Electric Hybrid Race Cars

I have been giving this a lot of thought ... not just lately - but for the last 3 or 4 years.

With all the politics and "non-sport" related crap that Formula 1 has put itself through over the last few years - it's hard to deny that its effects have been felt at corporate, sponsor, team and promoter levels.....but these "dramas" have also had an effect on the fans.

So...why doesnt it do something good for itself and generate some positive headlines based around the teams, manufacturers and the development of "the car" into the future.
After all - is F1 not the epicentre of all things "futuristic" in the automotive world?

Toyota has announced their departure from F1 Immediately - citing the financial crisis as well as the teams lack of results over the last 8 years as the reason. This full scale abandoning of F1 done it seems only weeks after Toyota F1 Boss and FOTA VP John Howett signed the new, and legally binding Concorde agreement - essentially guaranteeing Toyota's involvement in F1 until 2012.

Stones will be cast, windows will be broken and spanners will be thrust like bayonets into the machine that is Formula One...but it will plough on regardless with the support of the FIA.

The F1 paddock, the FIA & Bernie Ecclestone along with his banker buddy partners CVC are hanging of a decision from Renault as to THEIR continued involvement in the sport as well.
After the Renault F1 team was exposed as having "manipulated" the result of the 2008 Singapore GP by having one of it drivers deliberately crash his car at a certain point in the race - enabling his team mate to take advantage of a pit stop strategy that took him from a position in the mid teens - to 1st position - the parent company has suffered HUGE public embarrassment and been forced to offer vast sums of money to the FIA, offer apologies to other teams, sponsors and fans in general.

The Renault "Crash-gate" saga - of which the parent company knew NOTHING - has bosses scratching their heads as to how to make things right again.
Should they hold their head high and press on in F1, in the knowledge that they have cleaned out the bad eggs (with the FIA's help) from their team, they have good drivers locked into good contracts and they have an engine that in spite of the factory team not making best use of it - has seen supply partner Red Bull have their best season ever - finishing 2nd in the both the world Drivers and Constructors Championships in 2009.

Red bull had been chasing a deal with Mercedes Benz - but the rumour is that deal was blocked by McLaren who have an extensive contract not to mention shared ownership with the Germans.

So the second choice for Renault Boss Carlos Grohn is to remove the Renault F1 race team completely , thereby saving the company some millions of $ per year....AND continuing with the engine supply deal for Red Bull Racing, thereby MAKING money from the sport.

Of course the Renault board might also decide to get out altogether....Leaving RBR with no engines at all...and F1 with another manufacturer on the ever growing pile of rotting carcasses on the steps of the FIA offices.

So...what has all this to do with electric hybrid race cars i hear you ask.

Well....

F1 needs new business partners as well as manufacturers to become involved in the worlds premier motor sports category. AND - the sport needs new fans

THE WORLD needs a sport that is pushing the boundaries of speed, safety and technology while advancing the development of eco friendly ways to do it.

Ferrari Boss Luca di Montezolomo also happens to be head of FOTA - the Formula One Teams Association. He has been pushing for the introduction of a 3rd car per team - to help maintain grid integrity should some of the new teams entering the 2010 season not actually make the 1st race.

Most other teams are resisting the 3rd car idea - mainly on costs..... however...
What if the 3rd car per team had to be an electric/hybrid?

Right now - the general car buying public is skeptical about the performance of E/H vehicles. lets face it - the Toyota Prius isn't exactly setting the world alight with its pace. But it does make some significant advances into the use of alternative power.

I am not an engineer. I dont know what is required to build an Electric Hybrid race car. I assume that one of the significant issues that needs to be delt with is weight. A boot load of batteries can tend to be reasonably heavy....not to mention the space required.

Right now there are 26 A1gp cars sitting locked up in a warehouse in the UK - that may never see a race track again - due to the on going legal issues and non payment of bills associated with the A1GP company.

What about if a few energy companies were to buy those cars and farm them out to 26 of the best automotive design & electrical engineering universities across the world....and give these institutions access to F1 teams, designers, developers and aero gurus so that the 3rd car raced on event weekends is electric hybrid. Showing the way of the future.

We dont have to have 300kph EH race cars.
ENDURANCE is also a key point in all of this.
There is no point in being able to go 300kph if you can only do so for a few kilometres before you need to recharge.

Races might be more like "trials" with the EH cars needing to perform a certain set of "tests" with the performance of each compared to get a race "winner"

Battery makers would be encouraged to enter the development of the sport - making smaller, lighter more powerful energy storage systems - capable of fitting in a F1 style chassis.

Car makers would be encouraged to make better faster safer EH vehicles for the worlds mobility needs earlier than current indicators predict and as stated in previous posts.... a series like this gives the worlds "concerned, eco-friendly, environmentally aware corporations " a very good place to not only promote their own business - but expand it exponentially through the development and racing of Electric Hybrid vehicles.

So....whats needed?
I have been giving that some thought too - but it requires another coffee before the the telling.

Come back soon.....and bring a friend.