Mosley to call it quits in 2009 - and his comments on energy crisis

[Inigo Montoya]

http://www.gazzetta.it/Motori/Formul...7/mosley.shtml

For those who are not Italian speaking:
In an interview with Autosprint, Max has revealed that he'll leave his post as FIA president at the end of his mandate (ends in 2009). He also said that F1 risks being cancelled altogether if the current energy crisis does not end. His take is that politicians will mandate against racing series. To avoid this, he thinks F1 should grow to represent the cutting edge in research on advanced/alternative fuels.

Seems a bit far-fetched to me - politicians legistlating against racing? Say it ain't so!

[Mekola]

I agree with the idea that, if F1 wants to be the pinnacle of technology, they should enforce their image contributing to develop alternative forms of fuels. There is no better ground that F1 to do this.
No matter that cars will be slower if the result is pleasant even for those who don't follow auto racing.
Hydrogen, gas or hybrid systems are best alternative system for cars atr the moment.

[Bononi]

...2009, it's a long way to go yet. I don't believe politicians will go against F1, because they follow the money.
About alternative fuels, this is more than expected, since that's the only way out for the current technology.

[alesi95]

Im all for an alternative fuel Formula One.
I think Max was refering to the future of F1 in the long term and not that the goverment will crack down on racing in 2009.

[PaulSands]

to be honest they/we shouldve been looking at the alt fuel option years back...then again what would we have to go to war about then (potatoes???)

[jhansen]

Originally Posted by Mekola

I agree with the idea that, if F1 wants to be the pinnacle of technology, they should enforce their image contributing to develop alternative forms of fuels. There is no better ground that F1 to do this.

Sportscars already beat them to it. Audi has already unveiled the R10 with a V-10 TDI diesel. Peugeot is following next year. A privateer effort will run a bio-diesel powered car this year as well. A few years ago Nasamax ran a privateer backed team that ran "green" fuel.

And Group C ran on a fuel consumption based formula in the 80's!

Not to mention, I believe that one of the IRL teams runs an ethanol powered car.

F1 is already losing ground.

[Bononi]

But that's not a case to be the first... it's a case of a much more advanced technology, and for that, F1 is at the top.

[jhansen]

Hmm, I suppose that is correct. Certainly if the top means speed and money spend, then yes. And for sure F1's rules push it to the top in terms of speed.

But perhaps sportscar racing allows the ability to showcase a different kind of technology. Espeically in terms of how it translates to roadcar use. The R10 will display impressive performance numbers ranging from speed to fuel economy. And it will push the envelope of the cars that have come before it. Also, Audi will not have to spend a king's ransom for it. And will then enjoy return on their investment for years to come as they did with the R8.

[mac]

Diesel is great for reducing the amount of fuel used and increasing fuel economy - but it doesn't do a lot for reducing the sport's dependance on oil.

It still rely's on it, just not as much of it.

[okeefe]

Friends of mine used to race 7-second Harley Davidsons with jet fuel. I can't help but be kinda excited about perhaps necessity dictating demand and F1 also developing cars which race on some other type of fuel. If so - I get really excited thinking maybe in my lifetime I'll see a rocket car drag race close to ground - and then I get so excited I can't stand it when I think about the chances of any type of air races above ground into the future! Dear old Dad was a bigwig mechanic on the bigwig stuff in the RCAF - got me to thinking even back then as a little girl. Doesn't seem all that far away anymore, really. Since we're always trying to break land speed there in the dessert - we may as well race while we're at it.............
I hope F1 will rise to the challenge!

[Gt_R]

In theory, i agree with Max that F1 should lead the technology advancement and find alternatives to petrol guzzling engines. It's a good initiative, and it won't take long for somebody to use F1 as a political argument, in the way noise, cig adverts, etc have been used before.

It would be very difficult to implement however. To radically make the switch would be too huge a project, too expensive, and too risky for any teams to do. They may con-currently spend some time researching on such alternatives, but the change will only come when (1) the alternative is similar in performance to what they get with their petrol stuff (2) they are not winning and have the room to make that leap.

And i believe that will be something thats not going to happen too soon.

[Big-O]

Originally Posted by PaulSands

to be honest they/we shouldve been looking at the alt fuel option years back...then again what would we have to go to war about then (potatoes???)

