In http://www.sportscarpros.com :
ArrayTwo events that occurred recently have altered the landscape in a way that changes all the rules for those of us here on Earth, even those in motorsport.
First the price of crude oil hit the symbolic $100 a barrel level and while this may be a temporary peak in the longer term the price trend is only going to be on an upward swing. USA oil demand is projected to be 25% higher by 2030 and I cannot see the EUs power needs being much different despite taxes being introduced by the central government in the name of global warming and carbon footprint reduction. The demand for energy from China and India, both undergoing industrial revolutions, is also set to rocket, which brings us to the next significant happening.
While the worlds motoring press and petrolheads focused their attention on Detroit and the NAIAS, the real action was happening on the other side of the planet at the Delhi Motor Show. The unveiling of the Tata Nano will transform personal motoring on the Indian sub-continent and eventually one supposes throughout the whole third world. The car is set to retail at around $2,000, bringing affordable motoring within the reach of hundreds of millions of people around the globe and thereby increasing the demand for oil exponentially.
Where demand exceeds supply prices rise and the economies of India and China will be able to afford it, perhaps more so than the West. So the problem of energy supply needs to be addressed, we have probably left it too late but often the best solutions are found against tight deadlines and constraints. The solutions will have some chance of success if they are engineering lead and not piss and wind from politicians.
These events are happening in the context of massive increases in motor car fuel economy demanded by the year 2020 in the US by the Legislature, not to forget similar laws being proposed in Europe. It has even got to the point where speed limits may be introduced on Germanys autobahns. Quelle Fromage?
Detroit Spinners
At the NAIAS to say there were the signs that those in the motor industry are taking this seriously would be to greatly understate the current mood. Toyotas hybrid hype has been superseded by GMs Chevrolet Volt, which from any angle looks like the real deal. Sensationally Audi revealed their R8 diesel supercar that had the scribblers scrambling for their pocket Rogets in an attempt to describe the torque characteristics.
I articulated a sense of lost opportunity earlier; well motorsport should be in the vanguard of attempts to be more energy efficient, Fast & Frugal ® should be the slogan. Motorsport has often led or accelerated developments in engineering and technology, continuing to do so would give a justification to the sports existence. There are many that would stop the sport in the morning if they could; we should not give them any more ammunition.
Brave New World
Why does endurance racing in particular offer such an opportunity? Well lets examine the rest of the sport. F1 certainly has the skills and resources to attack any engineering problem with a successful outcome more than likely. Re-generative braking systems have been in the F1 headlines; i.e. heat generated from braking is transferred to a storage medium, probably a battery, for use in addition to the conventional power plant. OK as far as it goes but right now the direction that F1 is heading does not seem to even consider the needs of the wider world, focusing on issues that its leadership, if it can be called that, thinks appropriate to solve problems within its own world.
Spiralling costs have led to an attempt to reign in spending by the teams, herding cats would be easier. A 10-year freeze on engine development is one consequence of this drive to reduce budgets. This comes right at the time when this section of the sport could use the opportunity to attack the energy efficiency problem, rather than let the resources that will be focused on this issue stand outside of their control.
Budget capping of the teams would appear to be the next step in the brave new world of Grand Prix racing, of course this would apparently cost each team 2 million per annum in administrative fees payable to the FIA, well dull guys in suits are expensive. Why anyone would expect this work in the real world when governments, tax authorities, stock markets, etc. have all failed in the past to control money swilling around in companies and corporations .the patsy in SocGen who burnt the banks cash pile on things that nobody understands was acting on his own ..Yeah right. Sarbanes Oxley is the latest magic bullet dreamt up by legislators, human behavioural patterns would be a better guide to the future. Certain countries and cultures have a long tradition of fiscal and financial rectitude, being straight with the books, some do not, lets hope that F1 does not include any of those guys. The FIA seems to have exempted itself from this trend towards cost control, the drivers on the grid at Melbourne will be paying an extra £900,000 per annum for their Superlicences, more tea vicar? Bolly anyone?
