Can Formula One ever be green?

"The perfect race car crosses the finish line in first place
and then falls to pieces."

- Ferdinard Porsche

Formula One is the ultimate orgy of technological innovation. Win on Sunday and you'll sell on Monday, so the competition is intense. Until recently, Formula One teams had to put ethics aside; speed is expensive - both financially and environmentally - and oil, alcohol and tobacco companies offered very lucrative sponsorship deals. However, the FIA are starting to make some concessions towards making Grand Prix cleaner but it's going to be a long, long time before the sport event itself could be considered anywhere near sustainable. In a race, fuel consumption is typically around the 75 l/100 km (4 mpg) mark, then there's the team-trucks, motorhomes, helicopters and yachts etc. that make up the F1 entourage. It is this hedonism that makes Formula One so seductive and many would be sad to see it greenwashed.

The teams argue that energy-efficiency innovations developed on the track, gradually see their way into our cars. This may be true to some extent, but it's not exactly the most effective form of green R&D. Honda have realised that with an audience of 600 million viewers, they can bring about positive change now, not just via engineering, but also harnessing the sheer spectacle of the sport.

It was only a few years ago that British American Tobacco side-stepped the growing restrictions on tobacco advertising and decided to build an entire team: 'BAR'. The team battled with the FIA from the beginning, ignoring the rule that both race cars must have the same livery and instead choosing to cover each car in a different cigarette brand livery. They later unified the design by metaphorically slicing the bodies of the two cars in half and sticking them back together so that on one side, it was blue and yellow and on the other it was red, white and black. The rear wing of Jacque Villeneuve's BAR ensured maximum TV exposure for their brands. Unluckily for him it wasn't because he was out in front, the likes of michael schumacher's Ferrari was often just trying to lap him.

In 2005 & '06 , the team suffered from tough bans and was stripped of points. This unlucky strike must have come as quite a relief to the other drivers, who had repeatedly fallen foul of Takuma Sato's aggressive racing style. It seems he took engine supplier, Honda's slogan of dreaming the impossible dream a little too seriously when trying to out-brake rivals. Gradually, the team kicked its nicotine habit and last year, Jenson Button gave the official Honda works team their first victory from 14th on the grid. Honda even made a second team (in honour of Aguri Suzuki) just for Takuma Sato... (and to appease their angry Japanese customers for not renewing Sato's contract).

Now, the former 'bad-boys' of F1 have decided not to display any of their sponsor's logos on their 2007 car , instead advertising the fact that we have only one planet. According to Honda: "At http://www.myearthdream.com/ anyone who wishes, will have the opportunity to have their name on the car, make a pledge to make a lifestyle change to improve the environment and make a donation to an environmental charity [...] each name will form a tiny individual pixel which will help build the image of planet earth on the car. Each name will be visible on the website when you make the pledge or under a microscope on the car." The site launches today.

Video: Nick Fry explains the concept ¦ Read Honda's full press release ¦ F1 goes hybrid in 2009

Richard Hammond, LPG and Jet-Cars

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has had a serious accident whilst attempting to break the UK land-speed record in a jet-powered dragster.

Former Top Gear presenter, Steve Berry said of the accident: "He is incredibly lucky to be alive ... this isn't a car, it's more like a wingless aeroplane". The machine is capable of accelerating from 0-270 mph in just 6 seconds and was travelling at +/-300mph when it suddenly veered off the track and somersaulted.

The 'Programme Prevention Department'
Ironically one of Hammond's co-presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, has regularly been outspoken about his dislike of 'Health & Safety', calling it "the cancer of a civilised society" (Sunday Times article). The HSE is currently investigating Richard Hammond's accident. Interestingly, the crash was discussed on BBC's Question Time after someone asked the question: "has reality TV gone too far?" Watch the podcast here.

"He has brought an awful lot to [Top Gear] and his indefatigable energy, the fact that he tries absolutely anything once, may have been the reason that he has overstepped the mark a bit."
- Quentin Wilson talking to the BBC


Out of respect for his family's wishes, all we know is that Hammond sustained a significant brain injury, but doctors are "reasonably optimistic that he'll make a good recovery."

Whilst the Vampire jet car consumes 7-10 gallons of fuel per mile, Richard Hammond's family car is an eleven-year-old Range Rover Vogue SE with a thirsty 3.9-litre V8 engine. Luckily (and somewhat surprisingly given his co-presenter's environmentally unfriendly stance, Hammond's Range Rover is actually LPG-powered!. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Crop Rotation

Fiona Leggate is the highest placed female in British Touring Car Championship history. In 2005 she was voted by BTCC Fan's as their Rookie of the Year. Women are no longer seen as a novelty in motor-racing. What is more novel is Fiona's choice of fuel; her Vauxhall Astra Coupe has been converted to run on bio-ethanol. No offence to the other bio-ethanol teams (both racing MGs) but I'd rather see Fiona and her mean-green machine at revolve 2007!

Read more about mean, green racing machines.
Read more about Fiona's support for British farming.
Should America be fuelling its vehicles with corn-based E85?