British Racing Greens, Carrots and Potatoes
They say that the race track is the place where new technologies are given a trial by fire before being applied to ordinary, everyday cars like you and I drive to pick up the kids from school or to buy groceries. From an environmentally friendly perspective, this is good news, thanks to the hot new number from World First Racing that is leading the world of Formula 3 racing – in green performance if not in overall speed and handling. This British racing company is certainly putting a new twist onto the traditional concept of “British Racing Green”. The University of Warwick is behind this project, and if all goes well, I’d like to see some of this car’s features incorporated into the cars reviewed by Private Fleet one day.
The idea was to make a race-capable car from recycled and/or renewable resources as much as possible, inside and out. WorldFirst’s car, with the carrots on the side instead of chequered flags, features the following:
The environment and all that stuff.
It is quite remarkable just how tragic the BP oil disaster has become. The expanse of the oil spill has played havoc on nature’s balance. But it is events like this that makes you question – just how far will humans go?
Isn’t it about time that we made some massive changes to the phenomenal rate at which we are using up the globe’s natural resources? I mean, we all love to drive cars but where on earth are we going to draw the line when it comes to unsustainable usage of the earth’s natural resources?
Environmentally friendly motoring: where the rubber hits the… glass?
More and more of us are becoming environmentally aware in the choices we make and in the way we drive. Car manufacturers, politicians, city planners and transport experts are all finding ways to make motoring more environmentally friendly and sustainable. The methods they use range from up-to-the-minute and “sexy” to some that sound downright peculiar.
The really “sexy” idea in environmentally friendly motoring is hybrid cars or electric cars that don’t just use petrol or diesel but use electricity to power them. You just have to see the interest generated by the new Toyota Hybrid Camry to see how sexy this idea is. And this idea, on the surface at least, looks pretty good. If you burn less petrol, you release fewer particles and nasties into the air, which cuts down on pollution. However, as the editor of the Dog and Lemon Guide is quick to point out, this isn’t such an eco-friendly idea if the source of this electricity is from a coal or gas fired power station – all a hybrid car does in this case is to shift the point of pollution from one place to another. If your power comes from a sustainable source such as wind, solar or hydro electricity, then hybrid cars look a whole lot better. In fact, in the US, some researchers are looking at a way of creating “solar road” – roads made from solar panels that generate electricity (to run the hybrid and electric cars?) while still being safe to drive on. Well, we’ll see if this idea works!
Economy cars
It’s always an interesting evaluation: comparing all the cars that have been designed to function as the world’s best fuel sippers. If you are a commuter, then you’ll know what it’s like spending hours at the wheel in traffic jams. You will also appreciate owning a car that doesn’t cost the earth to run.
Level 2, 9 Help Street