(GMM/UpdateF1 2005) Toyota are investigating using their innovative fuel-electric 'hybrid' engine technology in Formula One.
Fitted to the road-going 'Prius' model, the car - using far less fuel than a normal passenger vehicle but producing comparative power - is propelled by a combination of engine, electric motor and battery. And, according to Toyota's F1 engine designer Luca Marmorini, the technology could be adapted for use in grands prix. But he told 'Motor Trend' publication that hybrid engine design is forbidden in the FIA technical regulations.
 

(Chris Ellis, evworld.com) Formula One Racing Headed to Hybrids
16 June 2006
Last week, Max Moseley, the head of the FIA (the organization that governs world Formula One racing) described in a press conference the organization’s intention to head toward hybrid technology for future years.
Chris Ellis, the UK motor racing correspondent for EV World, analyzes the announcement and finds the technology implications extremely encouraging for the auto industry as a whole:
The central message is that the most technically advanced and heavily-funded form of motor sport will now be obliged to focus on fuel economy, one of the key issues that concern ordinary drivers. Consequently, Formula One will become relevant and useful again, rather than just an advanced form of horse racing.
What Moseley described in his press conference was energy recovery and storage technologies that could provide a burst of energy for overtaking.
What we have in mind is this: that every car can be fitted with equipment, which must weigh no more than 20 kilos and will store energy when the car brakes and enable the energy to be used when the car accelerates again. The technology we would like in that 20-kilo piece of equipment will be completely free, so that people can choose whether they want a hydraulic, inertia or electrical system, or some other technology or branch of those technologies.
This is quite clearly something that is and will be developed for the road and all the major manufacturers are working on different systems at this time. By allowing it in F1 we will be accelerating its introduction. We’d like to do that for 2009 but must sort out the detail of the regulation with the teams and manufacturers. This will be a technology that everyone can understand, the public can understand and it will be directly relevant to road cars and a technology for the future of road cars. —Max Mosley
Standing further back, consider this. Almost any mechanical engineer (and most others!) on the planet would jump at the chance of joining a Formula One team. It’s the most competitive and prestigious engineering activity of all, beating aerospace and computing hands down. Now the FIA has told these engineers to stop playing around and to concentrate on doing something useful, which is precisely what most engineers prefer doing. The Directors of R&D in the major auto companies are going to realize, once they’ve recovered from the shock, that they now have the awesome talents of their racing divisions aimed at one of their key corporate objectives. The clever ones will insist that Racing is still paid for by Marketing, but will also make sure that technology transfer is pursued aggressively. The pace of hybrid development will then accelerate as only a race car can.

(GreenCarCongress) Motorsport Can Play Key Role in Developing and Promoting Energy-Efficient Technologies

The motorsport industry is uniquely positioned to help develop and transfer advanced energy efficiency concepts into normal road going cars, argued Peter Digby, chairman of the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) and managing director of Xtrac, at an inaugural Energy Efficient Motorsport Conference held today, prior to the American Le Mans Series 12-hour endurance race at Sebring.

As an international entertainment industry with millions of fans globally, motorsport also has the potential to inform and educate worldwide audiences regarding energy efficient technologies and green issues facing the automotive sector, he said.

The MIA event was supported by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Shell, UK Trade & Investment and Xtrac. Xtrac is a transmission provider that supplies both to the motorsport industry as well as to energy efficiency projects. Working closely with Zytek—another company with a strong motorsport pedigree—the two companies produced a diesel-electric plug-in hybrid variant of the smart car.

The plug-in diesel hybrid.

The low cost system was prepared for assessment by car manufacturers in a prototype vehicle that fully meets the requirements of the UK government’s Ultra Low Carbon Car Challenge. This initiative is aimed at producing a vehicle with exceptionally low CO₂ emissions of less than 100g/km, equivalent to a fuel consumption of at least 3.8 l/100km (62 mpg US). Moreover, it does so without compromising the driveability, performance, comfort, features and safety expected from a car in this segment.

With depleting oil reserves and climate change top of the political agenda, energy efficiency is hugely important. If we don’t do anything about these issues our society will change significantly.

New technical solutions being proposed have to be accepted by the consumer and this is where motorsport has a key role to play. Motorsport is a highly popular form of entertainment with huge following worldwide and ideally placed to promote energy efficient technology. Motorsport engineers are also used to rapid product development and can apply their skills to help speed up the introduction of new energy efficient technologies to normal road vehicles. —Peter Digby

Digby said motor racing has rapidly accelerated gear design, manufacture and materials development with more efficient, compact and lightweight transmissions able to handle much higher levels of power and torque—the latest F1 gearboxes are smaller and almost half the mass, yet handle virtually twice the power.

Minimizing weight and frictional losses throughout the vehicle has a direct impact on carbon emissions and fuel efficiency and gaining extra mileage is as important to motor racing as it is to normal road cars.

Xtrac is also working on combining mechanical flywheel systems for energy efficient power density management with the engine and transmission, according to Digby, referring to recent regulation changes in F1, which permit the use of brake regeneration systems from 2009.

The MIA Energy Efficient Motorsport (EEMS) conference showcased, for the first time to a US and international senior executive audience, continuing motorsport industry development activity in energy efficiency within the competitive world of motorsport.