BTCC TO LIMIT CO2 EMISSIONS IN MOTOR SPORT WORLD FIRST
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.”
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