How is it that motorsports are still allowed?

[mechman600]

It just seems funny. The media pushes energy conservation and pollution control to the nth degree, yet nobody seems to say much about motorsports. Seems a bit contradictory.

Not that I mind. I love my F1 and MotoGP. I just think it's funny, that's all.

[Frank Lee]

It's been proven time after time, beyond any doubt: we prefer fantasy to reality, and sports of any sort fall into the fantasy category.

[duane1]

Motorsports pushes a lot of the inovation that eventually makes it into street cars, so they have that going for them.

[Frank Lee]

Examples?

[gone-ot]

MONEY beget$ MONEY...simple as that.

[bhut2180]

They are looking to add electric race cars and that sort, but I agree its IRONIC

[duane1]

Just off the top of my head -It was in the late 50's I believe that Smoky Yunick was changing aerodynamics on the cars by changing angle of windshields and rear windows. He also was using bondo to smooth the underbodies to decrease drag. He was also experimenting with different material for parts to conserve weight, heat recovery systems, carburetor redesign etc .

[ProDarwin]

Originally Posted by duane1

Motorsports pushes a lot of the inovation that eventually makes it into street cars, so they have that going for them.

Some do like F1, Cart, GT1, GT2, LeMans (Note that a mild hybridization in the form of KERS in mandatory this year in F1), but the most popular motorsport in the US is NASCAR. While they do push a lot of safety innovations, their suspension is super old-tech, as are 355c.i. carbonated cam-in-block 2-valve V8s and 4 speed manual transmissions. The do really push the limits of this tech, but the average car has much more technology so their innovation doesn't translate well do the real world. I'd love to see them push some new tech stuff by bringing the rules up to modern-ish specs. Require say 200c.i. engines, allow any cylinder configuration, D.I., DOHC, 5 valves per cylinder, etc.

My hobby is racing cars, so I am biased. I see no reason to ban it, nor do I see how they could. I could see them imposing better emissions restrictions on the cars and requiring the use of standard fuels (NASCAR used leaded gas until like 5 years ago).

[RunningStrong]

Originally Posted by mechman600

It just seems funny. The media pushes energy conservation and pollution control to the nth degree, yet nobody seems to say much about motorsports. Seems a bit contradictory.

Not that I mind. I love my F1 and MotoGP. I just think it's funny, that's all.

Because they all know that motor sport is probably the smallest target possible. They couldn't justify it for how little pollution it produces.

In fact, just 0.3% of Formula 1's emissions come from it's racing and testing of the cars.

[niky]

Motorsports aren't the only wasteful activity there is.

We waste billions of dollars in fuel every year on spectator sports like American Football, Basketball, real Football... , and whatever your national flavor is. Teams bus, fly and drive their ridiculously expensive luxury cars around the world to each venue.

Let's not forget the cost of maintainng and lighting these sporting venues.

Many high-end motorsports have absolutely no effect on everyday motoring. Audi's LMP diesel program doesn't feed into road cars... who has use for a five liter diesel that can only run on synthetic GTL? Toyota's hybrid foray is mostly a stunt. F1 KERS units bear little resemblance to road-going hybrid systems... expensive. Ultra-lightweight. Etcetera. At least with the level of spending in motorsports, you can switch to electric vehicles down the road... but then you'd still have to deal with the fact that most of the fuel used in motorsports are for teams to transport their cars and equipment to and from the venues... and even more is used by spectators to drive there...

But motorsports themselves are not generally more wasteful than any other sport or recreation... so why ban them over... say... golf or theme parks?