Dear forum member,

In recent times the sustainability of the earth has become increasingly more important for us, and ‘Green’ has become a trend in many countries. As a student and fan of motorsports I’m interested to understand existing views on sustainability and motorsports, more specifically in relation to MotoGP. For this reason may I kindly ask you to help me on this research project by filling in a questionnaire about this topic? It will take around 5-15 minutes of your valuable time and in return I can guarantee you that will make someone amazingly HAPPY today.

The results will remain strictly confidential, anonymous and will only be used for the purpose of completing my master dissertation at London Metropolitan University.
The aim of this survey is to understand the attitudes and opinions of motorsport/MotoGP enthusiasts about the much debated topic of environmental sustainability, only this time in combination with motorsports. The majority of the questionnaire will consist of statements to which you will be asked to what extend you agree or disagree with them, making it easier for you to answer.

Follow this link for the survey

Thank you very much for your contribution! Your efforts are appreciated!

Tim Rowinkel
Student International Marketing & Communications (MA)

Personally...I think a very important environmental issue surrounding motorsport and the motor industry as a whole is tyre recycling. There is a growing problem of used tyre waste building up throughout the globe. It's very rare that you go to many of the worlds rivers now, without seeing an old car tyre somewhere in the water or on the riverbank...

I would be interested to know what the tyre companies are doing to develop new tyre compounds/technology that would reduce the amount of fossil fuel used to destroy old tyres which in itself, would help a significant and growing problem in the world with regards to waste rubber tyres. So in relation to MotoGP and other disciplines of motorsport, in addition to technologies focused on emissions, what else is being done to deal with the 'byproduct' for racing... for example....Where do all the MotoGP and F1 tyres go once they are used???

Where is the FIA's statement with regards to what they insist teams and tyre manufacturers do, in terms of safe environmental disposal of used race tyres?? (It may well be somewhere, I just have not been able to find it?)

Unfortunately, some loud and obnoxious environmentalists have long targeted motorsport and motorsport fans as spawn of the devil, when in reality I think the industry of motorsport is doing more than it's fair share right now, significantly more so than some of the greater polluters of this planet. But there is obviously always room for improvement and I think tyres are the next major area where the automotive industry needs to find a suitable solution to create biodegradeable tyres.

Onto the bikes of the backmarkers!

I don't mean to make light of a serious issue that deserves serious consideration but to me there's something inherently hilarious about the idea of motorsports as the poster children for environmental sustainability and fight against climate change or whatnot. I'm sorry, I can't help it!

White Swans?

Well I filled in your survey, not that I particularly watch MotoGP much but I guess you need some "outsider" opinions in there too. Having a more organised calendar makes a lot of sense, Laguna Seca, the Czech Republic, Indianapolis and then back to Europe? Yeah that's logical. Having a bunch of 747's fly back and forth needlessly is not environmentally friendly.



P.S. Don't stick your email address anywhere publicly accessible, unless you want a big lot of junk.

ARGUABLY.

greens?

hundreds of pics like these all over the world:

F1 is mostly about technology development, and the production and effective use of energy. Recent technical developments have always been in the constraints of rule for safety, and competition.
A thoughtful-re-thinking of the formula, could bias the technology development towards efficiency, while still providing a good show.

For example, the next area in auto development for the road is the replacement of steel with lighter alloys and composites for typical road cars -F1 was a major research ground in this application, as it was with the development of advanced engine management through computers. KERS could be a way to develop fundamentally better hybrid technology that could find use in autos.

F1 could impose a rule that all new tyres cannot be based on petroleum polymers, there are plant-based polymers that work well for tires.

The future formula is likely to be lighter, smaller displacement, less fuel. The technical advancements are unpredictable.

However, to be of any use, F1 has to get away from aero development -this is of no use to road cars.

the american le man series leads environmental racing by a country mile (of established top level series)

I think motorsport should be more focused on the environmental impact of the sport. I, personally, think it's important for the environment, but also think it's important for the survival of the sport as environmental issues become increasingly prominent among the general public.

However, I think that rather than encouraging certain technologies (such as KERS in F1), developers should be given freedom to innovate and develop technologies to improve sustainability, and rewarded for using them. Motorsport has some exceptional engineering minds. Use them!

Just go bio-fuel... ethanol maybe. Just watched Top gear on the Bentley SuperSport and it ran 6 miles per gallon when used hard but the exhaust charge was far cleaner while maintaining high power outputs. As for racing track, if I remember correctly, when they made Hockenheim track, a deal was struck that the amount of tree removed to run through the forrest would be replanted on a new location to balance the loss.

theres 4-5 different fuels avalible in alms, several blends of bio fuel (E10, E85, bio butonal off the top of my head). one of the cars was sponsered by orgainic engine oil company

michlin green X challenge aswell

flirtations with kers

oh and the environmental protection agency works together with the series

drayson racing have expiremented with various green tech of different types aswell

http://www.americanlemans.com/images/spons...nge_booklet.pdf

i think the michlin green x challenge was being trialed/just started when bridgestone changed from white to green paint on the tyres to promote the environmental stuff

I think the main problem is transport. A plane full of f1 cars from euro to asia uses way more fuel than the all teams for the entire season.