This piece has been lying around for a few days while the daily grind goes on, so as I was running through a final edit something caught my eye in the current issue of Motor Sport. For those who have never experienced this publication or have dropped it during the years of neglect and cluelessness at first Standard House and latterly Haymarket, it is time to start reading this fine magazine again. Now fully independent of the evil empire and with a stellar line up of contributors on hand each month, Nigel Roebuck and Gordon Kirby being the most recent additions, it is required reading.
A feature on the challenges presented to the future of motorsport by green issues was the focal point of an interview with John Barnard and Mario Illien. I quote two small parts in support of my own thoughts.
(In the 80s) it was all efficiency because we were only allowed a certain amount of fuel. Now, theyve (the FIA) gone completely away from that, which is wrong
Theres an awful lot of electrical and electronic hardware required to recover energy and store it in this challenging environment. Everyone in racing wants an advantage to be able to win. Therefore you must move fast and have to be creative and innovative to get that unfair advantage.
The sport would benefit because companies would start to use their R&D budgets to go racing and thats because theres nothing like racing to get you an answer quickly.
Read the rest of the article, buy the magazine, and better still subscribe.
The other major arm of motorsport and unquestioned top dog in North America, NASCAR, is also unlikely to be at the forefront of addressing the upcoming energy crisis. They are switching to unleaded fuel for their carburettors this season, apparently the voodoo of fuel injection is still a few years away but while they continue to make billions who can argue with them. As far as they are concerned, if aint broke, dont fix it.[/quote]
Parece que não sou o único que pensa que o desporto automóvel (e a F1 deveria ser considerado um desporto!) tem de evoluir imenso, de modo a acelerar o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias que nos permitam ter carros mais económicos... Mas enquanto os budgets das equipas forem dominados pelos departamentos de marketing e não pelos departamentos R&D (fracamente, o que é que um constructor automóvel consegue levar da F1 (e não só) para os carros de estrada?! :Kick_Can_emoticon::Kick_Can_emoticon::Kick_Can_emoticon:), parece que vamos continuar a ver carros extremamente leves, com metade do peso de um utiliário actual, a gastarem 10 vezes mais "energia" que um utilitário qualquer.
:noworry:
ArrayTwo events that occurred recently have altered the landscape in a way that changes all the rules for those of us here on Earth, even those in motorsport.
First the price of crude oil hit the symbolic $100 a barrel level and while this may be a temporary peak in the longer term the price trend is only going to be on an upward swing. USA oil demand is projected to be 25% higher by 2030 and I cannot see the EUs power needs being much different despite taxes being introduced by the central government in the name of global warming and carbon footprint reduction. The demand for energy from China and India, both undergoing industrial revolutions, is also set to rocket, which brings us to the next significant happening.
While the worlds motoring press and petrolheads focused their attention on Detroit and the NAIAS, the real action was happening on the other side of the planet at the Delhi Motor Show. The unveiling of the Tata Nano will transform personal motoring on the Indian sub-continent and eventually one supposes throughout the whole third world. The car is set to retail at around $2,000, bringing affordable motoring within the reach of hundreds of millions of people around the globe and thereby increasing the demand for oil exponentially.
Where demand exceeds supply prices rise and the economies of India and China will be able to afford it, perhaps more so than the West. So the problem of energy supply needs to be addressed, we have probably left it too late but often the best solutions are found against tight deadlines and constraints. The solutions will have some chance of success if they are engineering lead and not piss and wind from politicians.
These events are happening in the context of massive increases in motor car fuel economy demanded by the year 2020 in the US by the Legislature, not to forget similar laws being proposed in Europe. It has even got to the point where speed limits may be introduced on Germanys autobahns. Quelle Fromage?
Detroit Spinners
At the NAIAS to say there were the signs that those in the motor industry are taking this seriously would be to greatly understate the current mood. Toyotas hybrid hype has been superseded by GMs Chevrolet Volt, which from any angle looks like the real deal. Sensationally Audi revealed their R8 diesel supercar that had the scribblers scrambling for their pocket Rogets in an attempt to describe the torque characteristics.
