Motorsport: Going green, green, green

The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has begun steering Formula One down a more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly path, more relevant to the road car industry, as we have reported here a couple of times in recent weeks. Honda, it seems, may literally go with a green color scheme in F1 next season as it apparently has decided to step up marketing of its environmental policies via the world's premier category.

Volvo has set its sights on winning the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) in '07 with a bioethanol-powered car. Thomas Andersson, president of Volvo Cars Sweden, says this is a chance to be "involved and leading the development of greener motorsport".

The use of E85 environmental fuel is at the heart of its effort. The STCC will be the first production car championship in which bioethanol E85 will be used. Petrol and bioethanol fuels are allowed in the championship next year, but beyond that there is move to have only the latter.

Volvo's STCC team, Polestar Racing, is an STCC development partner. "Environment is a Volvo core value, so we did not have to think twice before taking on the role of STCC development partner," says Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, director of motorsport at Volvo Cars Sweden.

"Volvo's motorsport history shows that we have always been in pole position in terms of environmental development. We have chosen to implement environmental options whenever they have become available. Among other things, Volvo was the first marque to use a catalytic converter in the British Touring Car Championship in 1994. The following year, this became mandatory in the championship."

Volvo president Andersson says: "We are going into next season's championship with the clear aim of competing to win. The bioethanol initiative will also serve as a common motivator for all of our partners contributing to the total customer experience. We also see a potential in extending the activity to Nordic level. Interest in Volvo's broad-based environmental offer -- and bioethanol in particular -- is now growing in more and more markets."

Polestar Racing is also looking at taking part in selected rounds of the World Touring Car Championship, organisers of which say another Swedish-based outfit, Flash Engineering, is considering converting its BMWs to run on E85.

Audi this year became the first car manufacturer in more than 80 years of Le Mans to win the endurance classic with a diesel engine. And its 650-horesepoer R10 TDI diesel sports car also was unbeaten in its first American Le Mans Series season, winning all seven races it competed in. Now Audi is setting itself the challenge of doing the same on biodiesel.

Honda is overhauling its environmental policies and is said to have settled on "green" as a powerful marketing strategy for it in F1 in '07, as a way to gain an advantage on its manufacturer rivals as a new era dawns after more than 30 decades of domination by tobacco-sponsored cars.

Simon Fuller, of the 19 Entertainment group that has been involved with Honda's marketing for almost a year, told Marketing Week magazine that F1 could be "as big as the Olympics" but needs to market itself better to younger consumers -- and running hard with an environmental message may be the way to do that.

Honda's initial plans are said to include the team putting solar panels on the roofs of transporters and motorhomes. It could be easily done, as Honda Soltec produces next-generation solar cells.

The FIA is now pushing moves to renewable energy in F1 after reaching an agreement with teams to introduce it "within the next five years" as part of the settlement that headed off a rival manufacturer-run series.

The first engine energy-recovery and re-use devices are set to be introduced in F1 from 2009, and the FIA hopes to increase energy-saving efforts in 2010. From 2011 engines could be required to have high-efficiency turbocharging, fuel-flow limits, direct injection and use bio-fuels.

The greening of motorsport is going to be fascinating, and we'll be keeping a close eye on it here in 2007.

Serious NASCAR business for Ambrose
Fresh from his successful debut season in American racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, that included two third places and a pole position, Australia's dual V8 Supercar champion Marcos Ambrose is not only preparing to move into the Busch Series next year but will race in at least two, and perhaps as many as 10, rounds of NASCAR's premier division, the Nextel Cup.

The two certainties are races on road courses -- at Infineon Raceway in California on June 24, and at Watkins Glen in New York on August 12. Extra starts for the Ford racer will depend on contributions from Australian companies to the Team Australia/Wood Brothers effort.

Ambrose says the learning curve in America is steep but that NASCAR "has become the pinnacle of world motorsport". He now looks set to stay in America at least until the end of 2010.

Bathurst 12-Hour wants tarmac rally cars
Organisers of the reborn Bathurst 12-Hour Showroom Enduro next April 8 are hoping to attract cars built to the new tarmac rally rules.

"One of the key issues when crafting the new production car rules was to ensure that manufacturers and entrants could get as much leverage as possible in their motorsport investment," says Bill West, the 12-Hour administrator. "The opportunity to compete in events such as Targa Tasmania and also the WPS Bathurst 12-Hour in the same car offer tarmac rally entrants a great race program for the year.

The (Bathurst) entry list looks strong, with a great variety of manufacturers, and any car in the first four classes probably has a chance of winning." Click here to see the full Bathurst 12-Hour eligibility list.

Sutil won this year's Japanese Formula Three Championship with the Toyota-powered TOMS team, after finishing second to McLaren's F1 newcomer Lewis Hamilton in the European F3 Championship in 2005.

Apart from his skill in a racing car, Sutil is an accomplished pianist whose Uruguayan-born father Jorge played violin for the Munich Philarmonic. Sutil's countrymen on the grid next season will be Ralf Schumacher, Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg. Only Britain has as many F1 drivers.

The two slots not confirmed in the '07 field are with Red Bull's second team, Scuderia Toro Rosso, although Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and American Scott Speed are favoured to be retained.

However, there are indications Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, the triple Champ Car champion, may be in the frame after a three-day test last week, despite insisting he will do another season with Newman-Haas in North America. Toro Rosso principal Gerhard Berger says the team "will have something to say by the end of the year".

Here's the '07 line-up, with car numbers:
McLaren - 1 Fernando Alonso, 2 Lewis Hamilton
Renault - 3 Giancarlo Fisichella, 4 Heikki Kovalainen
Ferrari - 5 Felipe Massa, 6 Kimi Raikkonen
Honda - 7 Jenson Button, 8 Rubens Barrichello
BMW Sauber - 9 Nick Heidfeld, 10 Robert Kubica
Toyota - 11 Ralf Schumacher, 12 Jarno Trulli
Red Bull - 14 David Coulthard, 15 Mark Webber
Williams - 16 Nico Rosberg, 17 Alexander Wurz
Toro Rosso - 18 TBA, 19 TBA
Spyker - 20 Christijan Albers, 21 Adrian Sutil
Super Aguri - 22 Takuma Sato, 23 Anthony Davidson

FIA the authority on safety - Mosley
FIA president Max Mosley has told F1 drivers to stay out of public debates about the safety of tracks. The Grand Prix Drivers Association has been concerned about Monza in Italy and Barcelona, Jerez and Valencia in Spain.

"Safety has become far too technical for anyone but the specialists," Mosley says. "We obviously cannot have two bodies telling circuits what is required. That would result in total confusion. The fact that the GPDA release muddled calculated impact speed with maximum permissible impact speed reinforces this. We will always listen to drivers, but the decisions must be ours. And if we have to lose a race or two or a few licences to make a point, we will. It will be better for the sport in the long run."

"Regga" was laid to rest in his family's vault in the cemetery at Porza, above Lugano in Switzerland where the funeral was held. Another service will be held for him in Monaco in the new year.

South Africa's ticket prices shoot north
Fans intending to go to the A1 Grand Prix "World Cup of Motorsport" round in Durban, South Africa, at the end of February face steep price increases on last year. Ticket prices for Durban's street race have soared by up to 500 per cent! Grandstand seats have risen about 50 to 100 per cent, but hardest hit are wheelchair-bound spectators.

"Ticket sales are going well, despite there being no advertising at this stage," says A1 Team South Africa chief executive Dana Cooper. "We attracted 105,000 spectators over the three days at the last event -- the biggest sporting crowd Durban has yet seen." However, there has been a lot of argument in the city about the race's true value.