• Opinion divided over Singapore F1 GP
• MotoGP to adopt spec tyre
• Embassy Racing sportscar team closes
• Report claims huge returns on F1 investments
• Sydney Supercar race approved
• Oxford Brookes open sustainable vehicle centre
• Paul Newman dies

Last weekend’s Formula One Singapore Grand Prix was acclaimed by Formula One impresario Bernie Ecclestone and McLaren Mercedes F1 team principal Ron Dennis but the event drew criticism from Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari.

The race, which was the first Formula One event to be held at night, took place under floodlights on a street circuit and was adjudged a success by Ecclestone who said, "In this part of the world, for sure, night races will take off" and added that the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka is being targeted as the next race to be held at night.

Dennis said that the Singapore race was, "a real big step in the history of grand prix racing because it has been done so well.

"Everything has been proven now and we can take this model and apply it to anywhere in the world - either to bring to Europe the race at a time when people watch it, or even within Europe to make it more spectacular."

Montezemolo, whose Ferrari team suffered a disastrous race was less impressed saying, "When we race on tracks which should be used for the circus, anything can happen including the spectacle of the Safety Car.

"All this is humiliating for F1 and it is an aspect I want to talk about with the other teams in the next few weeks."

The FIM, the governing body of international motorcycle racing has confirmed that the MotoGP motorcycle racing world championship series will adopt a spec tyre supplied by a single manufacturer starting in 2009.

The announcement of the new regulation was made at last weekends Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi and safety and cost reasons were cited for the change.

A statement issued by the FIM said “The Grand Prix Commission has decided unanimously that there will be a single tire supplier for the MotoGP class from 2009. Proposals to supply the tires must be handed to the FIM and Dorna by October 3rd at the latest. The final decision will be announced by the GP Commission by October 18th at the latest.”

The York, UK based Embassy Racing team, which competes in the Le Mans Series with its own WF01 LMP2 cars powered by Zytek V8 engines, has confirmed that it closing down its sportscar racing operation with immediate effect citing the global economic downturn as the reason for the closure.

Team founder Jonathan France said, “As soon as it became apparent to me that the financial situation was becoming difficult, I decided it would be best to put things on hold – settle everything up and concentrate on other business matters.”

The future of the motorcycle racing division of Embassy Racing which competes in the British Superbike Championship has yet to be decided.

Formula Money, a recently published report on the finances of Formula One claims that Formula One Grand Prix races provide huge returns for governments that invest public money in staging such events.

Formula Money says that governments around the world invested $275m of public money during the 2007 season and received back $1.52bn into local economies through ticket sales, merchandise and tourism, representing a return on investment of 553 per cent.

According to the report the Japanese Grand Prix gave the best return where an investment of $4m created $70m in revenues to the local area.

Sydney will stage the final round of the 2009 Australian V8 Supercar Championship following the signing of a five year agreement between the series organisers and the NSW Government agreed to stage a race around a street circuit in the city’s Olympic Game area at Homebush Bay.

V8 Supercar series chairman Tony Cochrane said, "This is big, big news for Sydney. Already we have been in talks with some of the country's largest companies about being an integral part in this signature event that will provide Sydney with just what it wants — an annual, international-scale event."

The UK’s Oxford Brookes University has opened a new centre that it intends to be at the forefront of developing new technologies to help the motor industry meet the sustainable challenge of the future.

The Sustainable Vehicle Engineering Centre (SVEC) was launched today at the University’s School of Technology. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, who has a long standing association with the automotive industry, has agreed to be its Patron.

Led by Professor Allan Hutchinson, SVEC will investigate the material and design issues that will allow the development of low mass, low emission, economical vehicles that can be disassembled into their most basic components to allow increased recycling and reuse.

The success of DRIVENet, the UK Network for the design for dismantling, reuse and recycling in road vehicles -also led by Oxford Brookes – has resulted in further funding to develop the new Centre.

In 2007, DRIVENet released the first study of its kind to quantify past and future levels of waste generated by the motor industry world wide focusing on the total amount of waste produced by a vehicle over its whole lifetime – from manufacture, in routine servicing and at the end of life.

SVEC’s current research projects include:

o Disassembly of adhesive bonded joints for repair/end of life

o Safe deployment and disposal of pyrotechnic devices like airbags andseatbelts

o Alternative fuels and fuel additives.

As well as research, the Centre will provide consultancy, produce marketplace reports, run education sessions and courses around sustainable engineering and whole life vehicle engineering, promote Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and undertake testing.

Professor Hutchinson said, “We’re delighted to be able to build upon the work of DRIVENet. It is essential that the current and future issues facing the global automotive industry are tackled now. How to dispose of vehicles more effectively and new designs for disassembly to allow increased recycling will be a key part of our work.”

Dean of the School of Technology, Professor Denise Morrey said, “This new initiative will contribute to the sustainable development of the global automotive industry and the University is excited and pleased to be at the forefront of this activity.”

Hollywood actor Paul Newman, who died last weekend from cancer, was also a keen motorsport enthusiast and was involved both as a competitor and a team owner.

Newman’s interest in motorsport was awakened when he made ‘Winning’, a film about a driver racing in the Indianapolis 500. As a competitor he principally took part in sportscar racing events, including the Le Mans 24 Hours in which he finished in second place overall in 1979, and regularly race in the Daytona 24 Hours up until 2005.

After running his own team in the Can Am sportscar series Newman joined forces with rival team owner Carl Haas to form Newman/Haas Racing which became one of the most successful teams ever to compete in the Champ Car series and whose drivers included Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell and current F1 driver Sebastian Bourdais who won successive Champ Car titles for the Newman/Haas team in 2004-05-06 and 07.