Conservation 101: the Compete to Conserve Blog

photo credit: merfam

Tatsuo Yoshida died a year before Mario Andretti won his first and only Formula One Championship in 1978 (Andretti was 38 years old).  Andretti was the United States Driver of the Year in 1967, the same year that Yoshida’s Japanese animated series Mach GoGoGo debuted in the United States as Speed Racer.  Speed, the main character in Speed Racer had it all – an overly obsessive father, a submissive and practically non-existent mother, a long-lost brother who turns out to be the mysterious and flamboyant Racer X, and a girlfriend who just happens to fly around in a helicopter during Speed’s races. Speed Racer is a modern-day-ish odyssey about a teenage boy struggling to become a man, through his car.  Speed Racer was so good, that the episode in which Racer X (Speed’s brother) reveals his identity to Speed was selected by TV Guide as one of the most memorable moments in television history.

The history of race car driving dates back to the 1890’s, although the modern era of Formula One Grand Prix racing began in 1950.  By 1960 Mario Andretti had already started winning races.  By the time Andretti retired in 2000 (after originally retiring in 1994), he had raced stock car and NASCAR events, and he also competed in open wheeled and midget car races.  Andretti was well into Sprint and Indy Car races by the time Speed Racer first aired in the United States, and a year later, he mastered the Formula One, the highest form of open wheel racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).  Mario Andretti was the best, and in 2000 the Associated Press and RACER Magazine honored him as “Driver of the Century”.

I will admit that I spent much more time watching Speed and his Mach 5 than I did Mario Andretti.  But if television has taught me anything, it is that fast cars are good, and Speed had the best.  Twenty-seven years after Speed Racer’s series finale first aired, Speed made it to the big screen, albeit in a live-action adaptation.  With me throughout my entire life, Speed Racer really can do no wrong.

Enter the picture hybrid vehicles:  They’re slower and don’t look anything like the Mach 5.  Hybrids are also more expensive, and I’ve heard mixed reviews about how efficient they run on the freeways, and that it takes a considerably long time to get any real return on your investment.  I’ve also heard that although hybrids use less fuel cells, the hybrid’s battery creates other potential environmental concerns.  I really do not have the answers to these questions, but in trying to navigate my way through the “to hybrid or not to hybrid” debate, perhaps the answers can be found in my old friend Speed and his real life counterpart Mario Andretti.

For the 2009 Formula One season, FIA regulations will allow for kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS or Regenerative Braking) that store energy during braking on Formula One cars.  This is similar to what is done in a Toyota Prius Hybrid or Honda Civic Hybrid.  In 2011, the regulations will allow breaking energy to be applied to all four wheels.  Interestingly, the advantage will go to the teams with the most efficient storage of braking kinetic energy.

In meeting the challenge, the BMW Sauber Formula One team will focus its efforts on an electric solution, equipping the Sauber F1.09 with a hybrid system consisting of part electric motor and part generator.  The Sauber F1.09’s system will store enough energy to provide an additional 60 kW of output, and it should weigh less than 40 kg.  While that sounds pretty fancy, I was able to figure out it means that these new BMW’s will have more power than the systems currently used in standard production vehicles.  Although this may take some time and not be completely phased in by the time the final part in the Speed Racer trilogy hits the theaters, eventually this technology should be available in most passenger vehicles.

I probably need to make up my mind about a hybrid before 2013 (around the time the industry predicts this new system will start to become somewhat standardized).  Few will disagree that we tend to rely too much on fossil fuels when it comes to transportation, but it does not seem like we have really explored nor come to understand all the pros and cons concerning alternative forms of energy, much less the practical effects it has and will have in our daily lives.

It’s a great start that Formula One cars are heading in this direction.  And even if the Formula One movement helps to break the inertia, it does not provide all of the answers.  While we try and figure this out, don’t underestimate the utility of Spritle and Chim-Chim, even with their insatiable appetite for for consumption (in this case, candy).  Depicted as delinquents and almost always getting into trouble, Spritle and Chim-Chim somehow in each episode indirectly guide Speed away from harm.  And as I try and gather more information so that I can make a meaningful, thoughtful decision about the utility and functionality of a hybrid vehicle, at this point I’ll take guidance wherever I can get it.

For more information about Formula 1 racing, visit http://www.formula1.com.

Information about the BMW Sauber can be found in the July 16, 2008 online edition of www.motorsport.com.

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