Full Throttle

After much discussion, some of which probably entailed thrown bottles of Evian and a whole wad of cash passed under tables, Formula One’s governing body and leading car manufacturers have struck a deal to end a long battle over how the billion-dollar sport should be run.

Thats not to say the deal is done. Its yet to be signed and FIA president Mad Max Mosley and BMW’s Burkhard Goeschel told four major EU daily newspapers from Germany, Britain, France and Italy the agreement hasn’t hit paper yet.

Forgive my skepticism but a similar road has been traveled before with no final agreement reached. I’ll believe it when they post a notarized copy signed by all parties online for the public to view.

Of more interest, at least to me, were the quotes giving a brief outline of where the sport is headed. All concerned have already agreed to freeze all future engine development and Mad Max has intimated he desired the sport to become “greener” and ecco-friendly. This joint announcement doesn’t get into specifics but Mosley does give a hint of where F1 is headed:

Mosley is keen to push Formula One towards a greener future, with the FIA mapping out an energy-saving revolution for the next five years.

The governing body has already announced a freeze on engine development from 2007 with the focus now on “modern and relevant technologies” to save energy and benefit the ordinary road user.

“We will make research work in F1 more road relevant,” Mosley said on Tuesday.

“We will move F1 from the technology of the 20th century to that of the 21st century, to move away from F1 being labeled as a dinosaur.

“The tide of world opinion has just turned regarding global warming. With the changes we have made, we have caught the tide. If we had missed it, F1 could have become irrelevant.”

With the exception of a few environmental activists I don’t recall the sport being labeled a dinosaur by anyone unless they happened to be referring to Mad Max or Bernie.

If I read Mad Max’s intentions correctly his interest lays more with providing a test bed for the manufacturers future road cars than it does in keeping F1 at the pinnacle of motorsport. It’s already understood engine development will be reigned in to a snails pace, now it can be safely assumed what fuels them will be some derivative of fermented goats milk. Organic goats milk.

And Bridgestone won’t be clear cutting any rubber plantations either. The tire warmers of the future will heating up tires containing more silicone than all the Brolly Girls combined.

If Max thinks these changes will maintain F1’s “relevance” in the 21^st century he’s smokin’ some seriously strong crack. The FIA will eventually be riding heard over a field of race cars with crate engines much like many Saturday night Bull Rings run with in the U.S., they will be absent any semblance of odor normally associated with race cars and finally be limited in how much fuel they can burn within a single race.

It will be a higher tech, more costly Moble economy run. Lotsa luck Max.

The Champ Car World Series is looking hard at one or two EU venues to add to its schedule. Is there any doubt they are looking at the future F1 offering and straining to keep from wetting their pants?

Max Mosley, FIA, F1, Formula One, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle