Industry News
News for 25th January 2008
FIA to revise F1 stewarding procedure
The FIA has revised the operating procedures for its Formula One race stewards and the changes will come into effect at the start of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship in Australia in March.
Under the new arrangements the FIA will be represented at events by three nominated stewards of neutral nationalities - i.e. not from the same countries as competing drivers – who will be assisted by FIA president Max Mosley's official representative Alan Donnelly.
The changes have been made following the retirement at the end of 2007 of Tony Scott-Andrews who was the FIA’s permanent race steward and are aimed at providing faster and more consistent rulings on protests and other matters.
Key figure in F1 espionage scandal finds a new job
One of the men at the centre of the 2007 Formula One industrial espionage scandal involving the McLaren and Ferrari teams has been hired by a UK company that specialises in television equipment including on-board camera systems used in motorsport.
Nigel Stepney, who was dismissed by the Ferrari Formula One team in 2007 having been accused of sabotaging the teams cars and providing confidential data to the rival McLaren team, has been appointed as the Essex based Gigawave Technologies’ director of race technologies, a position that will, according to a company press release, “cover all areas of Gigawave Ltd's involvement in motorsport, including the continual development of its on-board camera systems that are used in major worldwide race series.”
The company also has a race team operation Gigawave Motorsport which will race an Aston Martin DBR9 in the 2008 the FIA GT championship.
A1GP gets greener
Last weekend’s A1GP World Cup of Motorsport race at Taupo in New Zealand was the first in which all 22 national teams competed with E30 biofuel in their tanks.
The race marked the first step in an A1GP initiative to help reduce its environmental footprint. A1GP's new fuel, an ethanol based product Hiperflo(tm) E30, is sourced from sugar beet in Europe and produced specifically for A1GP. Developed in partnership with Zytek, the series' engine manufacturer, the fuel produces less harmful particulate matter than conventional fuels and will reduce CO2 emissions by 21 per cent per car based on a wheel to wheel calculation.
The introduction of E30 was delayed from the start of the season to ensure vehicle performance wasn't affected by the change, but A1GP CEO Pete da Silva says the short wait only made the switch more exciting.
He said, “Through our THINK Greener Racing initiative we're committed to leading a revolution that helps the planet and safeguards the future of our sport. The number one priority is to produce a cutting edge series, but we firmly believe we can deliver exciting racing while minimising the impact of our operations on the environment.”
Green technology to feature at Race Retro
The UK’s Retro 2008, International Historic Motorsport Show to be held in March will aim to answer the question, ‘How can historic motorsport go ‘green’?’
To this end Race Retro will bring together bio-fuel suppliers, experienced users and specialist equipment manufacturers, who provide tanks, seals, fuel hoses, fire extinguishers etc, to present an opportunity for race organisers, competitors and car preparers to discuss the merits of using bio-fuels in historic racing. This ‘green’ feature area will be situated in the engineering area and manned by experienced users of bio-fuels. Competition cars set up to use E85 fuels and E5 (95 per cent gasoline), will also be on display.
Race Retro director Ian Williamson said, “The objective is to highlight conversion problems for historic and classic race and rally cars and improve understanding of the fuel and technical issues, so as to pave the way for the event organisers, competitors and motorsport to move forward.
“Some UK fuel suppliers are already blending high octane fuel using ethanol, which is available at pumps and so meets the MSA criteria that pump fuel for competition should not exceed 100 octane (RON) and 2.7 per cent oxygen. The FIA specification allows 102 octane (RON) and a higher oxygen content (3.7 per cent), which allows ten per cent ethanol to be added. So far as it is known, this fuel can be purchased directly for racing, but is not yet available at the pump.
“The debate is therefore about the effect of higher concentrations of bio-fuels in gasoline, both on weakening mixtures beyond the carburettor (caused by more oxygen) and the potentially corrosive effect on seals, rubbers and fuel hoses, as well as some metals. While 2008 sees the introduction of Junior WRC Ford Fiestas running on E85, A1 GP running on E30 and the BTCC permitting bio-fuel blends, these are all modern vehicles. Cars made before the early 1990s, may only run efficiently on E5 or E10 blends because they don’t have knock sensors. To use E30 or E85, the car may need to have tanks replaced, all the rubber seals changed, etc.”
“Historic Motorsport needs to be seen to be making an environmental effort. Who knows what innovations the future will bring, but as public pressure and perception are growing, doing nothing is no longer an option. By bringing all the various parties together at Race Retro, we hope to inform the historic sector on the solutions available.”
Race Retro is an official Campaign Partner of EEMS, the Energy Efficient Motor Sport Programme supported by Motorsport Development UK and the show will take place at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry on March 14-16.
CRP opens US office
The Italian based motorsport composites company CRP Technology is opening a new office in USA and has appointed Stewart Davis as its director of operations.
