• Rebel F1 series plans denied as F1 Concorde Agreement discussions start
• UK F3 team looking to buy into Toro Rosso
• Renault to downsize F1 engine operation
• Ofcom to consider ITV F1 slur
• Peugeot hybrid not necessarily for Le Mans
• Ove Andersson dies in rally accident
• First F3 wins for Mygale
• Toyota Strengthens Initiatives for Low Carbon Society

Formal talks on the drafting of a new Concorde Agreement began at last weekend’s F1 Canadian Grand Prix race meeting led to speculation that a ‘breakaway’ F1 series, outside of the control of the FIA, was being planned which was later denied by F1 impresario Bernie Ecclestone.

Speaking to journalists in the paddock at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal Ecclestone said, "Nobody has discussed a breakaway series. We have been discussing what we are putting in a Concorde Agreement, which we have spent two years trying to get signed. But these guys can never make up their mind. One team wants something, another team something else, and another team another."

An FIA spokesman said, "We have nothing to add to the letter the FIA President sent to the member clubs on May 16. The issues he raised then could not have been clearer.

"There are those who have sought to destabilise the FIA and undermine its independent authority for their own gain. The overwhelming support the President received from the General Assembly confirms that our membership will not allow this to happen. Anyone who thinks that this is not the case is deluded."

The Concorde Agreement is a document which lays out the terms under teams participate in the Formula One World Championship and their share of the television revenues and prize money.

Barry Walsh, the owner of the Wellingborough, UK based Ultimate Motorsport team which races in the UK Formula Three championship is reported to have discussed buying a shareholding in Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team.

The autosport.com website quoted Walsh as saying, "We are in negotiations so I can't reveal too much about it until everything is final. We always set out with Formula One as the target. I would only have got involved in the project in the first place if I was confident we could take it all the way to F1, that is the aim.

However, Gerhard Berger who owns a 50% stake in STR told the Austrian news agency APA that he has "never heard" of Ultimate Motorsport and that he has "never spoken" with anyone connected with the team.

The German website motorline.cc quotes a Red Bull spokeswoman who also denies the story.

Renault Sport is to reduce the size of its Formula One engine development operation at Viry-Chattilon in the southern suburbs of Paris.

A report in the French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine said that Renault will embark on a "reorganisation plan" that will effectively halve the size of the facility, and include drastic reductions in staff levels.

Speaking at last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix the Renault F1 team engineering director Pat Symonds ascribed the cutback to the freeze on F1 engine development that was introduced at the beginning of 2007. Symonds said, "I think that something we are very conscious of at Renault is working efficiently and making the most of the rules as they stand and the budgets that we have. Budgets are not a bottomless pit, far from it.

"With the engine freeze it would be very nice if the budget was a bottomless pit as you could keep everyone employed and you could keep working on blue-sky research for the day when the freeze comes off. That is not the way we work at Renault."

Ofcom, the UK’s independent regulator for the communications industries, is considering whether to launch a formal investigation into a remark made by a commentator during coverage of last weekend’s Formula One Canadian Grand Prix by the ITV1 channel.

During a pre-race ‘grid walk commentator Martin Brundle spoke to F1 impresario Bernie Ecclestone about repairs that had been made to the circuit saying, "There are some pikeys there at turn ten putting tarmac down - what do you think of that?"

Seven complaints were received after Brundle's remark. A spokeswoman for Ofcom said that the organisation would look at the complaints in relation to the rules and the broadcasting code before deciding whether to launch a formal investigation. If the code has been breached ITV1 could face a fine or being forced to broadcast Ofcom's full ruling.

A spokesman for ITV said, "We apologise for any offence caused by this remark."

A spokesman for Equality and Human Rights Commission described Brundle’s remark as, "highly derogatory".

Bruno Famin, the technical director of the Peugeot Sport sportscar racing team which will compete in this coming weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hour sportscar race has stated that a hybrid project currently under development by the French manufacturer will not necessarily be raced at Le Mans.

In an interview with the UK published motorsport technology magazine Race Tech, Famin said, “The challenge with a hybrid car is to find a good ratio for the additional energy versus the additional weight. That is what we are working on at the moment and from the result of that work we will make our choice of the category in which we will be able to use this technology. We have never said that it would be part of a Le Mans programme. It’s possible but it has not been decided. It could be a rally programme or in another type of racing.

“The problem with using hybrid technology at Le Mans is the 900kg minimum weight limit. A diesel hybrid car at Le Mans will have more power but also a lot more weight so it would be slower than a standard car. That’s why we have not yet decided the category in which we would compete.

“If the ACO’s rules for Le Mans in 2010 were to encourage hybrid engines we would of course have to consider that option. If the rules stay as they are, I don’t think hybrid technology has a chance at Le Mans.”

Ove Andersson, the founder and former owner of Toyota Team Europe which, as Toyota Motorsport GmbH, races in the FIA Formula One World Championship has died in an accident during a classic car rally in South Africa.

Swedish born Andersson started his motorsport career as a rally driver and competed for a number of factory teams before establishing his own Andersson Motorsport team which ran Toyotas in international rallying. After retiring from competitive driving Andersson concentrated on developing the team, which renamed as TTE became a major force in the World Rally Championship winning numerous world titles.

In 1993 Toyota bought TTE from Andersson who stayed on when Toyota ended its WRC programme and started a project to design and build a Toyota sportscar for the Le Mans 24 Hours which despite strong performances in 1998 and 1999 never managed to win the race. Andersson was still in charged when the company was renamed Toyota Motorsport GmbH when the team entered Formula One in 2002.

Andersson retired at the end of 2003 but continued in a consultancy role with Toyota Motorsport until January 2006 when, along with F1 team’s former chief designer Gustav Brunner and its former head of aerodynamics Rene Hilhorst, he was charged in relation to the use of technology allegedly stolen from the rival Ferrari F1 team, namely a data analysis programme brought to the Toyota team by a technician who joined from Ferrari in 2002.

In April 2007 former Ferrari team members Mauro Iacconi and Angelo Santini who later worked for the Toyota team were found guilty by a Modena court in a case in which they charged with espionage, including gaining unauthorised access to Ferrari's computers and the misappropriation of files. The cases against Andersson, Brunner and Hilhorst were due to be heard by a court specialising in economic crimes, but the charges were dropped in September 2007.

The Magny Cours, France based racing car constructor Mygale scored its first race victories in the UK Formula Three Championship when the Ultimate Motorsport team driver Michael Devaney won both F3 races at Snetterton last weekend.

The Mygale wins are the first by a chassis other than an Italian built Dallara since 2005 when Lola won three races and make it only the second constructor other than Dallara to win a UK F3 race since 1993.

Toyota Motor Corparation (TMC) unveiled today an action plan for contributing to the realization of a low carbon society through initiatives in the areas of research and development, manufacturing and social contribution.

"Since its foundation, Toyota has conducted its business based on the guiding principle of contributing to the development of a prosperous society through the manufacture of automobiles", said TMC President Katsuaki Watanabe, speaking at the Toyota Environmental Forum in Tokyo, where the action plan was unveiled. "Toyota seeks to combine the power of people and technology to help create a society that maintains a balance between corporate activities and environmental preservation."

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