Can Motorsport play a Role in the Greening of Passenger Vehicle Transport?

Last weekend saw the first race of the 2011 Formula 1 season in Melbourne Australia. Sebastian Vettel stormed to a well deserved first place finish and was like always magnanimous in victory heaping praise onto his team.  A part of me cringes to consider the amount of fuel this sport consumes in a season but the shear popularity of F1 means it generates a great deal of happiness for all those barrels of oil. This season sees the return of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERs for short) a form of  mild hybrid system allowing the car to preserve some of the energy lost under the ferocious decelerations these cars go through and provide a 5 second 80 horse power boost per lap for the driver to assist in overtaking.

A new contender is entering the motorsport ring this year and promises to be something we’ve never seen before. The EV Cup will hold 6 races (5 in Europe and 1 scheduled for the US) with all cars being solely fuelled by electricity. It will be split into 3 classifications which and combine a variety of formats. EV manufacturers and enthusiast will be able to bring their prototype muscle EVs to set lap times in a time trial format. The EV Cup has developed (alongside Westfield Racing) its own racing car dubbed the iRacer (see main picture) that will incorporate a boost system similar to KERs in F1 and will be open to experienced open top motorsport drivers. In sharp comparison to the other 2 classifications, the EV Cup will also see City EVs (provided by Th!nk) battle it out on the track for dominance. I believe this classification is included simply as a showcase to the public to inform them that production EVs are reality but it will be interesting to see which classification proves the most popular.

Will the EV Cup be as successful as F1? Unlikely in its first season but with the right people behind it there is a chance this motorsport could flourish. I sincerely hope it does as it will provide the general public with a much needed insight into the workings of a pure EV and propel the technology into the spotlight. One thing that concerns me is whenever I get myself ready for the opening lap of any F1 race I turn the volume up loud of my TV so I can hear the roar of all those V8 engines. We all know that conventional EVs run almost silent, will the EV Cup introduce fake engine noise to add to the atmosphere of the races or will the stay true to the concept of EVs? I imagine there are still a lot of things to figure out and not all of them will be done before the start of the season. The EV Cup directors will be in for a sharp learning curve and will no doubt need to be able to think on their feet. I personally wish them the best of luck and hope to catch the inaugural race scheduled for the 6^th August at Silverstone.