AUSTIN, Texas — February 13, 2012— Circuit of The Americas is the newest member of the Green Sports Alliance, a non-profit organization made up of more than 40 professional and collegiate sports teams and nearly 90 sports venues with a mission to help sports teams, venues and leagues enhance their environmental performance. Circuit of The Americas will be the first Formula One™ racing facility to become a member of the Alliance.
“Circuit of The Americas and the City of Austin have taken a bold stand with their sustainability plan for the sports and entertainment complex,” said Martin Tull, executive director of the Green Sports Alliance. “We welcome Circuit of The Americas into the Alliance and look forward to working with them.”
The Green Sports Alliance is a unique coalition of sports teams and venues, professional sport leagues, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other environmental and green building experts.
“I applaud the Circuit’s commitment to setting a standard for sustainability in North American motorsports,” said Lucia Athens, chief sustainability officer for the City of Austin. “Joining forces with the Green Sports Alliance will increase their green horsepower and put Austin on the map yet again for its leadership and innovation. The Green Sports Alliance has been providing expert technical assistance to many of the sports leagues, and can now assist motorsports in achieving greener results.”
Members in the Green Sports Alliance share best practices to improve the environmental performance of their venues, saving millions of dollars through energy and water conservation, waste reduction, recycling and composting. By tracking environmental performance, sports facilities learn how they compare to their counterparts and how to maximize sustainability efforts. Alliance members have reported reductions as high as 30 percent in energy usage, 60 percent in natural gas use and more than 20 percent in water use.
“We are excited to be collaborating with the best minds in sustainable facility management,” said Edgar Farrera, sustainability director at Circuit of The Americas. “We look forward to developing new approaches to environmentally sustainable operations at our facility and sharing what we learn with organizations and companies around the world.”
About the Green Sports Alliance
The Green Sports Alliance is a non-profit organization with a mission to help sports teams, venues and leagues enhance their environmental performance. Less than a year since its public launch, the Alliance is made up of representatives from over 40 teams from 13 leagues and 90 sports venues, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Protection Agency, Bonneville Environmental Foundation and many other organizations.
Its second annual conference, the Green Sports Alliance Summit, will be held on Sept. 5-7, 2012 and will bring together hundreds of facility operators, team executives, league officials,
environmental experts and corporate partners to discuss innovations in environmental performance.
For more information about the Green Sports Alliance visit: www.greensportsalliance.org.
About Circuit of The Americas
Circuit of The Americas will be a world-class destination for performance, education and business. It will be the first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the United States designed for any and all classes of racing, from motor power to human power, and be the U.S. home to the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX™ Nov. 16-18 and V8 SUPERCARS.
The Circuit of The Americas’ master plan features a variety of permanent structures designed for business, education, entertainment and race use. Its signature element will be a 3.4-mile circuit track with capacity for 120,000 fans. Other support buildings will include a medical facility, a conference center, a banquet hall as well as an expansive outdoor live music space. Future proposed amenities include a driving/riding experience, a motorsports driving club, kart track, grand plaza event center and tower, and a trackside recreational vehicle park.

 Renault is a secret to Red Bull’s recent success in formula one, the French carmaker claims.
The common perception, however, is that the energy drink-owned team has dominated the sport in recent years despite Mercedes-Benz actually supplying a more powerful 2.4 litre V8 engine to Red Bull’s rivals.

“The Mercedes engine is indeed about 15 horse power more powerful than ours,” confirmed Renault Sport F1′s Jean-Francois Caubet.

“But in terms of driveability and fuel economy, it is our engine in front. So when it comes to the bottom line, we are a little bit better than Mercedes,” he claimed to Germany’s Sport Bild magazine.

The most crucial factor, Caubet claimed, is the engine’s fuel economy amid the backdrop of the recent ban on in-race refuelling.

“Because our consumption is lower, Red Bull can start the races with 15 to 18 litres less petrol in the tank than the competition,” he said.

“That makes a big difference.”

Another factor is Sebastian Vettel’s driving, he agreed, with the back to back world champion having a “very fuel efficient” style, and being “extremely interested in the data”.

“They are both key factors when the driver wants to use the engine perfectly,” said Caubet.

F1 engine supplier Renault is happy with the new engine rules for 2014, despite recently threatening to quit if four-cylinder rules did not debut a year earlier than that.
With Bernie Ecclestone and all of F1′s other engine makers opposed to Jean Todt’s original plan, the F1 Commission this week agreed on a turbo V6 formula.

