Vroom, Vroom: Formula 1 Orders Teams to Go Green
Thursday, November 1st, 2007By Chuck Squatriglia, Wired Magazine
In the hypercompetitive world of Formula 1 motor racing, the only thing greater than the level of technology is the money spent developing it, and a lot of that money is about to be invested in green technology that will appear in cars the rest of us drive.
The biggest teams — Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Toyota among them — each spend $200 million or more a year on fossil-fuel technology with little real-world application. But now the sport’s ruling body has said, “Enough,” and banned further investment in F1 engines. Teams must now focus on hybrid systems and other eco-friendly means of producing power.
“For Formula 1 to do this is a big step forward,” said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal. “It will bring a lot of new technology to street cars. The old adage is, ‘Race on Sunday, sell on Monday.’”
Fuel injection, traction control and semi-automatic transmissions are just some of the innovations developed in race cars, and the racetrack will become a valuable proving ground for emerging automotive technology, experts said.
On this week’s show we talk with Dan Grice, who is working hard to spread the Green message on FaceBook and has created a badge that enables people to choose their political affiliation as Green. A lot better than ‘other’.
We will also be talking with Stephen Sit, who shares his observations of the transit system in Hong Kong when he visited in early June. His observations are especially relevant since he has over 25 years of transit planning experience.