Eco friendly F1 car

[xpensive]

I'm not sure about now, but earlier this ballast could be from rather xotic materials as well.

[autogyro]

Hybrids and Kers have made little real inroads into becoming green because the FOTA teams wish only to sell their inefficient technology gained from it up to now as a marketing ploy as you say.
That is why they have forced the issue to stop using Kers, to prevent others developing superior systems that would reduce fuel use and make an impact on the environment.
Putting a large alternator and battery on a BMW is hardly green.
But then it is the oil companies that call the tune.

[marcello]

I dunno how many times i've said this:

F1 DOES NOT NEED TO BE ECO-FRIENDLY!!!!!!

It needs to be fast, loud, exciting, DANGEROUS, in short, it needs to have balls, or it will cease to be F1.

Leave the hippieness at the door, this is auto racing, damnit!

[marcello]

I dunno how many times i've said this:

F1 DOES NOT NEED TO BE ECO-FRIENDLY!!!!!!

It needs to be fast, loud, exciting, DANGEROUS, in short, it needs to have balls, or it will cease to be F1.

Leave the hippieness at the door, this is auto racing, damnit!

[Fil]

I dunno how many times i've said this:

F1 DOES NOT NEED TO BE ECO-FRIENDLY!!!!!!

It needs to be fast, loud, exciting, DANGEROUS, in short, it needs to have balls, or it will cease to be F1.

Leave the hippieness at the door, this is auto racing, damnit!

I dunno how many times i've said this:

F1 DOES NOT NEED TO BE ECO-FRIENDLY!!!!!!

It needs to be fast, loud, exciting, DANGEROUS, in short, it needs to have balls, or it will cease to be F1.

Leave the hippieness at the door, this is auto racing, damnit!

according to my count, that'd be twice you said that!

but i do agree, let a new series EcoF1 be made if there are so many concerned.
We could have Force Greenpeace, PETA Racing, Team WWF, Worldwatch Institute of Racing, Scuderia Tesla could be the green Ferrari..

but leave F1 to be F1.

[Shrek]

Maybe just make the stuff that can't be controlled by the teams like tires.

[autogyro]

Unless F1 developes Kers and other technology for the future it can no longer be considered as F1.
It was created not just for drivers and the brrm brrm brigade, it is suppoesed to be the pinnacle of technology.
At present it is lumbering along using obsolete technology.
Wake up and smell the revolution.

[_GOGGS_]

No offence to enviromentalists, but Eco-Friendly and Racing are not meant to be used together.

If you want to make a bigger positive impact on the environment, then concentrate on mass transit and commericial vehicles. Racing is meant to be raw, loud, dirty and smelly!

[ISLAMATRON]

you mean like Ferrari fans?

[mx_tifoso]

[machin]

Unfortunately in today's day and age no sponsor wants to be associated with something that is *Perceived* as being detrimental to the environment.... especially when those sponsors are producing thouasands of cars per year... If F1 is to survive it needs to realise this and start promoting environmentally friendly technology without reducing anything from the spectacle (in fact it needs to improve the spectacle).

[autogyro]

Unfortunately in today's day and age no sponsor wants to be associated with something that is *Perceived* as being detrimental to the environment.... especially when those sponsors are producing thouasands of cars per year... If F1 is to survive it needs to realise this and start promoting environmentally friendly technology without reducing anything from the spectacle (in fact it needs to improve the spectacle).

Exactly the point I was making. Non of us believe that F1 causes major damage to the environment through the racing itself.
It is the way the world public perceives the sport and the technology.
F1 has not one hope in hell of a proper future unless it embraces environmental and cost issues.

[The_Man]

A stat I have read states that a single flight from Manchester to London produces more CO2 than 3 Formula One Seasons put together.

Also, the formula One engiens are the most fuel efficient in the world. 33-35% efficiency that tehyb have is a good 15-20% over that of road cars. The technology that comes from Formula One evetually is trasfered to road cars. So in the end Formuala One is probably as eco-unfriendly as anyn other sport.

[raceman]

A stat I have read states that a single flight from Manchester to London produces more CO2 than 3 Formula One Seasons put together.

[horse]

Difficult one this, some people would argue the symbolic value of racing on a "green" agenda, like CART running on Methanol.

However, problem runs deeper than this I'm afraid, with dwindling oil-reserves and increasing gasoline consumption in countries like China and India, the days of individual people going to work in their own car might end within our lifetime.

There are simply no substitutes for gasoline on any significant scale today, the cost and energy-density of petroleum is superior to anything else we know, no matter what journos and politicians wants us to belive.

Ethanol is a dead end energy-wise with a 10% efficiency in the manufacturing process, besides there are not enough carbohydrates grown in this world to make a serious impact.

With electricity, problem seems to be not only the storage, but also charging, to charge the energy equal of 60 liters of gasoline, 2 GJ, in six hours, you need a 100 kW connection.

I think xpensive has hit the nail on the head, here. The fact is that motorsport is going to have to change or it's going to die. The question is whether it leads that change or follows. F1 being F1, it would be nice to believe it could lead that change, but, as we found out from KERS, the costs of being first to a technology are exorbitant and any big company, which many F1 teams now are, will avoid it like plague. Always be second, because it's cheaper and you know it works.

Secondly, the oil companies have a lot to play for here. They want to keep selling oil, no matter the price, so it is in their interest to keep motorsport oil dependant for as long as possible. I agree that, at the moment, viable alternatives for top end motorsport do not exist, but I think KERS was a good pointer in the right direction (for fuel efficiency at least). I'm sure a KERS team would be carrying a wee bit less fuel this year, if they still had it.

Let's face it, with the logistics of a international racing series, it's never going to be that "green", the question is does it want to continue leading as automotive technology changes, or does it want to turn into a historic racing series?