Water !!!

But what about Hydrogen as alt-fuel option ????

[Raglanparade]

Hydrogen Rotary i feel would be the way to go !

It will be the Hydrogen Rotary engine that will be the next generation in 10-20 years time.

The only problem with hydrogen is what i call the Hindenburg factor.. imagine what may happen in the event of a race accident.

[Lotusonpole]

There's always alcohol....Same engines basically.

I think F1 should adopt alternative fuels ASAP.

Cheers
Peter

[Pingguest]

I'm not really keen on mandatory alternative fuels. But I would like to see the FIA to abolish all technical restrictions for the engines and (re-)introducing very restrictive regulations for the fuel consumption. It would be great to see 6L V12's against a 2.65L V6 Turbos.

[PaulSands]

Lets not forget motor racing has been targetted before during fuel crises, during the Suez crisis I seem to recall reading that races in the UK were prohibited

[Nicholosophy]

I think that we need to start looking at alternative fuels. Think of all the different sponsorship possibilities that could eventuate.

You could even see the transporters with solar cells on their roofs to help power the team garages at events or showcasing other green technologies. If F1 headed down the green fuels path there could be many possibilities that are outside the square.

[BootsOntheSide]

One day we will have to use green fuels, and they might have to enforce it unilaterally, simply because the cars using that fuel would not perform as impressively in the short term. The onyl other options is to allow teams running new fuels to have more powerful engiens, whcih would be open to controversy, especially as the technology behind the new fuels could develope in quality quite quickly.

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by Inigo Montoya

Seems a bit far-fetched to me - politicians legistlating against racing? Say it ain't so!

It happened in Switzerland......

No reason it can't happen elsewhere either, for whatever reason....

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by Lotusonpole

There's always alcohol....Same engines basically.

I think F1 should adopt alternative fuels ASAP.

Ask Brazilians! They use "alconafta" on their street cars. In Argentina it was used too in the 1970s.

[climb]

Actually motor racing could give a good contribution to the problem, studying new ways to save fuel via reducing consumption.
That could be realized banning refuelling: teams would find it very convenient to focus R&D efforts in that direction.
Then the subsequent technological achievements could be switched to the mass auto industry.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Mekola

Ask Brazilians! They use "alconafta" on their street cars. In Argentina it was used too in the 1970s.

That's the "FLEX" technology, you can use 2 kinds of fuel, Alcohol or gasoline, just choose the pump in the gas station and there you have it !

From the 70's through the '90's, you had to choose what kind of car you wanted, alcohol or traditional gasoline powered cars.

With the huge sugar plantations spread all around the country, large available areas for more, an agricultural power country, makes this technology perfectly fit for the future.

[okeefe]

Considering the dynamics between fuel (or any power source) and governments - and considering the technology and data etc. that F1 has already and is capable of researching and developing - I certainly think it is an issue on which F1 should be proactive; and sooner rather than later. With any luck - by the statement being made publicly now in the way that it has, maybe they are already looking into it all. Let's just hope that any alternatives that F1 may be able to research and develop are well received in the end anyway -- in this age where it suits governments quite well for all of us to be dependent on oil.

[LongJohnSilver]

If it were to work like Mosely says he thinks it should: each team gets a certain amount of fuel and it is all about fuel consumption with free formula engines

Then we wouldnt have a race. If it is all about fuel consumption then the winner is he who uses the least, or goes the furthest on what they are given. This means travelling brutally slow!

If this isnt what he means and he really just means that fuel use will be restricted, then we wont see teams developing to be the most fuel efficient. They will simply try to get to the point at which they can finish the race with the max amount of fuel given, while still going as fast as possible. This wont produce constant full fledged effort into fuel economy unless the amount of fuel supplied is constantly lowered.

[Pingguest]

Originally Posted by LongJohnSilver

If it were to work like Mosely says he thinks it should: each team gets a certain amount of fuel and it is all about fuel consumption with free formula engines

Then we wouldnt have a race. If it is all about fuel consumption then the winner is he who uses the least, or goes the furthest on what they are given. This means travelling brutally slow!

The FIA also restricted the fuel consumption in the period 1984-1988. We had some pretty good racing in those years.