[LM24] Le Mans goes 'green' - eco award in 2006

[vandijk]

"The Automobile Club de l’Ouest will offer a new envionment award at the Le Mans 24 Hours starting in 2006. The award will be presented to the team considered by the ACO to have been the most environmentally friendly and will take into consideration aspects such as fuel consumption, noise and emissions.



To help the teams prepare for the new competition, at last weekend’s race, the ACO set up a series of timing and recording points around the circuit to gather data based on those parameters. The teams can request this data to help with their preparations for 2006."

What are your opinions? Is this good, will it destroy the race?

[RobertPrange]

Originally Posted by vandijk

"The Automobile Club de l’Ouest will offer a new envionment award at the Le Mans 24 Hours starting in 2006. The award will be presented to the team considered by the ACO to have been the most environmentally friendly and will take into consideration aspects such as fuel consumption, noise and emissions.



To help the teams prepare for the new competition, at last weekend’s race, the ACO set up a series of timing and recording points around the circuit to gather data based on those parameters. The teams can request this data to help with their preparations for 2006."

What are your opinions? Is this good, will it destroy the race?

Well i know the Manufacturers are allways very interested in such stuff , because it helps selling cars. But giving out a prize for the low-noised car feels kind of wrong placed at a racing-event to me.

[cybersdorf]

They called the Taurus diesel Lola the "tarpis volant" (flying carpet) because it way so quite, right?

[JAG]

Anything that gives the race a unique selling point over rival series has to be good, particualrly fuel consumption/emissions.

The noise award will not be such an issue, but someone may come along with an experimental car to pick up all of the awards.

[Adam43]

So is this the modern equivelent to the index of performance. If so I hope they have a suitably complex formula to calculate it from measurements of the fuel consumption, noise and emissions!

Winning the overall race will always be more important, but why not have things like this?

[EliseGT1]

Panoz and Corvette can have their own personal battle of trying to get at the bottom of the noise list. That's a challenge too !

I think this is not a bad thing though, however I agree a good race should be heard very loud. Look at Formula 1. One of the main reasons people go to visit races is for the sound of the engines. The race can actually be followed better on TV, so there should always be a reason to actually go to the event in person.

[cybersdorf]

Originally Posted by EliseGT1

I think this is not a bad thing though, however I agree a good race should be heard very loud. Look at Formula 1.

[EliseGT1]

Originally Posted by cybersdorf

Okay Cybersdorf....;-)

Not a very good example last weekend in the US indeed...

I'm not a fan of F1 at all, just to let you know. But the sound is nice, isn't it ?

[brielga]

The Vettes will just pass for the noise prize I guess....

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by cybersdorf

They called the Taurus diesel Lola the "tarpis volant" (flying carpet) because it way so quite, right?

But they totally ignored own emessions rule that they made themselves ..... That lola was like traveling behind a Lagos truck !!! No visible emessions my a.r.s.e !!!

[PascaLM]

I think it's a good think.
1 - I prefer a good sound instead of a loud noise. I fed up with wearing ears protection to understand the commentary.
2 - The race for low consumption is part of the future of Le Mans (oil is at 60$ !) and this will attract great manufacturers with new engines solutions (bioethanol...). In this case, the rules should be adapted (less weight, less aero and engines restrictions) in order to have the same performances than today's cars.

If it's not necessary now, these considerations will be inevitable in several years.

[TRuss]

I think this is good news. I'm a huge motorsports fan, but I also feel that it should be done responsibly. As for noise. Well, by the end of Petit I'm usually over the noise. I have always loved the sound of R8s...all you can hear is wind noise almost.
Anyway. I have been wanting to see a Group G. Similar to the Group C days, but with focus on, green racing cars. Especially bio-ethanol, and guess even bio-diesel as well. I am a huge fan of bio-ethanol and I love to see it being used in an international series so that the general public would see that hydrogen isn't the only answer. Plus, we all know that racing is a great way to rapidly improve upon a new technology. I think if allowed, we could see some really radical and hightech machines. Maybe it would even morph into a new GTP series. I get a little too giddy just thinking about it.
As for conservation of fossil fuels...I could care less. Honestly, I'd rather we use them up as quickly as possible, and finally put an end to the giant mess. So, I'm all for this.

[krt917]

I am all for it too. Motor Racing could do itself a lot of good by getting more involved in 'greener' forms of transport. As PascaLM says, there will come a time when racing cars will have to do this just to survive.

Originally Posted by AdamAshmore

So is this the modern equivelent to the index of performance. If so I hope they have a suitably complex formula to calculate it from measurements of the fuel consumption, noise and emissions!

Winning the overall race will always be more important, but why not have things like this?

Well said Adam, on both points. An overall award wasn't even given at Le Mans for the first few years until the organisers realised that that was what most people were interested in!

Le Mans' Index of Performance and Index of Thermal Efficiency awards in the past mean that introducing an 'eco' award is really in keeping with the concepts of the race anyway.