But even Renault is happy with the compromise, customer Lotus-Renault GP’s team boss Boullier is quoted by autohebdo.fr.

“Everybody is willing to have the V6 as the base for 2014, including Renault, who support the project,” said the Frenchman. “But there is still a lot to do to finalise the project.”

Boullier admits he likes the idea of a V6 much more than Todt’s now-scrapped inline four.

“V6 is more interesting than four cylinder from a technological point of view. Also for the image of formula one, which has to be a showcase of technology,” he added.

Meanwhile, it might be said that Mercedes-Benz is not keen on the idea of new engine rules, because its current V8 is regarded as the very best on the grid.

Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher insists: “I don’t think it makes a big difference whether it’s six, four, eight or ten cylinders. The rules are the same for everyone,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

As for the possible erosion of Mercedes’ advantage, the German added: “Whoever builds the best engine now can build the best engine in the future.

“I can see Mercedes out the front again, and actually it could even mean a step forward,” said the seven time world champion.

The Renault might be more efficient but Norbert Haug says he is happy with the perception that Mercedes’ is the most powerful engine in F1.
Renault Sport F1, powering the Renault team as well as Red Bull and Team Lotus, claimed recently that the RS27 is “extremely good” in the area of consumption, saving 10 per cent more fuel than usual to burn through customer teams’ blown exhausts.

The boast was a counter to the general perception in F1, pressed by Red Bull who have in the past coveted the German power, that it is Mercedes’ V8 that is the best on the grid overall.

“I don’t know the numbers of our competitors,” said the Stuttgart marque’s motor racing chief Norbert Haug, “but our engine as well as our KERS are repeatedly referred to as the yardstick in the industry.

“We haven’t claimed this ourselves, but many have argued it,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

“That our competitors do highly competent work, whether they are called Ferrari, Renault or Cosworth, there is no doubt,” he said.

But Haug then moved to counter Renault’s claim that it is the most efficient engine that might be described as the best in F1.

“Using less fuel than your competitor is generally because you have less power.

“I think that in specific consumption, we look very good. In absolute consumption, for the reason I gave, maybe I prefer if we are not the very best,” he insisted.

Christian Horner hopes Sebastian Vettel’s engine situation does not further dent his championship chances.

The Red Bull driver retired from the lead of the Korean grand prix last Sunday with a sudden and catastrophic failure of his Renault engine.

The 2.4 litre V8 unit that failed was the eighth he has used in races so far in 2010, but it had successfully completed 1600km of its projected life of 2000km.

But the other engines still available to the German are also quite high on mileage, which explains why Vettel did relatively few laps in practice last weekend.

“It’s obviously not an ideal situation,” team boss Horner said when asked about Vettel’s engine situation going forward.

“Hopefully it will have a negligible effect on him,” he added.

As Mark Webber bids to further extend his points lead this weekend, the Australian is set to benefit from the freshest engine among his championship rivals.

Before travelling to Korea, the other main contenders had already begun using their final and eighth engine of the season.

But Webber’s last Renault V8 was only fitted to his Red Bull before the last practice session on Saturday morning.

At the other end of the scale is Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who has been managing the usage of his range of eight engines for quite some races.

The Italian team has been playing down the situation recently, but boss Stefano Domenicali now admits that it is a significant issue.

“If we do (have more problems) it will be tremendously difficult to try to fight to the end,” he said in Korea.

Williams’ third co-owner has admitted the British team considered changing engine suppliers for the 2011 season.

Lotus is set to switch to Renault power at the end of the season, but Cosworth has announced that its other existing partners – Williams, HRT and Virgin – are staying put.

In an interview with Kleine Zeitung newspaper, Austrian Toto Wolff – who has a minority stake in the Frank Williams and Patrick Head co-owned team – admitted there have been disappointments in 2010.

“In a sporting sense, the beginning of the season was difficult because the expectations in the team were very high,” he said.

“Maybe we were a little bit too optimistic about the engine,” admitted Wolff.

Reports earlier this year said Williams was disappointed with the Cosworth V8, and had held talks with potential alternative supplier Renault.

Wolff hinted that the engine situation was indeed “discussed” within the Grove based team, but “not seriously considered”.

“In the last weeks Cosworth has found its stride,” he said.

And there are other problems for Williams, former racing driver and businessman Wolff insists.

“Above all the teams’ agreement about personnel restrictions was too loose,” he said.

“This was a disadvantage for us, so now it should be precisely formulated for a reasonable cost base for 2011,” added Wolff.

