Comments on: Night racing and the environment

By: DG

DG — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:58:39 +0000

My concern with Night Races isn’t so much the ‘how’ but the ‘why’. Why does Bernie need to spend so much of other people’s money just to increase his profits? Think about it – the FIA doesn’t provide Singapore with the money to set up the lights, that has to be provided by the local Racing Promoters, who in turn have to find extra revenue through increased sponsorship and higher ticket prices. Bernie has claimed the rights to all the property along the route, so he gets any money from grandstands and shops in those sites, instead of Singapore. And who is going to pick up the cost at the end of the day? The local fans! Thats why the Australians said ‘No’!
I am also sure that there will be a ‘Night Race’ Premium forced on the TV companies who want to show the race, so there will have to be more advertising breaks during the race.
This at a time, as has been said before, when the other half of the FIA is forcing the Teams to cut necessary costs (and nobody has mentioned the FIA cutting its running costs at all).
Also, on this point, the actual costs for going racing have increased recently, everything from the F1 entry fee and Superlicences to what the circuits have to pay for the right to hold an F1 event (as well as any ‘Bernie-isms’ necessary to keep him happy). So in actual fact, the teams are paying more to get onto a racing grid and less to make a racing car! And I don’t think that is in the Spirit of Motor-Racing at all!

By: Pink Peril

Pink Peril — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:35:33 +0000

Green F1 is an oxymoron.

The best I think we can hope for is green-ish. But things like night races do nothing to help the F1 cause – especially for Melbourne where the GP is hanging on by a thread as it is.

Having said that though, I bought my tickets for Singapore on the weekend, so I’ll withhold judgement about the actual race until then.

By: alan

alan — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:23:56 +0000

read the article in F1 blog Keith – quite good – and yes as an older motorcyclist – very old – you do get dazzled quite badly in wet conditions by car headlights it can even happen on dipped if incorrectly set – ie tourisits especially – the raindrops can cause a sort of miniature rainbow coloured – effect if looking at strong lights – all causing you to drop your speed – but not knowing how this lighting works – strength/power – will have to see – just hope no one learns the hard way?

By: George

George — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:41:59 +0000

Let’s just end modern life as we know it. No cars or generation of electrical power whatsoever. As all Utopian ideas go, the goals are laudable but the implementation nearly impossible to effect.

To cast racing as the arch enemy of all things “green” is patently ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as Bernie’s efforts to force night racing on the host countries in play to help his ratings.

By: alan

alan — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:46:00 +0000

when max and bernie decide to ive up their champagne /luxury lifestyle – I count livin as a tax exile in monacao as part of that not to count luxury houses around the world – maybe I would use one of my bikes – but as they like their lifestyles – they can stay in the shed till the summer – double standards and hypocrasy – its about speed thrills – not ecology – ps enjoyed ettin up early – couple of glasses of something australian and early breakfast – plus knowing result before mainstream showing – or news reader lets us know it before itv shows the race – hate that

By: Eric M.

Eric M. — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:31:05 +0000

We should all do our bit as true fans and help compensate for the environmental damage caused by F1 by riding our bikes to work.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:54:41 +0000

The other thing with the wind tunnels is that a certain amount of energy is wasted every time any device is powered up and down. For instance, a conventional (i.e. not “low-energy”) light bulb uses the same amount of energy to power down and up again as it does to stay lit for 15-20 minutes (depending on the quality of the design). In general, the larger the device, the more energy wasted when powered on or off (though exceptions exist). I would imagine wind tunnels waste huge amounts of electricity when switched off and on because the fans have to slowly stop and then slowly get going again. So switching a wind tunnel off for 8 hours doesn’t save 8 hours of power. I haven’t seen any precise figures for how much energy it would save, but I’d be surprised if the FIA had fully taken it into account before positing its “9-to-5″ rule for tunnels.

By: Steven Roy

Steven Roy — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:33:38 +0000

The biggest energy use/CO2 production in F1 is wind tunnels. They use more power than everything else put together. And forget Max’s idea of limiting their use. Apart from having to control that use the big problem is that they cannot be switched off and on a few hours later. The amount of energy used to kick start a wind tunnel is huge and the teams have to inform the national grid before they can power one up.

By: Robert McKay

Robert McKay — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:32:06 +0000

“Football is green energy, apart from the lighting.”

Is it, though? The break down I saw in an issue of F1 Racing a few months ago (can’t remember when, and this may not neccessarily be the most neutral of sources, anyway, but is still interesting) stated that the actual driving of the cars was only a very small percentage of the emissions. The bulk of emissions came from shipping all the cars around the world, and from the large number of fans driving to get to the circuits, which after all have up until now not neccessarily been in the densest-populated areas.

And this is not something limited to F1 – think of all those football teams jetting around Europe to play in the Champions League. Think of the massive pyramid system of football in Britain alone – how many people are travelling around and across Britain to go watch a match, each Saturday, for pretty much most of the year?

Yes, the actual game itself may be fairly green, but that’s not the whole story.

By: Fer no.65

Fer no.65 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:18:40 +0000

“milos Says:

Football has been played under floodlights around the world for ages. How many other sports are played indoors using energy for lighting, airconditioning, air cooling … Artificial snow is produced so people can ski when mother nature does not exactly provide …

Why a F1 night race is an issue ?”

And F1 race is a bigger event. The tracks usually are 5 or more kilometers long, and you still have to point the lights from different places to avoid any shadow that could disturb the drivers while driving at a very high speed.

The light must be more powerful and they need to be for a longer period of time.

In a time where energy is a world’s problem, it’s quite annoying to hear that a small grey-haired man what a night race in every country that is not uncomfortable for the european fans to watch.

Also, the sport events that are held at night are much more greener than F1 itself.