of the season there’s a lot to learn, with new teams and drivers etc, but by the time we get to the final round in London, having lived and breathed FE for 8 months, it’s kind of ingrained in your brain. Basically I arrive Thursday, start compiling my notes ahead of the race, speak to teams and drivers to find out whether they think this track will suit them. Sam Bird always says the track won’t suit the car, and then he does well, so you have to ignore him! It’s about speaking to as many people as possible really.”

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“Not really. Ahead of the first ever FE race in Beijing I felt pretty nervous, because I knew everyone would be watching this, and no one knew if this championship was going to be any good. We had a test race at Donington Park and all the cars kept breaking down, so I was very fearful that Beijing was going to be a total disaster. Happily it wasn’t, it was awesome! We have over a million listeners to our BBC Radio F1 coverage, I’ve done the Olympics world feed too which was broadcast worldwide, but then I’ve covered things like British GT which has a much smaller viewership. It doesnt matter how many people are listening, you have to do the best job you can and have fun!”

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“I don’t think I’d take any rules, but I’d take the fan interaction. F1 are getting better at it, but I think the way Formula E deals with fan engagement is excellent, and the accesibility the fans have to the drivers for a series of this level is superb, and there’s no doubt F1 could do more in that area.”

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“Deeply fascinating and excellent racing.”

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“I cover F1 for the BBC, I also love the Blancpain GT Series which I have covered for the past 5 years.”

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“Perhaps. Jacques couldn’t get hooked up in the car, and so that was a shame, if we had seen him winning it would be a different story. But equally FE can’t be seen to be the retirement ground of F1 failures.”

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“I think there has to be one round Buckingham Palace! Up the Mall and round Trafalgar Square. They close those roads all the time, it MUST be doable!!”

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“I have no idea. Literally no idea. That’s the exciting thing about this championship is that the technology is developing, the world is changing, and Formula E has to ride that wave and find out where it ends up.”

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Katy Fairman | e-racing.net

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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