In a world where environmental concerns and fuel conservation is important F1 has a choice; It can either self impose emission and fuel usage standards or it will be forced onto them by National governments. The latest "Eco friendly" Honda program was met with a reaction of hypocrasy by some; http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=119844 In actuality the jets and cars bringing fans and equipment to a race ( or any other sporting event ) use much more fuel and contribute more pollution than the race itself but its the Image thats important.
What if I just don't care? Making fuel efficient cars etc is all fine and good. But c'mon, don't mess with racing. Those 20 cars are meaningless in the scheme of things. And the last thing I need is a thought police that tells me what is politically correct thinking. I'm a non smoker, but I'm completely against the ban of tobacco. I'm old enough to make my own decisions.
All that will happen is some hyper-sensitive countries will find themselves without a GP. As long as there are minor countries with money and an inferiority complex, there will always be a place to run F1.
There's money to be made with this movement and Honda knows it. Everyone is pushing for these fuel efficiency standards. Look at Audi with their TDI racing cars that run on diesel? Honda can use this effort to support their fuel efficient consumer cars.(although winning a few races would probably be better PR ) It's all about image so others will follow. No question that governments are cracking down on this so teams really have no choice but to take advantage of it.
The point is that F1 has positioned itself as "The World" sport. If your country has a GP then you have made it. It seems Max and Bernie have promoted this and realize the potential and, yes, responsibility. Its a show, people. When you demand the spotlight you are under scrutiny. Take this as an opportunity to promote fuel efficiency and environmentally sound policies. Any fool can make noise and burn fuel.
The Soapbox Derby is very fuel efficient. Conserving fuel via racing is like putting a screen door on a submarine...it won't make any difference. A "feel good" symbol...nothing else IMHO.
This line of reasoning is weak. Only under scrutiny from environmental fanatics. You seem to think this constitutes the majority of the world's population. It doesn't. For a world class racing series, promoting high technology and competition in order to attract fans and make money is the only sound policy. Do you realize the miniscule amount of emissions race cars put out compared to the millions of street vehicles? Make noise and burn fuel? That's it? You don't seem to have a very good grasp of what a world class racing series is about. -F
Well, diesel engines are less enviroment friendly than conventional gasoline engines. But Audi sells a lot of diesel cars in Europe, it´s a simple question of marketing and advertising, and the same goes for all this eco-stuff.
I agree with you 100%. The smoking ban is rediculous the only thing tobacco advertising does on the cars is to promote their brand to smokers, It's not like we see Kimi and Massa lighting up before the GP's saying hey go pick up a pack today and suck em down.
I would much rather see companies put in all their money and effort into making a zero emissions fuel. This "fuel efficiency" thing is only going to delay the inevitable.
I find the results of your scrying, to be rather interesting, but IMO, faulted. An ultimatum directed at F1 for the fossil fuel usage? What about KLM, UAL, FedEx, DHL and UPS? Yeah... that's it, we'll also ban air travel and express shipping altogether, things just need to slow down a bit. Somehow... I don't think it's happening. Are you intimating that Honda is altruistic in their pursuit of eco-warm/fuzzy and then advertising it, in press releases? It's simply commerce, like anything else they do, product marketing, to claim anything else is true hypocrisy. If they were truly dedicated to conservation, they'd withdraw from F1, protesting loudly that it is wantonly wasteful. In this, even you advocate the "smoke and mirrors" of marketing, "its the Image thats important." Let's make them think we're committed to reducing wasteful petroleum consumption, as long as we don't miss our daily private-jet deliveries of Kobe beef and sushi and nobody knows about it. How many Honda execs, friends and associates, do you think might be flown in, for any F1 event?
Those roles are played by movie stars like Travolta and Cage. If you seriously don't want kids to get started with smoking, then work with the movie industry.
If they want to be eco-friendly, have the cars run on 100% Ethanol made from corn. Gas mileage will go down 33%, but hp can go up if your run a high enough compression (15:1 being close to optimal). Until then, I don't want to hear about Honda being eco-friendly while they still run on ancient mollusks.
Actually that's just my signature. Not a grade. With all the push back you've received, for your non-defensiveness, you get an "A". -F(urman)
When was the last time the world had a crisis that required governments to take a "step back", instead of the common schmoe? It's amazing how many reports we've been getting that keep telling us that being able to jump in the car and go where you want, when you want, without having to depend on a government timetable, or registering with a population study, is a *bad* thing. Funny how it tends to be governments that say so. The whole "ozone layer" and ultraviolet theme just doesn't seem to align with photochemical studies applied anywhere else. The upper atmosphere isn't a realm of magic science. But what we're told about the stratosphere isn't any chemistry that works anywhere else. Call me a cynic, but I'm beginning to wonder just how many of the world's environmental "issues" are just hype intended to convince people to settle for less. Would you expect your lifestyle to improve over time, unless "technology is bad for mudder urth"? How many roads are mismanaged, rather than "too busy"? We've accepted that politicians are liars. The consequences are predictable.
