09/06/2006
NEWS STORY
Speaking at a special press conference at Silverstone, Max Mosley has revealed his dream of a greener, more environmentally friendly Formula One, admitting that at the end of the proposed engine freeze period (2010), he would like to see alternative, energy-saving technology introduced.
"At end of the homologation period, that's to say the end of 2010 going into 2011, we would like to introduce a different engine formula where the limit on power was not through engine capacity, the traditional means, which is completely out of date and old-fashioned, but to limit power by the amount of energy consumed.
"There are all sorts of ways of doing that," he continued, "and this is precisely the area where all manufacturers are working with their road cars. Saving fuel and saving energy is absolutely fundamental to them. For that we would need the major road car manufacturers to propose the formula."
With some fans already complaining that the sport is being dumbed down, courtesy of the V8 formula, Mosley was quick to allay fears that he is proposing a series featuring silent, battery powered cars.
"Our only conditions would be, first, that it must be a racing engine as we all understand the term. It must sound and feel like a racing engine.
"Secondly, any research to improve that racing engine would have to be directly relevant to research to improve fuel efficiency in road cars. Those are the two conditions we would set for how it was done but other than that this new formula would be a matter for the manufacturers.
"Then, quite suddenly, instead of spending fortunes trying to get another few horsepower out of a fixed capacity, which helps no one, leads nowhere and is completely sterile research, we'd be doing research that relates to fuel efficiency and is thus directly relevant to road cars. That would be for 2011 and that would be on a proposal from the manufacturers.
"Ideally, the fuel efficiency engine for 2011 should be done quickly," he continued, "because that way manufacturers who have large teams of people doing engine research could keep those teams together. That's a matter for them, but we would like to see a proposal quite quickly."