Industry News
October 2007
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<< September 07 | November 07 >>
News for 26th October 2007
WMSC confirms 10 year freeze on F1 engine development
A meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday confirmed a that engine development in the FIA Formula One World Championship will be frozen for a period of ten years starting in 2008.
An FIA statement released after the meeting said, "There will be a total freeze on engine development for a period of 10 years, starting from 2008.
"A change can be made after five years but only with the unanimous agreement of all stakeholders and following a further two-year notice period.
“Total freeze means that there will be no exceptions for development of certain parts of the engine, as is the case under the current regulations."
An F1 engine development freeze began at the start of the start of the 2007 season with some exceptions allowing work to be carried out on exhaust and ancillary systems
Qatar federation to sue GPM
THE Qatar Motor and Motorcycling Federation (QMMF) is taking legal action against the organisers of the Grand Prix Masters series, in which ex-Formula One drivers raced against each other in identical chassis powered by identical engines, for breach of contract after a race planned for November 17 at the Losail circuit in Qatar was cancelled.
In September it was revealed that Delta Special Projects, the Silverstone, UK based company which supplies the chassis for the Grand Prix Masters race series was seeking a winding up order against the series organisers due to non-payment of invoices. The petition is due to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on November 28.
QMMF president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah told the Gulf Times newspaper, “We knew there were problems with the GP Masters and that the Losail event was in all probability not going to take place, but we were still hoping that somehow we would be able to put together a race in Qatar.
“But obviously that’s not going to be the case and now that we have it officially that the race will not go ahead, the issue is being tackled by our lawyers. They are studying the files and would decide on the future course of action soon.”
Al-Attiyah said that he had received an e-mail from Scott Poulter, the CEO of Grand Prix masters that read, “We are sorry, we are bankrupt”.
Pescarolo Sport and Saulnier Racing join forces
The Le Mans, France based Pescarolo Sport and Magny Cours, France based Saulnier Racing organisations which compete in the Le Mans Series sportscar racing championship have joined forces to form Group Pescarolo Automobiles.
Pescarolo Automobiles will continue to design, manufacture and market sports prototype racing cars and will add a dedicated LMP2 car to its range. The organisation plans to take on an official role in the training of young motorsport engineers as a part of the Institut Européen de formation aux Mécaniques Sportives.
KERS to feature on symposium circuit
Presentations on Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) technology, which is due to be introduced in Formula One in 2009, are set to feature at a number of number of motorsport and automotive symposia over the next few months.
At the Global Motorsports Congress being held in Cologne, Germany November 5-6 Martin Halley, chief engineer with Xtrac and Jon Hilton, managing partner of Flybrid Systems, will describe their groundbreaking mechanical flywheel KERS - which also incorporates advanced traction drive technology from Torotrak.
At the World Motorsport Symposium that takes place at the UK’s Oxford Brookes University’s engineering centre on November 29-30 Adrian Moore, the technical director of Xtrac, will present a technical paper describing the technology behind the KERS system.
At the CTi Transmission Symposium to be held in Berlin on December 4-5 Chris Brockbank, the business development manager with Torotrak, will present a paper describing the company’s variator traction drive technology used in the mechanical KERS system.
JATO: Car C02 emissions drop in top five European markets to an average 160.5 g/km
JATO Dynamics has reported that in the seven months to July 2007, new car CO2 emissions in Europe’s ‘big five’ markets - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – posted an overall drop of 0.3g/km compared to the same period in 2006. JATO analysed emissions from every new car sold in these markets, and the volume-weighted average demonstrates an ongoing reduction in CO2 figures over the past year. The average CO2 figure in the ‘big five’ markets stands at 160.5g/km.
“Clearly, this is an encouraging picture,” says Nasir Shah, Global Business Development Director at JATO. “The industry continues to work hard on reducing CO2 and we anticipate a greater decrease over the next year as manufacturers bring new technologies to the marketplace. However, there is still a lot of work to do before the industry can meet the tough EU objectives.”
Unsurprisingly, the City car (A) segment records the lowest average CO2 emissions, averaging 125.5g/km YTD, while the Small (B) segment averages 136.9g/km and the lower-medium (C1) segment at 149.8g/km. The most improved segment in the YTD data is the Medium MPV segment, which has posted a drop of 12.2g/km to an average of 186.2g/km.
At the other end of the scale, the large SUV segment is recording the highest average CO2 emissions of the industry at 306.5g/km, followed by luxury SUVs at 269.7g/km and luxury cars at 255.2g/km. Untypical for the industry, large SUVs have actually posted an 8.5g/km rise in emissions. “It’s disappointing to see that many consumers still favour the worst polluting large SUVs on the market,” notes Shah.
Car sharing service and green electricity firm join forces in green marketing incentives
Zipcar, America’s and the world's largest car sharing service, and Clean Currents, a clean energy company, have formed a partnership whereby Zipcar will offer reduced rental rates to Clean Currents clients and Clean Currents will provide special offers on green electricity to Zipcar for Business (Z2B) drivers.
Z2B members who sign up for clean energy to power their businesses through Clean Currents will be eligible for an instant rebate of up to $150. In addition, Zipcar is offering Clean Currents business clients 30% off of hourly rates and 20% off daily rates and is waiving the application fee and reducing annual memberships to $25 for personal drivers who sign up through www.zipcar.com/cleancurrents.
McLaren ‘spy’ fine totals more than $50 million
The FIA has confirmed that the Woking, UK based McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team will be required to pay a fine ‘in excess of $50 million’ after the World Motor Sport Council's judgement against it in an industrial espionage case.
The WMSC rule that the team should be fined $100 million and lose all its their
Formula One Constructors' Championship points but would be allowed to deduct revenue that would have been earned in prize money for eventually finishing position in the 2007 championship as their points to total up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, after which they scored no further points, would have allowed them to do.
An FIA statement said, "Following the judgement of the World Motor Sport Council on 13 September, a sum in excess of $50 million will be paid in December to the FIA."
The FIA statement confirmed that the money would be used to establish an FIA Development Fund, that will assist the the work of National Sporting Authorities (ASNs) in promoting the development of safer motor sport worldwide, especially in countries where the motor sport infrastructure is in need of support.