The big news this week has been the introduction of Formula E’s Formula E GEN3 Evo car and this week’s Sustainable Motorsport Roundup has all the details. I also have details on the use of eFuels in the Porsche Supercup, why Formula E is just the beginning for the new Lola and the World Rally Championship’s new sustainability guidelines.
All this and much more in this week’s edition of the Sustainable Motorsport Roundup on Motorsport Prospects. Your source for sustainable high performance motorsport news.
Sustainable Motorsport News
The Sustainability Report looks at discuss the relationship between Formula E team Jaguar TCS and their sponsor Dow.
“Carlos Padilla II, head of global sports partnerships at Dow, believes that innovation, inclusion, customer centricity, and sustainability are all core pillars of the Michigan-based materials science company that can be aligned with sports teams. More specifically, motorsports teams.”
As they prepare to enter Formula E in 2025, new Lola owner Till Bechtolsheimer has made it clear that Formula E is just step one on the comeback trail for Lola.
“Electrification was pillar one, so this is why the Formula E World Championship is the best place to be,” he explains. “Second pillar is hydrogen. They’re (the FIA) putting a focus on how hydrogen comes into racing … so the hydrogen element is very interesting. If you have a fuel cell, hydrogen Le Mans car, you will have a large amount of electrification because the hydrogen fuel cell needs an electric powertrain in order to be efficient — and even just work. And even a hydrogen internal combustion engine would most likely run with a large amount of electrification because in order to bring up the efficiency, you need to regenerate the energy on the car.
“The third pillar is sustainable fuels and materials — so might be where we get back into chassis (building), made of some sustainable materials and those elements. And also, obviously, there’s a lot going in the world of biofuels and E-fuels and all of those elements, which are coming into motorsports at the moment.”
Formula E program step one on the comeback trail for Lola
Global Sustainable Sport reports on a rally with a difference. To highlight the severity of the deforestation problem that the Amazon region faces, a group of indigenous people have teamed up with the Stock Car Pro series to use rallying to showcase the impact that climate change and deforestation is having on the rivers and the region as a whole.
“The ‘Amazon Desert Rally’ aims to showcase the environmental crisis that the region faces with a group of rally drivers driving down vast tracks of dried river, with the slogan “Don’t sponsor this race,” telling people that this will happen if we don’t take action now to reduce human impact on vast ecosystems like the Amazon forest.”
Global Sustainable Sport also looks at how Formula E and Extreme E are motoring towards sustainability success. “Both Formula E and Extreme E have marked this year’s Earth Day with positive steps in the fight against climate change.”
Electric Drives reports that Ferrari is revving up with a sleek new assembly facility, dubbed the ‘e-facility’, in its Maranello home base in northern Italy. This move, announced by the CEO, gears Ferrari for a surge in electrified car production in the near future.
“This state of the art plant will assure us of flexibility and technical capacity in excess of our needs for years to come. Here, we will handcraft the dedicated electric axles and batteries that will power future Ferraris.”
Sustainable Motorsport Tech
The big news in Sustainable Motorsport over the last week was the introduction of the Formula E GEN3 Evo car. Key technical enhancements for the new GEN3 Evo race car include:
- The quickest accelerating FIA single-seater race car – Capable of 0-60mph in 1.82 seconds (0-100kph in 1.86s), 30% faster than a current F1 car.
- Faster, stronger, more agile – Performance upgrades providing an estimated 2% performance gain from GEN3, equating to a c.2 secs faster qualifying lap on the Monaco circuit, offering world-class racing on any track.
- Leaner and meaner – An aggressive new body kit designed to be stronger, more robust and more aerodynamic, delivering closer wheel-to-wheel racing.
- All-wheel drive (AWD) –A first for a Formula E car, available during qualifying duels, race starts, and ATTACK MODE. This feature maximises acceleration and control, elevating the thrill of critical race moments and intensifying driver rivalries. AWD enhances both performance and strategy, providing more exciting racing for drivers and fans alike.
- Better grip – Optimised all-weather Hankook iON tyres providing 5-10% more grip, made from 35% recycled and sustainable materials (+9% vs GEN3 spec).
Engine Labs looks at the production of Ignite’s Ethanol Racing Fuel. “When you hear the term “farm to table” you probably think about high-quality, fresh meals. Well, Ignite Racing Fuels doesn’t sell produce or protein, but the company was started, and is run by, a real-life farmer. You might be asking yourself, “Why would a farmer run a race fuel company?” The answer is simple — Ignite’s owner, Jay Berry, raises corn. Ethanol is made from corn. See where we’re going here?”
