When is an F1 Engine Like a Fossil?
Unusual question, but it does have a simple answer, if you buy into the fact the World Motor Sport Council ever has a simple answer for anything beyond the time of sunrise in Paris.
Answer: When the WMSC meet in Paris and decide there will be a total freeze on engine development for a period of 10 years starting in 2008. A change can be made after five years but only with the unanimous agreement of all stakeholders and following a further two-year notice period.
Obviously I’ve taken a bit of literary license, the exotic metals of an F1 engine would never become a fossil, or rust I suspect but you get the idea. In effect the WMSC is creating an F1 engine time capsule and we’ve seen how poorly that works.
Their decision raises this question; How in the sam hill will teams develop Mad Max’s dream of an F1 “ecco-machine?” Supposedly F1 will run on fermented goats milk or some kinda something related to Bio-fuel. At least that’s what Max thinks and keeping in mind linking the words “Max” and “thinks” is in most instances an oxymoron.
Max has said his ultimate goal is to drag F1 kickin’ & screamin’ “from the technology of the 20th century to that of the 21st century, to move away from F1 being labeled as a dinosaur.” (aren’t dinosaurs fossils also?)
The way I read this is a team can start the 2008 campaign with a certain engine configuration, but by rule they can’t change a damn thing until at least 2015, and only then if the WMSC is notified prior to the start of the 2013 season. AND with total agreement by the stakeholders. (fat chance getting that gaggle on the same page!)
Have I got that correct? It all seems to work against producing anything resembling “ecco-friendly” if such severe restrictions are placed on engine development.
I’m so confused, which places me in the same boat as the WMSC I suspect. And I don’t even want to consider the thought of being in the same boat with Mad Max, at least not without a muzzle. Or a gun.
(NOTE to Mad Max: If you really want to commit to being green why don’t you take some of those ill-gotten FIA millions you’ve collected over the years and put them where your mouth is. Take Leilani Munter’s lead and at least attempt to make a difference.)
F1, Formula One, Sports, FIA, WMSC, World Motor Sport Council, Max Mosley, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle
All I can think is that Max has moved April fools day to Oct & forgotten to tell us.
In Max’s case April’s Fools Day is every day.
Is this another of Max’s red herrings, he has been known to throw wild ideas in the air, getting the teams to scream like girls, & then bringing in a compromise solution that he was wishing to initiate from the begining.
The silence in the media from the autos is interesting. The fact that the manufacturers are not crying foul & loud makes me wonder. Honda are normally first out of the blocks in the complaining dept at the mere suggestion of engine reg changes. Maybe they know something we dont. Maybe they have cut a deal with Bill Gates behind Max’s back, MS is providing the new ECU. oops….took my tin foil hat off now that the F1 season is over.