“The team is going well economically and was – and is – profitable,” he insisted.

“Williams is losing two sponsors next year but there are good discussions with potential new partners.”

Wolff also indicated that, alongside Rubens Barrichello, German rookie Nico Hulkenberg is set to stay at Williams next year.

“Of all the young drivers he is probably the best at the moment,” he said.  “He is actually remarkable; only the experience is missing.

“I feel quite comfortable with this driver combination.  My word has at least as much weight as the others on the board, and this applies to the drivers as well.”

Sam Michael has scoffed at Red Bull’s claim that the Renault engines in the rear of the championship-leading RB6 are significantly down on power.

Red Bull has consistently claimed its Renault V8 is up to 30 horse power behind, revealing that McLaren is blocking its move to industry leading Mercedes.

The Austrian team is also openly upset that the FIA will not impose performance parity, with Mercedes refusing to voluntary de-tune its engines.

Bluntly, Australian Michael – technical director at Cosworth-powered Williams – denounces the saga as “bullshit”.

“It’s simply to gain an advantage,” he is quoted by the German language motorsport-total.com.

“This (Renault) engine has often been on pole position this year. You cannot tell me it has not enough power,” insisted Michael.

“They’re just lobbying for an upgrade. That’s ok, because it’s part of the business. These teams are trying to strengthen their position.”

He believes all the engines in F1 at present are separated by “no more than one or two tenths”.

It was believed Williams, like Lotus, was considering switching to Renault for 2011, but the British team has now confirmed it is staying with Cosworth.

If Red Bull had known in advance the performance of Cosworth’s engine, the British marque and F1′s title leading team could be working together now.

That is the opinion of Cosworth’s managing director Tim Routsis, who has revealed that talks between the independent Northampton based engine maker and Red Bull took place a year ago.

Instead, the RB6 is fitted with the Renault V8, which according to Red Bull is significantly down on power compared with the industry leading F1 engines.

Red Bull designer Adrian Newey said this week that the 2011 car will likely also be powered by Renault, due to McLaren vetoing a collaboration with the team’s preferred supplier, Mercedes.

But Routsis reveals that there were talks last year between Cosworth, who have lost Lotus as an engine customer for 2011, and Red Bull.

“There were several contacts with Red Bull,” he is quoted by the Italian language Autosprint.

“But we were at a disadvantage, because we had no evidence about how our engine was going to debut.

“I am convinced that if we had been able to wind the clocks forward by 13 months, things with Red Bull would have gone differently,” added Routsis.

At Monza, Sir Frank Williams confirmed once again that his Oxfordshire built cars will be powered by Cosworth in 2011, although the financial health of the marque’s other partners – HRT and Virgin – is clouded.

“We are pleased to have produced a very reliable and economical engine,” Routsis concluded. “This I think is recognised by everyone.”

‘Power’ is a keyword in the Red Bull camp on Saturday, after qualifying day for the Italian grand prix.

2010 pole specialist Sebastian Vettel, fast all weekend at Monza and never off the first two rows of the grid all season so far, qualified just fifth on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t know where the speed went,” said the German.

“I was around 3 or 4 kph quicker yesterday than I was this afternoon with less fuel,” he added.

“There are a lot of straights in Monza, so it was quite costly.”

Engine supplier Renault has accepted the blame for both of Mark Webber’s practice stoppages on Friday and Saturday morning.

Saturday’s problem, which doubly worried the team when the Australian’s stricken RB6 took a long time to be returned to the pits before qualifying, was caused by a fire inside the airbox.

Team boss Christian Horner admitted the V8 might now have to be run with a “slightly more conservative setting”.

Webber qualified fourth on Saturday, crucially ahead of his championship rival Lewis Hamilton.

But asked if he is worried about his engine, he answered: “A little bit, yes.

“We need to look at it with Renault and see what the best plan is. It is not the first time we have seen this, we have experience with this kind of problem and we just need to chip away,” added Webber.

Mainly due to Renault’s 2.4 litre V8, Red Bull had travelled to the ultra high speed Monza venue expecting its “worst” outing of the entire season, Horner confessed.

“We knew Monza would be a difficult race for us,” agreed Fabrice Lom, in charge of Red Bull’s supply of customer Renaults.

“Unfortunately we cost Mark some running time yesterday and today, so we apologise for that,” he said, albeit praising Webber’s efforts to be fourth.

“With Hamilton not at the front, it could be an interesting result,” added Lom.

Fernando Alonso is confident his waning championship charge will not be further impeded by running through his allocation of engines.