The Drive looks at the various sustainability initiatives that Michelin employs now and aspires to employ in the future to increase the sustainability and recyclability of their tires.
“Michelin is the largest tire manufacturer in the world. The French giant makes tires for just about anything that rolls; from bicycles to hypercars, and earthmovers to lunar rovers. It produces roughly 200 million tires per year. Technically, one company blows them out of the water making over 300 million tires a year, but I’ve never walked into a tire shop and been upsold to Lego. Depending on the size, each tire can use between 4 and 10 gallons of petroleum in the different materials that make up a tire; there are roughly 200 in every tire, FYI. At this point, most of those materials can be recycled and Michelin has a goal of manufacturing tires from 100% recyclable and renewable materials by 2050, which is just one component of a broader sustainability plan.”
Battery technology company About:Energy has partnered with McMurtry Automotive, an electric vehicle (EV) developer, to improve battery lifetime and performance for the McMurtry Spéirling and Spéirling PURE customer cars. The collaboration aims to merge EV expertise, battery testing and modeling to improve the battery technology of McMurtry’s vehicles by using the latest high-performance Molicel P50B battery.
Series News
In Formula E news this week, Julia Palleì, Vice President of Sustainability at Formula E is continuing to do the rounds of media and conferences explaining the series’ sustainability initiatives with the latest being an exclusive interview with Sustainability Magazine.
Also, while Jaguar has been the latest manufacturer to commit to Formula E’s GEN4 era, CEO Jeff Dodds is having to explain the delays plaguing the introduction of their fast-charge pit stop technology. “At the moment, we’re not 100-percent confident we could launch that into a race and there wouldn’t be an issue today. There might not be an issue, but we’re not 100-percent confident.”
BlackBook Motorsport has a fascinating look at the ERT Formula E team’s search for fresh investment.
The all-electric series might be keen to compare itself to Formula One right now, but its attitude to new entrants couldn’t be further from the current stance of the global motorsport series, which has turned away a prospective entry from Andretti Global.
If anything, this could lead to greater commercial opportunities down the line if the right manufacturer enters the series. But it also means that ERT becomes a more attractive option for future manufacturers that want to join the series without needing to develop the necessary racing infrastructure.
Inside the ERT Formula E team’s search for fresh investment
Porsche explains how the 2024 edition of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will be run exclusively with potentially nearly synthetic eFuels for the first time.
“In 2024, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will run exclusively with potentially nearly synthetic eFuels for the first time. The raw fuel comes from the Haru Oni pilot plant in Chile and is produced ready-for-racing through a so-called blending process. The final product allows the 911 GT3 Cup vehicles that make up the field to compete potentially almost CO₂-neutral. In the previous three years, a second-generation bio-based, partially synthetic fuel mixture was used in the sports car manufacturer’s top one-make series.”
The electric era for the STCC has moved a step closer to becoming reality after the twelve new cars built for the 2024 season were delivered. A total of three Cupra Born, three BMW i4, three Tesla Model 3 and three Volkswagen ID.3 have been designed and built by EPWR for use in the inaugural season, with a series of tests now planned before the first event of the year.
The World Rally Championship (WRC) has unveiled its sustainability roadbook, which was presented for the first time at SportsPro Live at the Kia Oval. The strategy covers the operations of WRC Promoter and Rallycross Promoter, as well as all championships under their umbrellas. Beyond Rally will be established as the platform for all sustainability initiatives.
“As part of the strategy, an overarching goal has been defined for each action area, with targets spanning the short term (2024-2025), mid term (2026-2030), and long term (2030 onwards). The action area for climate includes WRC and World RX’s carbon footprint measurement of 2022, the baseline year, and set a carbon management plan between 2023 and 2030. The responsible management action area also sets a roadmap for certifying all championships stakeholders with the International Automobile Federation’s (FIA) three-star environmental accreditation until 2027.”
Forbes explains how E-Xplorer bike racing is helping to electrify transport in India. “Rather than build a Moto GP team, however, Kankanala wanted to help drive his country forward. “The future is electric,” he says. “Anything else would not have made sense. Out of those 300 million bikes, we’ve got about 2 million that are electric. There’s a long way to go. Creating an electric bike team showcases how you can push the technology to a point where you get longer battery life, better bikes, better frames. We are here to change the perception and show how electric is better.””
Author: Mark Boudreau
Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.
