FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[bud]

McLaren may have struggled in Red Bull's wake last season but they have nonetheless stolen a march as F1's first carbon-neutral team.

At the team's McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, where the MP4-27 car Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton will race next year is currently taking shape, a series of efficiency-driven measures have been undertaken to make annual savings of more than 1500 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

But as McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale explained, striving for efficiency can give them a very real advantage during a grand prix weekend.

"It's a myth to think that Formula 1 cars are just rushing round as gas guzzlers," he told Sky Sports News. "We are very interested in weight and fuel efficiency. Any amount of weight or fuel we're carrying for any amount of time is just loss of lap time."

Sky Bet Odds

Will efficiency be the key for McLaren in 2012? They are 11/8 to be crowned Constructors Champions. Bet now.

Attempts to improve the efficiency of F1 cars - the engines of which are already about 20 per cent more efficient than that of a small road car - have taken on a greater importance since refuelling was banned at the end of 2009.

"It's entirely commensurate - the fact that we are having to carry all of the fuel for the race from the start," Neale added. "Ten kilos of weight is about three-tenths of a second in lap time. We don't want to carry that 10 kilos for an hour and a half, so we work very closely with (engine partner) Mercedes-Benz on energy efficiency and fuel efficiency of the car itself."

Efficiency drive
Telemetry

Away from the sharp end of the racing business, McLaren also monitor the efficiency of the trucks they use to take equipment to and from races.

As many as 23 trucks are used during the European season and each records telemetry in an effort to ensure it is driven in the most efficient manner possible.

Although McLaren say they have improved their carbon efficiency by 8.6 per cent, they initially needed to purchase carbon credits in order to officially become fully carbon-neutral.

However, after investigating a number of potential carbon-offsetting schemes, they are now backing two hydro-electric projects in India and Brazil.

good on them.

[What's Burning?]

Although I applaud the effort to become carbon neutral, and maximize efficiency where they can, I think the idea of purchasing carbon credits is a moronic placebo and it bothers me when companies tout it as a "good" thing especially when it's done simply to allow an operation to continue to run inefficiently but look good on paper.

Attempts to improve the efficiency of F1 cars - the engines of which are already about 20 per cent more efficient than that of a small road car

This comparison has to be based on horsepower created, correct?

[bud]

20% more efficient use of fuel.

[acosmichippo]

Yeah, but use of fuel for power or use of fuel for distance?

Surely the former, as WB suggested.

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

Bud, which has occurred more recently, Australia's hottest official recorded temperature, or its coldest?

[acosmichippo]

Oh god, not a global warming diatribe...

[What's Burning?]

Oh god, not a global warming diatribe...

Please sir, use the proper terminology, climate change.

[bud]

Yeah, but use of fuel for power or use of fuel for distance?

Surely the former, as WB suggested.

Well when talking of a road cars efficiency they talk of liters of fuel per 100km I'd assume it be the same measure.

Bud, which has occurred more recently, Australia's hottest official recorded temperature, or its coldest?

Which part of Australia? It's a big place.

[stonemonkey]

Yeah, but use of fuel for power or use of fuel for distance?

Surely the former, as WB suggested.

Well when talking of a road cars efficiency they talk of liters of fuel per 100km I'd assume it be the same measure.
.......

An F1 car only gets something like 5mpg, pushing it through the air at 200mph takes a lot of energy, so when they talk of efficiency in the engine they're meaning how much of the energy stored in the fuel is converted to useful mechanical energy. I think normal combustion engines are maybe around 30% with more than half the energy from the fuel being lost as heat.

EDIT: according to the wiki an F1 car gets 3.1 US mpg, 3.8 UK mpg, 1.3 km/l

What's different in the US? a mile, a gallon, or do we just drive more economically in the UK?

[acosmichippo]

I can only imagine they're referring to the difference between your petrol and our gasoline...

[stonemonkey]

I can only imagine they're referring to the difference between your petrol and our gasoline...

Hey, we got bigger gallons.

[racechick]

Global warming bring it on!! More sunbathing That was disgustingly trivial I'll admit, and anyway its not the case because our summers are still crap. Hey and guess what. Somewhere (sorry cant remember where, but a cold place) the ice is melting and they've found traces of grape vines from hundreds of years ago...further north than they ever thought grapes would grow. Which means it used to be hotter

[andrew]

Global warming my arse.

Our summers are not crap, it's just a British thing to always moan about the weather even when there is nothing wrong with it.

[stonemonkey]

Global warming my arse.

Our summers are not crap, it's just a British thing to always moan about the weather even when there is nothing wrong with it.

You're right, shouldn't complain as the summer was fantastic, in 2006.

[racechick]

Global warming my arse.

Well yes. Thats what I was saying

Our summers are not crap, it's just a British thing to always moan about the weather even when there is nothing wrong with it.

Depends on your perspective. If you like mostly cold, damp, grey rain. Then you're right, there's nothing to moan about.