End Of An Era: Honda Pulls Out Of Formula One
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 12. 4.08
Honda just announced that they will no longer participate in F1 car racing. The global economic downturn means Honda is trying to save money, just like other car makers, and British driver Jenson Button will have to find a new team. I liked Honda's Earth Car initiative, but the announcement today is a clear sign of how tough the times really are. Meanwhile, in Washington, General Motors Chief Executive Rick Wagoner yesterday told the Senate Banking Committee that “Forces beyond our control have pushed us to the brink.”
There are no plans here in Japan to ask for a bailout for any of the six Japanese car makers, but the huge drop in sales could easily translate into a major crisis very soon. Honda's move may be too little, too late, and all eyes are on how events will unfold in the hearings in the US:
Lawmakers discussed options such as appointing a trustee to oversee automotive restructuring and requiring an industry overhaul to get aid.Even so, they didn’t resolve a dispute over where the money will come from, the main issue standing in the way of an auto-industry bailout. Democratic leaders want to tap a $700 billion bailout fund for the financial industry. President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans are demanding to use some of $25 billion from a 2007 energy bill for developing fuel-efficient vehicles.
Bloomberg.com: U.S. Lawmakers Move to Break Deadlock as Auto Chiefs Renew Plea
Honda has been involved in F1 racing since the 1960s. The sport is increasingly seen as a relic from the past, and even insiders and experts are feeling the crunch. Earlier this year, Max Mosley, president of FIA, the world motorsport governing body said "Formula One is becoming unsustainable." It remains to see what will happen to Honda Racing F1 Team's global network of environmental projects, called Earth Dreams.
Nikkei: Honda To Leave F1 Racing (registration needed)
Written by Martin Frid at greenz.jp
I have mixed feelings. I love F1 cars...and the planet.
eventually, F1 will be phased out.. this is the beginning of the end of F1 racing..
I have an idea.. F1 electric.. no noise, no exhaust, no screaming engines, no blow outs, no waiting to see what Ferrari's and McLaren's engine mods did to the cars's performance... aaaahh forget about it.
might as well get Tesla's and drive them around Speed Racer Movie style tracks... saayyy, thats a good idea... wonder if it'll catch on.
"Honda's move may be too little, too late"
I hope not; I just got a CR-V. Say what you will, but I live in a rural area, couldn't wait for hybrids/electrics (old car's maintenance cycle was unsustainably expensive) but the thing of it is, they put out fantastic cars and with our kids' grandmas and grandpa 50 miles away :-( it just made sense to go with a small SUV that, as a bonus, gets better mileage than the average sedan. It bugs me that the Big Three have spent decades churning out disposable cars with the excuse of "our customers think 100,000 miles is a good value; and besides, many people want a new car every three years) while companies like Toyota, Honda, and so on have been building cars which you can keep for the long haul. I don't know what research shows, but I would think that a 300,000 mile Toyota would surely have less environmental impact than three 100,00 mile Chevrolets.
Now, ultimately, we need to get rid of cars as much as possible, and hopefully once the current economic strain passes it will be a priority, but since we'll likely still have cars as a necessary evil, let's hope that (provided the Big Three still exist) the car companies going to Washington for a handout will have learned their lesson.
"The sport is increasingly seen as a relic from the past..."
"eventually, F1 will be phased out.. this is the beginning of the end of F1 racing"
Why do you think this? F1 is the automotive testing ground for many new technologies. In 2009 they are supposed to be testing kinetic energy recovery systems, a technology that could improve the environmental sustainability of road cars.
Can't wait for cars to go.
F1 was a stupid idea before it even started.
Even the F0 thing is stupid.
Sid,
I'm a huge F1 fan who likes nature, too. I thought you might find Formula Zero interesting:
http://www.formulazero.nl/
Right now, it's just karts built by various universities around the planet, but they plan to be full size open wheel cars in the future.
Of course, this economy might make things very difficult for a new series like F0, so I hope they can continue, as I think it's got a lot of potential.
Travis
shocking, sort of.
F1 is hugely expensive, but was somewhat of a proving ground for new technology...but we aren't seeing cars with carbon fiber chassis or pnuematic values on showroom floors.
Personally, I think Honda will fair well, they've always had an eco streak and are rolling out new hybrids in the coming years
We can keep Formula 1 racing, all we have to do is get rid of NASCAR. F1 is useful as a technology testbed, after all. And F1 cars and the circuit consume far less fuel.
I'm betting this is the beginning of the end of a lot of racing. It's not sustainable environmentally, nor economically. Really racing is just a hobby for people with money to burn (pardon the pun). Racing is entertainment, it produces little actual goods. I love watching it, I wish I could do it more. I wish it was less polluting. No, I wish it was zero polluting.
Nascar teams are scaling back. Indy/Champ Car ranks are already thinned, they are talking about v6 or i4 turbo engines next year.
"There are no plans here in Japan to ask for a bailout for any of the six Japanese car makers"
They got theirs long ago. The Japanese car makers might not exist today if not for the Japanese government. At one time GM and Ford had nearly overtaken the Japanese auto market, but the Japanese goverment recognised the value of the industry to its economy and military, and rescued its manufacturers through direct subsities, increased cost of importing vehicles, and is thought to have heavily subsidised Japanese manufacturers entry into the US market.
The UK may be the only country to have done less than the US to protect its auto makers from foreign competitors, which is probalby why its auto industry is almost if not completely foreign-owned now.