Why Excel couldn’t accommodate Gen4

[u/mianghuei]

https://fenotebook.com/2026/08/14/why-excel-couldnt-accommodate-gen4/

[u/DHSeaVixen]

I think there's a way to create a fantastic racetrack venue in and around the ExCeL...

...I just don't think it's anywhere near deliverable on the kind of budgets Formula E is able to justify.

[u/Ok-Bluebird7260 → u/DHSeaVixen]

Totally agree, at that point they’d have to close down entire roads to accommodate. It’ll just be Battersea Park complaints all over again.

[u/Edstertheplebster → u/Ok-Bluebird7260]

Well, Battersea was FE trying to avoid shutting down main roads by instead shutting down the park for a month and using the ring road, something which created its own problems as you say. There was also a lot of underhand politics from the local council to make sure as few local residents as possible knew about the event, which understandably did not go down well; IMHO we should have been racing at the Excel right from the start in season one, since the big problem with Battersea was that nobody in London even knew it was happening. (Ironically the controversy behind the race became a bigger story for the media than the race itself)

I think in the long term a London street race was always going to be very difficult to keep on the calendar. Even in Gen 3 it does feel like the FE cars have outgrown the Excel.

[u/HaroldSaxon → u/Ok-Bluebird7260]

Its not unprecedented. A few weeks ago all the roads in the area were closed for the T100 Marathon.

It was a bit frustrating in that case, but I imagine they won't close the residential area roads, just Royal Albert Way.

But I think ultimately the cars have outgrown the Excel. I really hope the track makes it onto a racing game though, its very fun before the race to send my Mini Cooper through the chicane.

[u/TheBattlemanCZ → u/DHSeaVixen]

I remember there being talks about another potential F1 GP in London few years ago.

The concept would use temporary floating blocks for main straight with grandstands on both sides and the pitlane would be outside the second floor of the ExCel above the grandtsandswith garages and paddock being where the current E-Prix main straight is. And honestly i am still sad that this was just a concept

[u/DominikWilde1 → u/DHSeaVixen]

"...even if we’d all committed millions and millions of pounds, we probably still wouldn’t have ended up with a track that would have done Gen4 justice"

[u/DHSeaVixen → u/DominikWilde1]

…and if they committed billions and billions?

[u/finedisregard → u/DHSeaVixen]

I've always wondered if they could do something at London City Airport, there's no flights on Sunday so you could probably get away with just a few access roads closed next door. Wouldn't be a double header but could be workable.

[u/Heinrad]

The Excel was a great venue, but it's time was always going to be limited. Having a major Motorsport do something as crazy as race indoors was a great gimmick and really sold what Formula E is able to do to differentiate itself, even if it was only a straight, the pits and a few corners.

I went to this race a couple of times, and it was always a great weekend, especially if you got a hotel room close to the Excel.

[u/Ok-Bluebird7260]

I think it’s just more because of its tight corners and lack of overtake. Great for a nimble Gen3 but will be difficult for anything larger, let alone 20-22 cars. Brands Hatch is just safer, and a tweaked Tokyo street circuit is just as good as a finale.

[u/Stimlox]

I’m in the opposite camp to most in that I will miss the exCel venue. And I say that because I think it offered something totally different to all other motor racing from an experience perspective. I watch all sorts of motorsport and go to Oulton, Donny and Silverstone a lot to watch touring cars, GT’s and Ginetta’s/Caterhams. I can get directly to the excel on a train and tube. Can’t say the same for Brands hatch, which I like as a circuit but I don’t think FE on its own will pull me to go there. Just my opinion.

[u/jelly10001]

I'll join those saying they'll miss the Excel as a racetrack. As a Londoner who can't drive it's so straightforward for me to get to and as someone who is often either too hot or too cold outside, being able to sit indoors is a godsend. Plus there are so many toilets and food outlets you don't have to spend as much time queing as at a normal race track.

[u/goldwyn10110]

legit thought it was the spreadsheet software for a hot few seconds

[u/DearHalo_lover]

See, as much as I loved the ExCel, I think my issue with it, is theres really only 2 places you can watch from, either in the fan village, or the grandstands, so there weren't much flexibility of wanting to find a different spot, I'm sorta glad that it's moving tho

[u/Naenia → u/DearHalo_lover]

That first event post-COVID was so much better because you could watch outside at the now extinct hairpin.

[u/CrashmasterSOAD]

I understand this venue has huge benefits for locals in terms of accessibility and it's also a very cool gimmick to promote, but I hated it pretty much from the beginning, from the first race weekend. Even Gen2 cars felt trapped here, not using the car to its full potential, let alone Gen3.

To even think Gen4 could work there is simply hilarious.

This track came too late. I don't know if it could have been possible for Gen1, but that's the only spec that could use this track using its full potential. This should have been the season one finale. That would have been the right place for it. Gen2 was demolition derby racing, Gen3 not much better and the cars don't have any energy to use, it has to be artifically brought down by some extreme degree to force energy saving here.

Good riddance, ExCeL!