MOTORSPORT: Next up hydrogen touring cars?

As another season of Supercar racing with old-fashioned V8 engines draws to a close in Australia, the focus in Europe is turning towards hydrogen-fuelled electric touring cars.

The move is being ‘driven’ by Gerhard Berger, the 10-time Formula 1 grand prix winner (including twice in Australia – at Adelaide in 1987 with Ferrari and in 1992 with McLaren).

Berger is the chairman of ITR, the international touring car racing organisation that oversees the DTM, the German-based touring car championship that also has rounds in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain, Sweden and now Russia.

Berger has been a critic of electric and hybrid open-wheeler racing but envisages a mainstream series for road cars harnessing electrical energy from hydrogen fuel-cells and generating up to 1000hp (about 750kW) and fantastic sound.

Hydrogen is the colourless, odourless, flammable gas that combines with oxygen to form water. It already powers a number of production fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), including the Hyundai NEXO and Toyota Mirai (next-gen concept pictured).

“We’re talking about high-performance racing cars which are fast, spectacular and able to race wheel to wheel,” Berger said.

“And these cars will look like the cars you can buy at a dealership.”

They would house hydrogen tanks within a carbon-fibre monocoque and pave the way for mid-race pitstops in which fuel-cells would be switched in an automated robotic process.

An industrial robot rig would surround the car, replacing all four wheels and swap the battery pack or hydrogen tank in the car’s underbody.

“What’s important about this proposal is that, even though it would use standardised powertrain components [with ‘some engineering freedom’], it would allow manufacturers to race with their own models – something yet to be embraced by an electric series,” Berger said.

“That’s obviously critical for manufacturer involvement and allows them to maximise their marketing around it.

“We’re working on a variety of different projects that incorporate more sustainable technologies.

“They say in motorsport that if you stand still you go backwards, so we’re thinking several steps ahead. That’s what you have to do if you want to shape the future of motorsport.

“At the same time we need to be open-minded about what’s happening in the automotive world.

“Although hybrid and electric vehicles have established something of a foothold, I think motorsport has been lacking a truly new and inspiring concept up until now.

“We’re talking with a significant number of automotive manufacturers and suppliers who would like to become more involved in motorsport.

“The proposal offers them a first look at something tangible – and exciting.”

The DTM’s existing participants, following the withdrawal of Mercedes and Opel in recent years, are Audi, BMW and Aston Martin.

The organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and World Endurance Championship are talking of introducing hydrogen technology to sports car racing from 2024 and claim to have interest from French, German, American, Japanese and Korean manufacturers.

Berger has not set a specific timeframe on his plan.

“Obviously that depends on a number of factors,” he said.

“First of all, technical feasibility. But we’ve been investigating this area quite intensively, and now need to draw on the expertise of specialists as we continue to evaluate its feasibility.

“This includes battery and robot manufacturers, for example, when you consider the ambitious and ground-breaking technology for the pitstops.

“Naturally, financing the development also plays a major role – you have to get that properly balanced.

“But this is a courageous and innovative concept.

“You have to look far ahead if you want to shape the future of motor sports and offer racing with alternative drive systems that inspires the fans.”

Three Toyota drivers from the Joe Gibbs Racing stable – Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Junior – and Kevin Harvick from Ford team Stewart-Haas Racing will fight out NASCAR’S Cup at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend.

Roger Penske’s Mustang-mounted defending champion Joey Logano narrowly missed making the ‘Championship 4’ at the penultimate round of the 36-race series at Phoenix.

Penske’s younger Ryan Blaney also was eliminated from the title contest, while The Captain’s third driver, Brad Keselowski, was already out of contention.

Hamlin made the final four for the first time since 2014 by winning at Phoenix – his sixth victory of the year.

Busch has been a title contender at the finale five years in a row and Harvick five times in the past six seasons, while 2017 champion Truex has had seven wins this year.

Tasmanians Jason and John White won the final round of the Australian Targa Championship, Victoria’s Targa High Country, but runners-up Paul Stokell and Kate Catford retained the title they won last year.

Thick snow at Mt Buller and thick fog in the area around Mansfield delayed the start of the event.

The Whites won 15 stages over the three days in their Dodge Viper, while Queensland-based former Tasmanian Stokell and Catford won one stage each day in their Lotus Exige and finished 2½ minutes behind the Whites, whose championship chances were spoiled by a failure on the biggest event in the series, Targa Tasmania.

“Three runner-up finishes and a Targa Tasmania victory made it a really good season for us,” Stokell said.

“To go back-to-back is really special. The car was mint and Kate and I have gelled really well.”

Mike Raymond, for so long the most prominent broadcaster in Australian motorsport and who died late last week, aged 76, will be farewelled in Sydney midweek.

Raymond’s funeral will be held at WaterView in Bicentennial Park at Sydney Olympic Park at 1.15pm on Wednesday.

The wake will continue there until 4:00pm.

Raymond’s background was in speedway but he became the face of Channel Seven’s touring car telecasts, especially the Bathurst 1000, and – along with Tom Smith of sponsor Shell – was instrumental in V8s becoming Australia’s premier circuit-racing category in the mid-1990s.