GreenRacing: getting everyone involvedThe US government is promoting a Green Racing Cup, the European Parliament asked the FIA to adapt their rules for green cars, and Ireland is already ahead of the pack with a green racing team. Tim O'Brienreports
Brace yourself motor sport enthusiasts: it is time for Formula Cheese. Or Formula Whey. Or perhaps, Formula Rapeseed. Anything, in fact which may be described as an alternative fuel which could be used to power racing cars, and give a boost to the development of planet-saving alternative technologies.
While you may sniff at the prospect of fuels derived from cheese, it is the key ingredient in making ethanol currently on sale in Maxol stations. And, just last weekend, sugar beet was the source ingredient in the fuel of Irish motorsport team, Belmayne A1 Team Ireland, as it made history racing on biofuel in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Taupo, New Zealand.
In the United States, the Federal Government, in the form of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, chose last week's Detroit Motor Show to announce a new partnership with General Motors to promote the world's first "Green Racing Cup".
The intention of the move was to speed up the introduction of technologies to combat CO2 emissions and global warming by using the development and innovation skills of the motor sport industry.
Already some of the world's biggest names in car manufacturing have signed up to the Green Racing Cup including Audi, Aston Martin, Honda, Mazda, Porsche and, of course, General Motors.
They will now busy themselves developing and producing energy-efficient technologies likely to go beyond simple biofuels to hybrid engines and fuel cells.
While biofuel and other alternative fuels are currently to the forefront in environmently-friendly fuels, and will feature at races in Sebring in Florida as soon as next March, eventually the cars will compete against each other using hybrid, fuel cell, energy-retrieval and other CO2-reducing power systems. Such vehicles are similar in performance and appearance to those which compete in Europe's famous Le Mans 24-Hour race.
"If you consider Le Mans was won by Audi using a diesel engine in recent years, there is no good reason in the world why you can not run with biofuel instead of diesel," said Ireland's Peter O'Neill of ecomotion.ie, who converts saloon cars and commercial vehicles to run on vegetable oil.
"Anywhere you see diesel cars running, they can be run on biodiesel with a little modification to the engines. Of course, the way Formula One stands at the moment, the rules may have to change because someone could say the winner is using a non-specified fuel," said O'Neill.
However, it looks likely that those rules may change following the European Parliament resolution which was warmly welcomed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the world governing body for motorsport.
Using words which were coincidentally very similar to those used at the same time in the United States, the European Parliament's resolution recognised "the role motor sport can play in changing attitudes and customer behaviour towards environmentally-friendly technology". The resolution continued: "The European Parliament therefore asks the FIA and others involved in Formula 1 motor racing to change their rules accordingly, so that environmentally-friendly technologies such as bio-fuels, four-cylinder engines and hybrid power units can be more easily applied."
Sceptics were confounded yet again when FIA gave the call a warm welcome the following day.
FIA president Max Mosley said it was "immensely satisfying that the European Parliament recognises motor sport's role in developing environmentally-friendly technologies".
He added that with the support of the motor manufacturers competing in Formula One, and the engineering expertise unique to the sport, it would be possible to "accelerate the introduction of energy-efficient technologies into the domestic car market".
FIA will work with its international membership of automotive clubs to bring forward recommendations from its "Make Cars Green Declaration" at campaign events throughout 2008.
But if you are still unconvinced this is possible look no further than the Irish. Belmayne A1 Team Ireland driver Adam Carroll does not expect to ever feel any difference in performance driving his green racing machine, but his efforts will be less damaging to the environment.
The team's fuel is now an ethanol-based product Hiperflo E30, sourced from sugar beet in Europe and produced specifically for A1GP.
Developed in partnership with Zytek, the engine manufacturer for the series, the fuel produces less harmful particulate matter than conventional fuels and will reduce CO2 emissions by 21 per cent per car based on a wheel-to-wheel calculation.
Team principal Mark Gallagher, said the initiative had been a bold strategy on the part of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport to tackle environmental issues.
"The World Cup of Motorsport has achieved many firsts, but this is one of the most significant and it's great that Team Ireland and our 21 competitor nations will be using Sunday's racing to promote this message to the motorsport and motoring public," he said in advance of the race.