An attempt for a greener Formula One

Some have rightly claimed the campaign is a bit ironic since the Honda RA107 is not any cleaner than last year's version. It surely isn't, but that really is not the point anyway.

One thing you cannot expect from a team competing in any racing division is that they would sacrifice performance for a cleaner car. The big car manufacturers are in the game to win, to position their brand ahead of others and improve the sale of their cars. If anything is to be done about the pollution in racing it will certainly have to come from regulation changes pushed by the FIA. Expecting anything else is just stupid.

Luckily for our earth, upcoming plans for 2009 and further aim for more energy efficiency in the sport. The proposed regulations include recovery from heat, the reintroduction of turbo charging, fuel flow limits and direct injection while maintaining the sportive character of the engines. If you consider the evolution of engines in road cars, the differences are obvious. A basic diesel engine 15 years ago consumed 5l/100km while producing 75hp (A standard VW Golf 3). Nowadays, that same 5l is enough for 110hp thanks to common rail injection, efficient turbo charging and electronically controlled engine management. It's not hard to explain that for that same 75hp today you would need considerably less than 5l. A similar evolution - although less outspoken - is noticeable with gasoline engines. Combined with new methods of exhaust filtering it is clear to see that F1 has been lagging behind and has to catch up to improve its image.

Back to Honda's environmental campaign and coupled livery... laying down the facts the campaign will not have changed anything this year. Apart from a well established racing series, Formula One is far more than that. It's a means of propaganda, of easily making people aware of something.

We should be realistic enough to know Honda won't change the world on its own, but it's clearly a good attempt to let people see the true facts of earth warming and make them realise something needs to be done as soon as possible. I for one cheer such campaigns as tons of people around the world know the earth is warming, but simply joke it's good for the weather. It's pretty sad but the reality. Everyone should realise they can do something about it, as simple as it may be.

There is even a team that mocks with the campaign. Although pretty funny, Scuderia Toro Rosso suggested a twin seater F1 would be the better solution for F1 by stating: "unlike other teams who simply pay lip service to Saving the Planet, who believe they can stop global warming with a fancy paint job, we have taken the bull by the horns and tackled our Carbon Footprint head on."
The team went on to present their new solution: "Ladies and gentlemen, we present our new STR2+2 and we reckon we will be the greenest car on the grid, with both our drivers sharing the same chassis and engine and therefore using just one fuel load while putting out one set of emissions."

Honda itself is not selling air either as the company are undertaking serious attempts to make production cars cleaner:
1972 Honda launched CVCC (Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion), the world’s first auto engine to meet the USA Statutory Clean Air Act, a licence sold to most other auto makers to produce lower emissions
1976 Honda started a forestation programme by planting over 250,000 trees around its factories
1999 Honda launched its first hybrid car. The Insight was the first production hybrid car to be available in both the USA and Europe.
2006 Honda is the first auto maker in the world to announce global CO2 reduction goals for its products and production activities.
2007 Honda Civic GX is recognised by the Environmental Protection Agency as the cleanest internal combustion vehicle on earth.

Those criticising Honda for its livery or the attempt to increase awareness of the climate problem should simply think twice.