CRP USA will be located in Los Angeles and is intended to introduce CRP Technology’s motor sports focused philosophy to North America and to provide better support for teams in ALMS and other racing teams.
Davis’ motorsport experience spans across the industry and includes projects with teams in NASCAR, Formula One, World Super Bike, AMA Super Bike and Super Moto and he has also worked closely with aerospace companies in the development of flight certified rapid manufactured components – co authoring two papers on the subject.
SMMT comments on recent critiques of biofuels policy
In an apparent indirect response to critical reports on the risks attached to the implementation of the Government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation under the EU’s new climate change proposals, the SMMT has issued a statement confirming that vehicle manufacturers believe that increased use of biofuel does present an opportunity to reduce man-made CO2 emissions significantly, while acknowledging that there are issues that must be considered carefully by policy makers and the fuel industry.
Fundamentally, (as the Government and the European Commission have agreed) biofuel production must be sustainable, says the SMMT. The early development of second-generation biofuels, which use bio-waste rather than crops, is strongly supported by the industry. Biofuels must also be manufactured in accordance with international quality standards to ensure that drivers will not face either premature breakdowns or poorer vehicle performance.
Finally, as part of an integrated approach to sustainable motoring, the SMMT urges a wider refuelling infrastructure and incentives for customers to fill up with the latest fuels.
MEPs give broad support to EC’s climate proposals
MEPs at a special EP plenary session in Brussels have broadly supported the proposals launched by the European Commission this week to tackle climate as an economic opportunity for the EU. However, some MEPs raised concerns on the initial Commission target for biofuels and expressed fears that jobs may be exported to parts of the world with no binding targets for carbon emissions.
The European Parliament and European Council, in ‘co-decision’, have the power to amend, adopt or reject the proposals.
Memo: The package the MEPs were discussing is a set of legislative proposals on emission cuts, renewable sources, carbon capture and revision of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. All major CO2 emitters will be given an incentive to develop clean production technologies through a reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) that will impose an EU-wide cap on emissions.
The package seeks to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% and increases to 20% the share of renewable energies in the energy consumption by 2020, as agreed by EU leaders in March 2007. The rate of emissions reduction will be increased to 30% by 2020 when the EC anticipates that a new global climate change agreement will be reached.
(www.europarl.europa.eu)
The LowCVP celebrates fifth anniversary
At the fifth anniversary of its establishment, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership is recalling the progress achieved to date. It has grown to include over 270 member organisations from sectors with a stake in cutting road transport carbon emissions: vehicle manufacturers and fuels companies, road user groups, academics, government representatives, environment bodies and others.
Since 2003 the Partnership has ‘brokered’ the introduction of a fuel economy label for new cars, taken a leadership role in establishing carbon and sustainability criteria for biofuels, and overseen the introduction of Cenex – the new centre of excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies. The LowCVP has provided valued advice to government on all aspects of low carbon road transport including the Low Carbon Transport Innovation Strategy (LCTIS) and the ongoing King Review.
The Partnership says it has taken a lead in the development of carbon and sustainability reporting standards for biofuels – a task the European Commission has now also achieved. The LowCVP’s work led to the guidance for companies published on 11th January by the Renewables Fuels Agency.
Speaking at a reception to mark the LowCVP’s fifth anniversary at the House of Commons, Business Minister Stephen Timms said: “The LowCVP is an excellent example of a government and industry partnership. It has played a key role in supporting the UK’s efforts to address climate change arising from road vehicles. The breadth of knowledge, expertise and interest has been a key factor in the success of the Partnership.
“The Partnership has also made invaluable contributions to policy development.”
Graham Smith, the LowCVP chairman and also senior vice-president of Toyota Motor Europe, said: “It is now clear that climate change is the main challenge of our time and that road transport has a key role to play in meeting that challenge.”
“It is the engagement of representatives of the LowCVP’s growing membership that makes this the vibrant and effective community that it is. This involvement allows the Partnership to ‘punch’ much harder than its financial ‘weight’ and gives, I believe, good value to its funders by making an important contribution to policy making and other initiatives in this key area.”
“We must avoid sacrificing our countryside to fuel our cars” – CPRE on biofuels
“We must do what we can to address climate change responsibly. But rigid targets for biofuels could put the car before the harvest,” was the Council for the Protection of Rural England’s reaction to the Government’s announcement on the proposed targets the UK has been set for biofuels as part of the EU’s plan for reducing CO2 emissions.
Ian Woodhurst, the CPRE’s Senior Rural Campaigner, said: “We need to assess how much of our farmland can be used for bioenergy crops and then plan how to grow and process these crops in ways that do not damage the character of our countryside so that our landscapes and wildlife sites don’t suffer."
The CPRE was following a lead taken by two recent reports from the Royal Society and the Commons Environmental Audit Committee which questioned the benefits of biofuel crops.
