The British Touring Car Championship is to become the first
motor racing series in the world to place a limit on CO2 emission levels produced by its competing cars.
Emissions testing on all cars competing in the BTCC will come into force in 2009, following a programme of research
and development in 2008 in consultation with the championship’s major engine builders and race teams.
Each
competing car’s engine will be required to be below a maximum CO2
emission level, which it is
anticipated will be no greater than its showroom model. In future years
it is hoped that further development will lead to emissions of each
engine
actually being pushed below its respective road equivalent.
BTCC Series
Director Alan Gow commented: “With
both the motor industry and Government committed to
reducing cars’ emission levels, we have an equal responsibility and
opportunity to do the same – and this is the most positive and
relevant step the BTCC can take to demonstrate our genuine, similar
commitment.
“Our new emissions regulation also provides an ideal showcase for effective motor sport technology – to greatly reduce and
regulate our emissions without any discernable loss of performance. This
meets the desires of motor manufacturers and
sponsors who wish to ensure that everything they are involved with
conducts itself in as an environmentally-responsible manner as
possible.”
He added: “We could, of course, have simply mandated the use of bio-fuels. However, reducing
our race car emissions to a
figure at, or below, their road car equivalent with the type of fuel
that we all normally use is, I believe, a far more relevant and
meaningful
commitment – particularly as bio-fuels are not readily available to the
public, nor widely used in everyday life.
“Equally,
we
could just pay an organisation to plant a few trees for our carbon
offset, but that doesn’t address the issue of the carbon emissions at
their
source; nor does it drive technology forward.”
The
BTCC,
Britain’s most popular race series, has often led the way in motor
sport when it comes to addressing environmental issues. In 1992, it
became
the first series in the UK – and one of the first in the world – to
make catalytic converters and unleaded fuel mandatory across its
grid. During the past four years, its regulations have enabled cars
running on liquid petroleum gas (LPG), bio-ethanol and bio-diesel fuels
to
compete alongside those with petrol-powered engines.
Gow
said: “To my
knowledge no other major championship in the world has a regulation to
enforce a maximum emissions level. Our BTCC teams have enthusiastically
supported its introduction and will relish the challenge. I have no
doubt that many other championships in the UK, and indeed around the
world, will
eventually follow this route – so I’m very proud of our world-leading
initiative.”
|