I dont know what happens to the resulting waste but Bridgestone chip all their present F1 tyres once they have been used (if they just drilled them they would still be able to be reversed engineered).
There are plenty of uses for used tyres but in the scheme of things the 20-30K of tyres used in F1 each year are just a small drop in the ocean compared to the 30M thrown away in the UK alone each year, and lets not even start on the US which scrap over 300M a year. Worldwide over 1B new tyres are made each year so its safe to assume almost the same number are scrapped.
There are many uses for old tyres and many businesses do make a good profit from the recycling of used tyres, however we will never be able to recycle 1B tyres a year.
Unfortunately to be more environmentally responsible with tyres it requires businesses to make less tyres so tyres that must last longer.
Companies like Dunlop and others have before developed tyres with greatly extended lifespans (up to 5 times the effective mileage of traditional tyres) but withdrew them from the market place because they reduced their profits.
So the companies will not do it on their own.
As for sport we have seen just this year how fans moan about the fact softer compounds could almost last a whole race so it looks like sport will not change either (can you imagine what the fans would say here if one set of tyres had to last a full weekend).
Either way it looks like the only way the growth of the tyre mountains can be reduced is to either have government legislation requiring minimum lifespans on tyres or as you touched upon biodegradable tyres, but would the public accept having to buy new tyres every year or so (even if the car had just been sat on their driveway or in the garage) irrespective of the wear or mileage done, or would the companies bring in the lobbyists to ensure no government addresses this problem (and protects their profits)?

I have to disagree with your last paragraph as clearly motorsport is not doing all it can or even its fair share. Do a simple search on what other industries are spending and doing each year to see what people who really want to change things are doing, then you will see what real actions are and then compare it to the fact that F1 and MotoGP cannot even be bothered to ensure the season is designed to reduce as much as possible the distance everyone travels (something that clearly would help and also would make not one iota of difference to the sporting spectacle), to see the truth.
F1 makes a lot of noise but has infact done very little so far to reduce its environmental impact and everything it has done so far was driven by the major motor manufacturers.

Those are the tyres used by Lewis in his F1 career to date...

Although I didn't mention anything about it in the survey, I think you have a strong point FlatOverCrest. Thank you for bringing it up! Also what you said about environmentalists.. That is more or less the reason I'm trying to understand the whole topic better. Assuming that motorsport could become subject of public scrutiny if the 'recent' sounds about the environment will hold on. Here it's all about perceptions.. Because like simplyfast observed the pollution from tyres used in motorsports is nothing compared to the grand scheme. However the general public might overlook this simply because motorsport is quite visible and easy to target. Next to being a big motorsportfan I'm also 'worried' about what we do to this planet.. Therefore I personally believe it wouldn't be to stupid to reevaluate some of the current practices. And I think motorsports is part of that. That means I'm not saying motorsport should be stopped or changed completely in the sake of environmental sustainability. Only I think taking some responsibility would be an elegant thing to do. I was quite surprised that when Honda used the EarthDream livery there were quite some sceptic messages about this. You can argue about how of an environmental friendly example formula 1 is but I thought it was a great initiative. Only I had the feeling that one of the reasons for failure was that it was not really appreciated by the general public. If this assumption is/was true I think it's a shame because I think it's unnecessary for motorsport to have this kind of image (again assuming it has). State-of-the-art motorsports attracts, generates and spends massive amounts of money, they have genius masterminds and the power to deliver a message to all parts of the world.. Maybe it doesn't make any difference in the grand scheme but why did MotoGP for example had to wait until 2010 before the first(!) team decided to use some renewable energy from solarpanels and windturbines?? In such a pool of 'excellence', like ampersand observes, it would take the slightest effort to start making a difference in my opinion. Exactly like it must be possible somehow to rearrange the calendar that it looks a bit more responsible. You have to start somewhere, since we have to do it all together.. I know this might sound a bit far fetched and naive, but I think you will understand what I'm saying. This is why I started to explore this subject among motorsport fans to begin but after that it would be interesting to 'check' the views with the ordinary person from the street. And then see how the gap can be bridged.. In anyways I think it's important not to stick their heads into the grounds and change as the flow goes. I think it would be advisable to measure or monitor what is going on and where they can reduce their own impact or contribute in another effective way.

About the tyres, I read in an interview that Bridgestone sends the used MotoGP back to a plant in Germany where some of them will be send back to Japan for analysis. Most of the tyres that are left will be melted down. This to protect the technology and expertise. They say that one of the uses of this melt down tyres are protective floors for children playgrounds. What simplyfast says about if the public would accept having to buy tyres every new year, assuming that this possibility already exists.. I think maybe we have to turn it around.. Why wouldn't we accept it? Cuts have to be made somewhere and if you look at the illustrative picture of Henrytheeight I think it's quite embarrassing that we don't force ourselves to be just a bit more responsible.

Thank you all for your contributions!