Friday, June 29, 2012

Carbon neutral motorsports

Getting a lot of buzz on our CarbonMETRICS (C) approach to sponsoring next-gen, carbon neutral racecars and teams.  Demonstrated the METRICS aspect of the equation as part of a start-up panel presentation at the IEEE Electric Vehicles (EV) conference (Greenville, SC USA), which emphasized how the new sponsor categories interplayed with venture capital (VC) interests and those of "green" companies.  Followed up with the Carbon Offsets part of the equation in an article which recently appeared in Charged!,
the slick, edgy electric vehicles publication with Christian Ruoff at the helm.  I have a large-scale piece on next-gen vehicles appearing soonest in another publication that touches base on the key players from hydrogen to electrics and beyond.  More on that when it hits the street next month.  Also, my recent appointment to the Commercial Space Group is getting increasingly interesting, particularly as I'm the "outsider" (here in a formal sense) working on the interface among automotive, aerospace, the Internet entrepreneurs and how that plays into profitability in LEO, GeoSynch, and Lunar orbital business plans.
And, yes, I've been in some of the next-gen cars at high speed and these ain't your Grandma's "pretty-in-pink" ugly, slow little hybrids.  These are kick-ass, high g-force green monsters.  More soon and hope to see you at the racetrack.  To paraphrase Steve McQueen, "Racing is life, everything else is just waiting."

3 comments:

Bill Vartorella said...

Speaking of racetracks,awhile back I competed in Mahindra Formula e's fan-fueled design effort to attract attention to a potential race meeting in 'old" Delhi. Rules aside,my circuit
incorporated a "corniche"fast bit along the Yamuna River into a hairpin near the Deli Museum,followed by sweeping esses at
India Gate,into a tight hairpin at the National Museum, then a low-speed 90-degree right, l to r into another 90-degree right and a fast overtake to the pits at the southernmost hairpin,then back on the throttle to the S/F line. I named my submission "The Naidu Circuit" after S.k.Naidu (1954-1995),the Indian formula racing driver, who designed Formula Maruti open-wheeled race car and supported Indian races. See the Mahindra Racing website for details and all the great designs, including one with NASA-related animation.



















a



Bill Vartorella said...

Received a great Formula e slot car as a gift. Apparently, Carrera is producing scale models of at least Andretti Autosport.

Bill Vartorella said...

It will be curious to see whether Dakar 2020 in Saudi Arabia features next-gen electrics, hybrids, or design-forward desert buggies consistent with the new planned entertainment, educational, and motorsports complex. Check out the announcement video at the Dakar official website. For those English speakers, a decent translation is available at Dakar's Facebook page/feed.