I articulated a sense of lost opportunity earlier; well motorsport should be in the vanguard of attempts to be more energy efficient, Fast & Frugal ® should be the slogan. Motorsport has often led or accelerated developments in engineering and technology, continuing to do so would give a justification to the sports existence. There are many that would stop the sport in the morning if they could; we should not give them any more ammunition.
Brave New World
Why does endurance racing in particular offer such an opportunity? Well lets examine the rest of the sport. F1 certainly has the skills and resources to attack any engineering problem with a successful outcome more than likely. Re-generative braking systems have been in the F1 headlines; i.e. heat generated from braking is transferred to a storage medium, probably a battery, for use in addition to the conventional power plant. OK as far as it goes but right now the direction that F1 is heading does not seem to even consider the needs of the wider world, focusing on issues that its leadership, if it can be called that, thinks appropriate to solve problems within its own world.
Spiralling costs have led to an attempt to reign in spending by the teams, herding cats would be easier. A 10-year freeze on engine development is one consequence of this drive to reduce budgets. This comes right at the time when this section of the sport could use the opportunity to attack the energy efficiency problem, rather than let the resources that will be focused on this issue stand outside of their control.
Budget capping of the teams would appear to be the next step in the brave new world of Grand Prix racing, of course this would apparently cost each team 2 million per annum in administrative fees payable to the FIA, well dull guys in suits are expensive. Why anyone would expect this work in the real world when governments, tax authorities, stock markets, etc. have all failed in the past to control money swilling around in companies and corporations .the patsy in SocGen who burnt the banks cash pile on things that nobody understands was acting on his own ..Yeah right. Sarbanes Oxley is the latest magic bullet dreamt up by legislators, human behavioural patterns would be a better guide to the future. Certain countries and cultures have a long tradition of fiscal and financial rectitude, being straight with the books, some do not, lets hope that F1 does not include any of those guys. The FIA seems to have exempted itself from this trend towards cost control, the drivers on the grid at Melbourne will be paying an extra £900,000 per annum for their Superlicences, more tea vicar? Bolly anyone?
This piece has been lying around for a few days while the daily grind goes on, so as I was running through a final edit something caught my eye in the current issue of Motor Sport. For those who have never experienced this publication or have dropped it during the years of neglect and cluelessness at first Standard House and latterly Haymarket, it is time to start reading this fine magazine again. Now fully independent of the evil empire and with a stellar line up of contributors on hand each month, Nigel Roebuck and Gordon Kirby being the most recent additions, it is required reading.
A feature on the challenges presented to the future of motorsport by green issues was the focal point of an interview with John Barnard and Mario Illien. I quote two small parts in support of my own thoughts.
(In the 80s) it was all efficiency because we were only allowed a certain amount of fuel. Now, theyve (the FIA) gone completely away from that, which is wrong
Theres an awful lot of electrical and electronic hardware required to recover energy and store it in this challenging environment. Everyone in racing wants an advantage to be able to win. Therefore you must move fast and have to be creative and innovative to get that unfair advantage.
The sport would benefit because companies would start to use their R&D budgets to go racing and thats because theres nothing like racing to get you an answer quickly.
Read the rest of the article, buy the magazine, and better still subscribe.
The other major arm of motorsport and unquestioned top dog in North America, NASCAR, is also unlikely to be at the forefront of addressing the upcoming energy crisis. They are switching to unleaded fuel for their carburettors this season, apparently the voodoo of fuel injection is still a few years away but while they continue to make billions who can argue with them. As far as they are concerned, if aint broke, dont fix it.[/quote]
Parece que não sou o único que pensa que o desporto automóvel (e a F1 deveria ser considerado um desporto!) tem de evoluir imenso, de modo a acelerar o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias que nos permitam ter carros mais económicos... Mas enquanto os budgets das equipas forem dominados pelos departamentos de marketing e não pelos departamentos R&D (fracamente, o que é que um constructor automóvel consegue levar da F1 (e não só) para os carros de estrada?! :Kick_Can_emoticon::Kick_Can_emoticon::Kick_Can_emoticon:), parece que vamos continuar a ver carros extremamente leves, com metade do peso de um utiliário actual, a gastarem 10 vezes mais "energia" que um utilitário qualquer.
:noworry:
