Formula 1 Going Diesel?
May 24, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Global Warming critics are getting through to the highest levels of motorsports with F1 cheif Max Mosley recently proposing a plan for F1 cars to be powered by low-revving 2.2-litre turbo diesel engines (rev-limited to only 10,000 RPM) in the next five years.
The news comes from F1 Racing magazine which says that Mr Mosley’s plan has already been sent to car manufacturers to gauge interest, so far, no manufacturer has publicly commented on the plan. Furthermore, manufacturers such as Ford and Volkswagen which currently have no interest in F1 have also been contacted.
The engines will be required to run on bio-diesel fuel as well as reducing their maximum power output from the current 700kW+ to around 580kW. Teams would also need to insure maximum engine reliability with requirements changing so that each engine would need to last five races without being changed (currently the engines only need to last 2 races).
Responding to criticism that F1 has become a little boring, Mr Mosley has proposed that all F1 cars be fitted with a four-wheel drive system as well traction control and a 13-second power-boost system to help increase overtaking maneuvers.
Even though promoting green motoring is a step in the right direction, it seems that Formula 1 is starting to lose the plot. Mr Mosley aims to not only make F1 a cleaner sport, but also increase its relevance to everyday cars. Despite what Mr Mosley thinks, one can never compare an everyday car to an F1 car, and thats the way it should be!
The whole point of Formula One is to push the boundaries of technology and create ultimate racing machines piloted by the world’s best drivers. Although its essential for this technology to have practical implementations (so that the money spent on R&D can be used by manufacturers in their everyday cars), limitations placed by engine limits, fuel types etc will inherently damage not only F1s image but its future potential as the ultimate motorsport.
Print it: 
if they ever did this, i would vow never to watch F1 racing again. what next, fucking hybrid F1
promoting green motoring, who gives a rats ass! in 15 years the world will be out of affordable fuel and everyone will be forced to drive hybrid and hyrdrogen cars anyway, so lets just pollute and degrade the environment as much as possible before then and then look to alternatives.
f1 racing is boring as (to me most motor racing is boring as batshit, apart from drifting) boring mainly because of technology, now the cars are just soo dam good they look like slot cars. in the old days when there were no driving aids like traction control and the cars were dangerously fast (turbo era) and greats like aryton senna and alain prost was pretty good to watch, even though i was too young back than, i look at it now.
whole idea is silly
The fact that it’s boring is superficial. It might be boring to you, but someone else will like it just as much as you hate it.
Although I’m a huge diesel fan (I love low end grunt). I am not sure F1 will have the same “spark”. No pun intended.
It’s not just about the cars in racing (or bikes for that matter). It’s about the sounds, the smell, the umbrella girls, the speed.
The speed and girls remains, but diesel doesn’t have the same smell to it as racing fuel. The upside is, fuel companies might actually develope diesel to be a better fuel. Though the down side is, they will justify a price hike with this fact alone.
The sound will not be the same. A diesel will never sound like a petrol car reving past 15,000 RPM.
I feel the same about it as I did when the Moto GP went to 4 strokes. The sounds and smells of 2-strokes have gone, and that was part of the charm for me.
Cheers
Steve
Hey Sam hubby just said the head of F1 wants Melbourne to be a night race so everyone else in the World can watch it durring the day.Where they going to put the headlights.??LOL What a wanker,just get up or stay up like we all have to !!
terrible, when the rest of the world want to watch it we have to have it to suit them. it would lose class if they had it at night, it would just be so….indy-ish
porsche’s are amazing. my grandfather has one and it is purple and black. i love too ride in it. it is very confortable and great looking.i also love too show it off around my town.