BTCC to limit CO2 levels from 2009

The BTCC will from 2009 make efforts to go green(er). The organizers have decided to place a limit on the CO2 levels produced by the cars of the series.
“With both the motor industry and Government committed to reducing cars’ emission levels, we have an equal responsibility and opportunity to do the same – and this is the most positive and relevant step the BTCC can take to demonstrate our genuine, similar commitment,” said BTCC boss Alan Gow in a BTCC press release.

“Our new emissions regulation also provides an ideal showcase for effective motor sport technology – to greatly reduce and regulate our emissions without any discernable loss of performance. This meets the desires of motor manufacturers and sponsors who wish to ensure that everything they are involved with conducts itself in as an environmentally-responsible manner as possible.”

While other championships, like the World Touring Car Championship and the Swedish Touring Car Championship, are heading for bio-fuel, Gow feels that it is not the right way for BTCC.
“We could, of course, have simply mandated the use of bio-fuels. However, reducing our race car emissions to a figure at, or below, their road car equivalent with the type of fuel that we all normally use is, I believe, a far more relevant and meaningful commitment – particularly as bio-fuels are not readily available to the public, nor widely used in everyday life.

“Equally, we could just pay an organisation to plant a few trees for our carbon offset, but that doesn’t address the issue of the carbon emissions at their source; nor does it drive technology forward.”