This week’s Monza event is among the toughest on engines, and at Spa-Francorchamps two weeks ago, the newly-installed Ferrari V8 in Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber had to be replaced.

The unscheduled change tipped the Spaniard over his allocation of eight engines for the season, resulting in a grid penalty.

And a look at the allocations of F1′s other cars at Spa showed that while most drivers are now on their fifth new engine, Ferrari’s Alonso and Felipe Massa have used six.

“I see no reason to worry,” said team boss Stefano Domenicali before leaving Belgium.

And Spaniard Alonso has now told GPWeek: “We are confident.

“The plan of the engines is well in control at the moment.  Fingers crossed everything stays like this and we know the programme for all the remaining races,” he added.

“It should be enough with the engines we have.  If everything goes normal there is no problem.”

A bigger headache for the Italian team is that, with Alonso more than 40 points behind with just six races left to run, the F10 seemed to take a competitive step backwards at Spa-Francorchamps two weeks ago.

“Monza will be a very important race, because the championship is not looking so easy for us,” admitted the Spaniard’s teammate Felipe Massa.

Adam Parr is not ruling out a change of engine supplier for Williams.

Amid rumours both Williams and Lotus could each be eyeing a supply of Renault V8s in 2011, Cosworth’s Mark Gallagher has insisted both teams are under contract for three years.

Parr, Williams’ chief executive, likened a F1 team’s relationship with its key suppliers to a marriage.

“You do have rows with your wife, but you know you have got the common interest and I still think that is the case,” Parr, referring to Williams’ recent qualms about the driveability and degradation of the Cosworth engine this year, is quoted by GP Week.

“But we have no plans to change engine partner, and we have no desire to change engine partner,” he continued.

“I just don’t want to rule out the possibility of something happening because that would be a stupid thing to do,” he added.

(GMM)

Cosworth is tweaking the design of its formula one engine in order to accommodate KERS systems in 2011.

Although already permitted by the technical regulations, the teams voluntarily agreed to not use the energy-recovery technology this season.

But for 2011, the FOTA ban will lapse, and teams currently powered by Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault have indicated they will fit KERS systems to their cars.

Williams has also indicated it will run KERS in 2011, and as well as the British team, Northampton based Cosworth also currently powers Lotus, Virgin and HRT.

“We have to make several new configurations to our V8 and also change some of the accessories,” Cosworth’s business director Mark Gallagher is quoted by Autosprint’s Italian-language auto.it.

He confirmed: “Our partners will be able to use KERS if they so choose.”

(GMM)

Cosworth has played down reports Williams is set to switch to Renault engine power in 2011.

It has been suggested that Grove based Williams is unhappy with the performance of the 2.4 litre V8, especially its degradation as it ages.

But Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the British independent engine maker, also the supplier to the three new teams, has commenced a programme to improve the deficiencies.

And Cosworth’s business director Mark Gallagher said: “We have a three year contract with Williams, and there is no evidence they want to end this relationship.”

He also said all of the candidates to be F1′s 13th team in 2011 “with one exception” have been in talks with Cosworth.

Auto Motor und Sport reports that Cosworth is the cheapest engine supplier on the grid, with its engine costing EUR 5.5 million per year compared to the 9m price-tag for Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault power.

The publication said Nicolas Todt’s hopeful ART team wants to be powered by Ferrari.

But Gallagher insists that Cosworth provides a highly reliable product, while the input of Rubens Barrichello has helped the marque to improve the engine’s driveability.

As for the loss of horse power in the middle of the engine’s life, Gallagher revealed: “We have found the cause and brought a solution to the FIA for permission to make the change.”

(GMM)

Jun.18 (GMM)  There could be more Renault-powered cars on next year’s formula one grid than any other engine supplier.

Although the French marque currently supplies its 2.4 litre V8 only to the team that bears its name as well as Red Bull, it is reported that Williams is now close to agreeing a deal for 2011.

There have been reports that the Grove based team is less than fully happy with the returning supplier Cosworth this year, while at the same time Renault has confirmed it is looking to add a team to its customer engine roster.

Also linked with a switch to Renault has been the currently Cosworth-powered new team Lotus, while Cosworth’s business director Mark Gallagher recently said he suspects equipping the sport’s 13th team for 2011 will be “a Cosworth/Renault competition”.

A report by France’s Auto Hebdo said it is likely that eight cars on the 2011 grid will be fitted with Renault engines.

“An agreement with Williams is almost done,” said the magazine.